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"""Put in 1pt font in his email signature "wear a red tie to the interview" then berated a candidate who showed up without a red tie for "lack of attention to d

"""Put in 1pt font in his email signature "wear a red tie to the interview" then berated a candidate who showed up without a red tie for "lack of attention to detail""" This made me laugh.

giantg2 5y ago
Probably the point I'd say, "I saw it but thought you were an ass, so I ignored your instructions. As an engineer, part of my job is cutting through the bullshit."
- CoastalCoder 5y ago
  That would be satisfying. But probably not something on which I'd want to invest a half-workday.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    It's really an in the moment decision. So yeah, I wouldn't plan to just do that.
leni536 5y ago
Seriously, I don't even have a red tie. And I wouldn't buy one for an interview, even if I read the message.
azangru 5y ago
> then berated a candidate who showed up without a red tie for "lack of attention to detail""" I'm curious: could it be because the candidate's resume listed "attention to detail" as one of their strengths? (but yeah, like the other commenter, I don't even have a red tie... or any tie, for that matter)
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  Explain to HR that you paid attention to the detail that the boss was a psychopath.
_l4jh 5y ago
It was the tie thing that made me open the comments here to reply. I have been to a few interviews like this over the years. Some I knew would be problematic in advance yet I still went because I wanted to experience it and learn from it. I got offered the job for two positions and took great delight in turning them down. It is very interesting and a fantastic learning experience to be in that position of power over some difficult asshole. Especially when it is a sudden and unexpected reverse of the power dynamics. These are people that act very antisocially and so I see it as a good opportunity to "poke the tiger" in a safe way. They're not my employer, I would never want then to be my employer and I am fine with the minimal risk associated with it because I took away so much in being able to really push their buttons with essentially zero consequences. What I mean by this is I was able to better see how such people actually react rather than just read about it. I am fascinated by human behaviours. In both cases these people cycled between begging to acting like absolute psychopaths. Shouting and swearing at me down the phone, telling me how they would ruin me, that I was pathetic and then back to begging like they were "my mate" and they were "just joking around". Highly unprofessional behaviour that I made sure to feed back to their companies HR departments with evidence. It is a feeling quite like anything else to remind such a person that all your calls are automatically recorded by your VoIP system after they have spent 5 minutes calling you every name under the sun. I think the thing that really gets under these peoples skin though is when I calmly explain I don't need to work. I have more than enough money to live a very long and comfortable life and that I choose to work out of personal desire to do so rather than necessity. They hate not being the most powerful person in the room. You take that away from them and they collapse to nothing. Learning this first hand has allowed me to be far more confident not just during interviews but in probably all aspects of my life. In any kind of negotiation I am calmer and so better able to prepare a sensible response. This is important when emotions are all over the place. It is all well and good reading about how to negotiate or even taking part in role play workshops offered by many management training firms but until you actually experience someone that is genuinely that way and not just acting it is all just theory. Experiencing it first hand was very different to any training I have ever had and while these people were truly terrible people (at least in a professional capacity) I am actually quite grateful to them for giving me that real world experience to learn from.

"""Put in 1pt font in his email signature "wear a red tie to the interview" then berated a candidate who showed up without a red tie for "lack of attention to detail""" This made me laugh.

giantg2 5y ago

Probably the point I'd say, "I saw it but thought you were an ass, so I ignored your instructions. As an engineer, part of my job is cutting through the bullshit."

CoastalCoder 5y ago
That would be satisfying. But probably not something on which I'd want to invest a half-workday.
- giantg2 5y ago
  It's really an in the moment decision. So yeah, I wouldn't plan to just do that.

leni536 5y ago

Seriously, I don't even have a red tie. And I wouldn't buy one for an interview, even if I read the message.

azangru 5y ago

> then berated a candidate who showed up without a red tie for "lack of attention to detail""" I'm curious: could it be because the candidate's resume listed "attention to detail" as one of their strengths? (but yeah, like the other commenter, I don't even have a red tie... or any tie, for that matter)

DonHopkins 5y ago
Explain to HR that you paid attention to the detail that the boss was a psychopath.

_l4jh 5y ago

It was the tie thing that made me open the comments here to reply. I have been to a few interviews like this over the years. Some I knew would be problematic in advance yet I still went because I wanted to experience it and learn from it. I got offered the job for two positions and took great delight in turning them down. It is very interesting and a fantastic learning experience to be in that position of power over some difficult asshole. Especially when it is a sudden and unexpected reverse of the power dynamics. These are people that act very antisocially and so I see it as a good opportunity to "poke the tiger" in a safe way. They're not my employer, I would never want then to be my employer and I am fine with the minimal risk associated with it because I took away so much in being able to really push their buttons with essentially zero consequences. What I mean by this is I was able to better see how such people actually react rather than just read about it. I am fascinated by human behaviours. In both cases these people cycled between begging to acting like absolute psychopaths. Shouting and swearing at me down the phone, telling me how they would ruin me, that I was pathetic and then back to begging like they were "my mate" and they were "just joking around". Highly unprofessional behaviour that I made sure to feed back to their companies HR departments with evidence. It is a feeling quite like anything else to remind such a person that all your calls are automatically recorded by your VoIP system after they have spent 5 minutes calling you every name under the sun. I think the thing that really gets under these peoples skin though is when I calmly explain I don't need to work. I have more than enough money to live a very long and comfortable life and that I choose to work out of personal desire to do so rather than necessity. They hate not being the most powerful person in the room. You take that away from them and they collapse to nothing. Learning this first hand has allowed me to be far more confident not just during interviews but in probably all aspects of my life. In any kind of negotiation I am calmer and so better able to prepare a sensible response. This is important when emotions are all over the place. It is all well and good reading about how to negotiate or even taking part in role play workshops offered by many management training firms but until you actually experience someone that is genuinely that way and not just acting it is all just theory. Experiencing it first hand was very different to any training I have ever had and while these people were truly terrible people (at least in a professional capacity) I am actually quite grateful to them for giving me that real world experience to learn from.