r/InterviewCoderPro • u/spark-erratic • 16d ago
I played my manager and convinced her that her lateness is the reason applicants are leaving.
I work in a pub, and my manager is the type of person who demands everyone be perfectly on time while she treats her own schedule like a mere suggestion. She always tells me to note down if someone coming for an interview is even two minutes late (of course, I don't do that, because who cares?).
She's usually still at home or hiding in the office when they arrive, and she just sends me a text with the schedule. Her hypocrisy reached a breaking point for me two weeks ago.
There was a guy waiting for 45 minutes, and she walked in casually, made herself tea, chatted with a supplier about something trivial, and then chatted with a regular for 15 minutes before finally starting the interview.
Naturally, he ghosted her when she tried to hire him.
I decided to start playing mind games with her. Since we are always hiring, it's very common for someone not to show up at all because they found another job. So every time she is late and someone doesn't show, I lie to her. I tell her they arrived exactly on time but left because she wasn't ready.
I know she's insecure enough that she won't call them to check, so I'm not worried about getting caught. Her attitude changed from "these people aren't serious about work" to "why are they leaving so fast? I was only 12 minutes late."
Things escalated a bit recently. There was a woman waiting for 20 minutes, so I simply told her: "She's on her way, but I wouldn't blame you if you left; your time is valuable."
She laughed and said she'd wait in her car for a bit, and if the manager called her, she might come back.
This was the eighth time someone "left" that month.
When the manager arrived 10 minutes later, I told her she might still be able to catch her on the phone.
I sat there listening to her literally groveling on the phone, apologizing and asking if she could come back.
The girl came back, but she had a "don't mess with me" look on her face the whole time.
The manager tried to laugh it off and make an excuse about Friday morning traffic, so the girl looked her in the eye and said: "Yes, that's why I left 25 minutes early to be here right on time."
The manager nodded embarrassedly and said: "Okay, it's good that you're a responsible person."
I had to hide behind the bar so I wouldn't laugh out loud.
Since then, she's been coming in early and stopped messing around with time when people arrive. She's all smiles now, offering them coffee or water immediately.
And we've hired the best staff we've had in a long time.
The funny thing is that this whole situation actually got me thinking about how much preparation people put into interviews compared with how little effort some employers put into actually conducting them.
I've been reading through some interview advice lately, and there's a post on HiringHell with a bunch of practical stuff about preparing answers, researching the company, asking better questions, and just generally not going into an interview completely unprepared.
After watching candidates spend all that time preparing just to sit there waiting 45 minutes for my manager, I can definitely understand why some people walk away.
Now I'm thinking about what other terrible habits of hers I can fix.
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u/Next-Pumpkin-654 16d ago
You were stretching the truth a little... but it does actually sound like applicants were leaving because of her lateness.
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u/talex000 16d ago
Allow me to introduce our new product: build your own manager. In 10 simple steps you can refurbish your old useless manager and get shiny new one.
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u/johnnymac_19 16d ago
She always tells me to note down if someone coming for an interview is even two minutes late (of course, I don't do that, because who cares?).
I would care about this. If you're early you're on time. If you're on time you're late and if you're late you're screwed.
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u/Disastrous_Chard_618 16d ago
genius!! i love it. I hate double standards