A job interview can be stressful, in some cases exciting, quite often confusing, too; especially if you get a question you didn’t see coming. Quite a few people have likely learned firsthand that no matter how much one prepares for such an occasion, there can always be a question that’s impossible to predict.Redditorsrecently discussedsuch questions after the user ‘TinyTbird12’ asked them what was the weirdest one they’ve been asked at a job interview. The redditor also wanted to know what happened later, and the netizens were more than happy to share. Scroll down to find their answers on the list below, and see for yourself just how unexpectedly such interviews can be derailed.Bored Pandawas curious to learn more about why ‘TinyTbird12’ decided to start the thread, so we reached out to them and they were kind enough to answer a couple of our questions. You will find their thoughts in the text below.This post may includeaffiliate links.
A job interview can be stressful, in some cases exciting, quite often confusing, too; especially if you get a question you didn’t see coming. Quite a few people have likely learned firsthand that no matter how much one prepares for such an occasion, there can always be a question that’s impossible to predict.
Redditorsrecently discussedsuch questions after the user ‘TinyTbird12’ asked them what was the weirdest one they’ve been asked at a job interview. The redditor also wanted to know what happened later, and the netizens were more than happy to share. Scroll down to find their answers on the list below, and see for yourself just how unexpectedly such interviews can be derailed.
Bored Pandawas curious to learn more about why ‘TinyTbird12’ decided to start the thread, so we reached out to them and they were kind enough to answer a couple of our questions. You will find their thoughts in the text below.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
My GF was recently asked on an interview:What weapon would you want to have in a zombie apocalypse?She answered ‘light saber"They asked why.She said because it doesn’t run out of ammo or get dull.They seemed to like that answer she said.
During an interview my insulin pump went off (it does this quite often). My potential boss asked me if I had to wear it all the time. I said yes and explained I was a type 1 diabetic. They then asked me if I could leave my insulin pump in a locket for a 8 hour shift. No, I can’t. It got awkward. I didn’t get the job.
The OP toldBored Pandathat the reason they decided to ask this question was the stress before an upcoming interview. They thought posting it might make them less nervous; also, they believed it was “a good general question for the lovely people of ‘Ask Reddit.’”“I came up with the idea late at night before I went off to bed, and posted it,” they said.The OP is far from the only one who feels worried before such an event, though; recent studies reveal that as much as92% of US adultsfeel anxious about job interviews.
The OP toldBored Pandathat the reason they decided to ask this question was the stress before an upcoming interview. They thought posting it might make them less nervous; also, they believed it was “a good general question for the lovely people of ‘Ask Reddit.’”
“I came up with the idea late at night before I went off to bed, and posted it,” they said.
The OP is far from the only one who feels worried before such an event, though; recent studies reveal that as much as92% of US adultsfeel anxious about job interviews.
I got hired and quit this same day. I turned 19 and was looking for something full time. I got a call for an interview at some promotion business. I get called into a room where my new boss was sitting, he was very friendly and nice but it all became very very weird very quickly. He asks me normal interview questions: “What made you want to apply? Do you have experience in promotion work? Where do you see yourself in this company?” Eventually he trails off to make small talk which would be normal if it wasn’t weird. He asks, “How old are you? Oh wow you’re young. I think you’ll have an easy time here, you’re very beautiful. Very beautiful. You know, as soon as you walked in here I just felt something. You have such a strong energy, I don’t know if it’s that smile or your charisma.” I was very shy, I did not have a bubbly personality at all. He sent me “out on the field” along side another girl to test the waters I suppose. We stood infront of a well know bar where our “mentor” told us that the promotion at his stand was to sell backpacks for kids in need of school supplies. After he explained that, he called my boss and said I was a good fit. Immediately after that my boss called and was like, “I KNEW you had it in you. Ahh, I don’t know what it is about you my name but you just have something amazing going on. I already decided not to go with the other girl I was with because it’s your name I want to see up here with mine.” I told him I was late for class and sped back to campus where I told my teacher why I was late and what had happened. He instructed me to quit immediately.
I’m a paraplegic. I’ve been asked in a job interview, “How could you possibly use a computer?“Another time, I was asked, “Do you really need to use that wheelchair?” They were worried about how a wheelchair could negatively impact the office culture or environment.People have NO CLUE how to interact with disabled folks sometimes.
As for their own personal experiences in regards to bizarre interview questions, the OP admitted they didn’t have many to share. “I haven’t had the ‘luxury’ of many interviews in my life; however, I had a weird setting for an interview, when an interviewer took me to the business cafe in the reception-entrance area to conduct it. Another time, the interviewer was an old friend of one of my teachers, which was also weird.
