| Idiots At Work - Chronicles Of Workplace
Stupidity
JUST LET ME ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS FIRST
Businesses
are only as good as the people they hire. We've
all come across people in stores, on the phone or in offices
and wondered to ourselves "How did they get hired?" Well,
sometimes there's not a lot out there to choose from. A
questionnaire was sent out to Vice Presidents and personnel
directors of the one hundred largest corporations asking
them to describe
their most unusual experience interviewing prospective
employees. Here are some of their responses:
* A job applicant
challenged the interviewer to an arm wrestle.
* Interviewee
wore a Walkman, explaining that she could listen to the interviewer
and the music at the same time.
* Candidate announced she hadn't
had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and French fries
in the interviewers office.
* Candidate said he never finished high
school because he was kidnapped and kept in a closet in Mexico.
* Applicant
interrupted interview to phone her therapist for advice on
how to answer specific interview questions.
RESUME OR RESUME NOT
In keeping with the "How did they get hired" question
posed earlier, Fortune Magazine (July 21, 1997) put out
an article which listed items from real resumes and cover
letters. Here
are some highlights:
* "I have lurnt Word Perfect 6.0
computor and spreasheet progroms. "
* "Wholly responsible for two (2)
failed financial institutions."
* "It's best for employers that I
not work with people."
* "Let's meet, so you can 'ooh' and
'aah' over my experience."
* "I have an excellent track record,
although I am not a horse. "
* "My goal is to be a meteorologist.
But since I possess no training in meteorology, I suppose
I should try stock brokerage. "
* "The company made me a scapegoat,
just like my three previous employers. "
* "References: none. I've left a
path of destruction behind me. "
LET'S SEE WHAT DEVELOPS A female employee of Eastman Kodak is suing
the company under the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The woman claims she suffers from "seasonal affective disorder,"
a form of depression, and wants Kodak to provide more light
where she works - in a photographic darkroom.
QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS
We've all heard
the expression "there's no such thing as
a stupid question" right? Well, see for yourself. Here are
some of the answers from a questionnaire sent out to a number
of employers asking, "What's the strangest question they've
been asked during an interview? "
Among
the responses were:
* "What is it that you people do at this
company?"
* "Why aren't you in a more interesting
business?"
* "Will
the company move my rock collection from California to Maryland? "
* "Does
your company have a policy regarding concealed weapons?" Source: Idiots
At Work Book Part
2 of 2
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