“I haven’t had many weird or wacky questions sadly, but I hope to have some later on in life,” the redditor shared.
Him : You’re not into older women are you?Me : umm… I guess not. Why do you ask?Him : I came home one day to find my boss f**g my wife. I’m making sure nobody fs my wife again.I had tears in my eyes trying to hold back the laughter. I got the job though.
Last question in an interview for being a bank teller “if you could be any kind of fruit what kind of fruit would you be and why?” I said a mangosteen. Years later I asked him about that question, he said he just wanted to know what people would say. He said there were no wrong answers.
What’s your pet peeve? Told em it was people talking on their phones in public with the speaker on. Panel of 6 and four were guilty of it. I did not get the job.
In the middle of an IT job interview I got a “who do you consider your most inspirational historical figure?“I couldn’t think of anything else on the spot so I said “Joan of Arc”, then listed the details of the Joan of Arc campaign from Age of Empires 2.I got the job
Interviewer: “You don’t have any kids?“Me: “No, not yet.“Interviewer: “You’re Mexican, aren’t you?“Me: “You can’t ask that during an interview.“Dude went bright red and apologized immediately before I burst out laughing. The interview was going well and I already had the job in the bag. At this point we were more or less just chatting.
“If you were given a Black Rhinoceros and you couldn’t sell it or give it away, what would you do with it?” I don’t know what that question tells anyone. I said something along the lines of “I think they’re endangered so I wouldn’t kill it for meat. I would lend it to a zoo that could house it for me and take care of it in return they can use it for breeding and research.” They liked the answer.
If I hire you as the HR manager will you go and F all the nurses? Because that is what the former HR manager did. (let’s call this guy Hospital CEO)
Are you comfortable dissecting sheep organs? Around the same time, I was asked if I was comfortable handling a live tarantula at another interview for a different job… For clarity sake: I do not work in any animal centric/husbandry related fields.
“You mentioned on your background information forms you’ve pointed a weapon at someone and you’ve handled explosives, care to explain that to us in extreme detail?” At my interview for King County Sheriff’s Department 😅 found out from the HR they didn’t fail me for that and actually like my answer to it. Instead they failed me on the question of it’s almost the end of my shift and I pull over someone appearing to be under the influence, it’s the chief of police/sheriff of the next county/city to you, how do you handle this, and follow up, what if it was your own Sheriff? I told them I’d treat them exactly the same way I would for anyone else driving under the influence, only difference is I’d give my supervisor a courtesy call to tell them what’s going on. They were not happy with that 😅Edit:fixed some auto-corrects because my phone is dumb
Other than the pay (20k less) being less than what was originally offered to you, do you have any concerns about the job?…I was offered the job and turned it down. They were surprised I didn’t take on the opportunity.
I was asked, “What is best in life?”. I answered, “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women.” I got the job.
“Why do you know [insert name of childhood best friends older sibling] on Facebook?” That was the first question. I had to explain the story and it turned out they dated. Turns out we had 35 mutual friends and went to the same high school, grew up in the same area, and she cried (super pregnant at the time) and hugged me and told me I had the job if I wanted it.
For residency, I was asked why I didn’t do a bunch of research projects my intern year. Because I was working 95 hours a week like the rest of the interns? C’mon, man.
Had an interview with a panel of three guys. Each would ask questions. It was a very professional environment and job position. All normal questions thus far then the lead interviewer said okay, I have one last question. Can you kick or throw a ball farther. I thought odd but said kick a ball farther. Then the next one chimed in and said what kind of alcoholic drink to you prefer, beer or hard drink. I said both. The last guy wanted to be part of this and just said ‘penis or vagina’ I was quite shocked of the question but played the game with them and only responded with, depends on which alcoholic drink I had earlier. They all laughed and said the job was mine. I didn’t take the job and ended up at a different company and much more successful end.
“Tell me about the lowest point in your life.”This was after living through the pandemic, postpartum depression, and the death of over a dozen family, friends, and my dog in the span of two years. I kept it light and relevant to my career so not to trauma dump, but in my mind I was replying with a very loud “TF is that!?”
Mall Security Guard:” There a reason your legs are crossed like a fg woman?“Meanwhile I had the boss man’s Muscle standing right on my a*s breathing heavy.The rest of the interview was weird. Just a speech about not beating up people, but they made it seem like that’s all it was.Fg super glad I didn’t get that job.
“What do you think about the Reagan Youth? Or are you one of those hippie types?“This was in 2007 for a cashier job at CVS.
There was a section that they required you to fill out a writing in cursive. I asked them why and they said they would send it out for handwriting analysis. Nope out of there pretty quick.
For the job I have now, “there’s no dress code, no drug test, and people learn things the hard way here.” Didn’t quite understand that last one, until I split my middle finger open with a hammer and was handed hydrogen peroxide, gauze tape and a few band aids. Also cut my palm open with a skill saw (my own dumb a*s fault trying to do something in a hurry, was told, well you got another hand.I do love my job though.
My favorite swear word. (It was an interview with someone I’d been working with for years and he was mostly kidding, just asked to break up the seriousness!)I pretended to take it seriously and answered honestly. And got the job.
Well, I already know your weaknesses ( have no idea what he is talking about ), What are some of your strengths?
“How do you tie your shoes?”Opening question. It honestly helped calm me down and made the interview easier to get through. I brought up the TedTalk on how to properly tie your shoe and the lesson I learned from that.
“Did you take [one of my committee members]’s methodology course? So, back when I took it, he’d occasionally throw chalk at us if we weren’t following along, does he still do that?“Turns out, he’d mellowed with age.
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I met with 3 company directors, before meeting with the CIO for a job transfer to a higher position. I worked at a remote plant and was appling for a promotion to the home office, I didn’t know any of the directors. After meeting the CIO, one of the directors asked how the interview went. I said, well she winked at me and said I’ll do fine, so either I got the job or a hell of a law suit. He couldn’t stop laughing. I got the job.
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“Are you ready to touch a dead body?”I recently applied for a position at a cemetery where groundskeeping was the advertised duty, but it also entailed removing the deceased to the funeral home and, if applicable, cremating them.
Would I consider not wearing makeup. As to not offend his Islamic beliefs.It was an interview for a quality inspector position at a company that made glass Mason jars.
“Why are you interested in this job? It seems like a complete 180 from your college degrees”I explained how my bachelors and masters were literally what the company does (Both degrees are in biomed engineering, company was a medical device company).“Hmm no, it still seems like you’re doing a complete 180 from your experience, so not sure why you’re interested in this job.”Alright man lol. Funny part was, they rejected me for a better candidate and then sent me an email a month later asking if I was still interested since the previous candidate dipped
Not too bad but being asked why I would ruin my body with tattoos, when the position had no rules against them.
“Do you drink?”, turned out that this place was a ‘work hard, party hard’ environment and they wanted people that would fit-in.(I do drink, I did get the job, but I soon realized that I didn’t drink enough to fit-in. That place was off the chain.)
“Can you take a joke? Because we like to kid around here. You have to have thick skin to work here.”
“If you were any kind of animal, which would you be?“This was for a library job on a military base.
Probably those weird IQ questions they send before letting you actually talk to an actual person. A close second would be, how low was I willing to go on my per hour rate. Nope out of that one pretty quick. None of those are good signs.
Why did you show up early?
Went to a job interview at Applebee’s. After going over my extensive work experience in the service industry, the manager asked:“If you were a cereal, which one would you be?”Me: “Mm, I don’t know. Cheerios?”Him: “Why Cheerios?”Me: “…because I seem like a Cheerio kinda person?”Him: “Hmm. Most people say fruit loops, cause they’re fun and colorful.”Me: “😐”I did not get the job.
“In a zombie invasion, what is something about you that would make people want you on their team?” I used the word “sneaky” in my answer because my brain couldn’t come up with “stealthy.” I did not get the job.
Interviewing to be a CPS social worker and they set up a role play. The much, much older woman played a 5 year old and the much, much younger woman played her mom. The idea was to role play that first interaction when you knock on their door, and they basically just yelled at me for ten minutes lol. Got the job tho (hated it and quit around 6 months)
“Do you have issues with women?““What? No?“That was for programming job, I still don’t know what they meant exactly lol, did get the job but left the company soon as I found the coworkers and their whole process to be kinda weird, which is especially strange as it was one of the bigger companies here with a good reputation.
“If you could be any piece of playground equipment, what would you be?”
‘Are you afraid in windstorms?’ For a job in retail, working inside
Do you play counterstrike?
Do you know what Nemesis means?
Wasn’t a question, but they handed me a large stack of red solo cups and asked me to build the highest tower I could. It was a job that had a fair number of reports, one of which was in the interview so I gave them the stack to complete while we moved on with the interview. Neither side was impressed.
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Monika Pašukonytė
Gabija Saveiskyte
Indrė Lukošiūtė
Work & Money
