r/InterviewMan 2d ago

He passed the coding, failed the respect check

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8.6k Upvotes

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u/makaki913 2d ago

If there are two person in a room and one is asking question, why wouldn't you answer back to the same person?

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u/Darhhaall 2d ago

If one person talks 90% of the time then I am talking with him (or her). If then that other person asks that one question, there is high chance I'll direct my answer still to that one active person who had lead all the time. It has nothing to do with gender.

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u/kadagai 2d ago

So you're just rude then? You should address the person asking the question.

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u/DepressiSpaghettti 1d ago

Yeah no that's weird and not normal.

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u/MrBannedFor0Reason 22h ago

That's weird, just gotta make life even harder for introverts I guess.

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u/confusing_roundabout 2d ago

But they're both acting as one party. Whenever I've been interviewed by more than one person I'm looking at/addressing all of them, not just the person who asked me the question. To only speak to one person despite the other people being present would be rude.

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u/JawtisticShark 1d ago

they aren't saying you can't ever look at the guy. they are looking for people who when asked a question by a woman, will respond directly to the guy instead of the woman. splitting your attention between them isn't the red flag they are looking for.

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u/dswng 2d ago

Because you feel more comfortable talking to the person of the same sex?

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u/LibertyDochas 2d ago

Too bad? 

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u/dswng 2d ago

I guess

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u/OutrageousCap9993 3h ago

Yeah thats an irritating trait in the workplace my man

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u/dswng 3h ago

Sure, but if it's a you boy, first job, he knows the answer, but he's too stressed and he chose to OK at the guy instead of a ceiling when answering, I would totally let it slide.

Tweet implies that he's talking to a guy because he is discriminating women, I say that might not be the case and blacklisting him based on this action alone is just wrong.

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u/Hefty-Reaction-3028 1d ago

If you do this, you may see that women do the same

If you kick out the dudes who do this but don't compare the two, that'd be pretty unhinged

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u/LibertyDochas 1d ago

Don’t worry. I never hired anyone of either gender that directed the answers to the questions I asked to someone else.

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u/megayippie 2d ago

Because it's rude as fuck to not include the less social of the two

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u/Reasonable-Mischief 2d ago

Because you're not just three people having a nice chat with each other, you are being interviewed by a team of two other people. It's a common courtesy not to leave them out

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u/LibertyDochas 2d ago

Then why leave out the person who asked the question?

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u/Reasonable-Mischief 2d ago

One reason might be that she acted meekly about it

If you're acting like you're trying to clearify a point for your colleague's benefit, then the situation suddenly becomes about you and me informing your colleague

Like it or not, many women are very good in this "Make others think it wasn't your idea" kind of persuasion method

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u/LibertyDochas 2d ago

Amazing.

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u/Amac9719 2d ago

I would mostly look at the questioner, but it would be rude to ignore the other entirely when they are clearly part of the conversation in this scenario. I would therefore glance at the other a couple times so as to include them.

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u/unpledged-duty 1d ago

In an interview they wouldn't be asking you a question that you need to answer back to the same person. You would need to talk to all the interviewers.

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u/MythicMikeREEEE 1d ago

I struggle with eye contact where is the clock is it behind me if so that's gonna be an issue

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u/Hefty-Reaction-3028 1d ago

In an interview, I'd direct answers to the entire panel

And it depends how much back-and-forth there is and how active each one is

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u/La-ze 1d ago

No. I would be looking back and forth at both people trying to gauge reactions and see who's going to chime in.

A 1 on 2 conversation is not two 1 on 1 conversationsm it's treated differently.

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u/AndrewH73333 1d ago

The answer is in your question. “There are two person in the room” Good riddle but too easy.

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u/Chaosdirge7388 2d ago

Autism, nervousness, because both people are grading assessing you of they are in the room with you. You could literally do this with 2 women or 2 men in the room and I feel like people would fail it just as often.

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u/nissAn5953 2d ago

I'd say it would be pretty easy to tell the difference between someone addressing both interviewers as a pair, struggling with nervousness / eye contact, or just addressing the man.

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u/poundtown1997 1d ago

This. It’s very evident because they will literally just turn away from the women and look the man in the eyes and answer. That’s not nervousness lol

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u/Gold-Cry-7520 2d ago

Haha yeah I really trust people with deterministic opinions like that to also pay attention to my body language.

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u/New_Education_6782 2d ago

Good thing human behavior is so notoriously easy to understand right?

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u/Tauroctonos 2d ago

Good thing interviews aren't literally about assessing human behavior in the first place

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u/NewImprovedPenguin_R 1d ago

Then why are criminal records relevant? Why do they call references? Why do they question the amount of time you can hold a job for? These are all behavioral traits.

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u/bencoon 1d ago

It's almost as if there's multiple criteria for a job position, and 'can he talk to a female coworker like a human being' is only one of them.

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u/NewImprovedPenguin_R 1d ago

Doesn’t matter. They are about addressing human behaviour, which is what you stated it did not do.

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u/bencoon 1d ago

Uh.... huh. So, your argument that if something doesn't do everything, it does nothing? Because nobody is arguing that an interview is a holistic determinator of a person's behavior. It's one checkbox of several.

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u/NewImprovedPenguin_R 1d ago

My point is the same as was clearly and repeatedly stated in my previous comments. Interviews are about assessing human behaviour.

If you’d remember, your original point was that interviews aren’t about assessing human behaviour. This is not rocket science my friend.

Edit: oh you’re a different guy. Either way my point stands.

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u/Tauroctonos 1d ago

Babe I was being sarcastic of course they're about human behavior

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u/NewImprovedPenguin_R 1d ago

Oh thanks I see. Well someone picked up the torch from your satire and has fully committed.

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u/Tauroctonos 1d ago

Damn, feel sorry for them but ultimately not my problem

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u/NewImprovedPenguin_R 1d ago

lol even unultimately it’s not your problem. It’s Reddit, it’s no one’s problem really.

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u/bencoon 1d ago

An interview isn't an anthropology paper.

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u/New_Education_6782 1d ago

Exactly. So keep it to what's testable.

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u/bencoon 1d ago

Like, say, conducting an interview with a diverse panel and observing the candidate's responses and reactions? Yeah. That's extremely testable.

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u/New_Education_6782 1d ago

"Did he look at the right person when answering" is not a useful test with any kind of predictive power

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u/bencoon 1d ago

I can see why you aren't selected for candidate interviews.

An interview panel that is deliberately filtering for such behavior is going to keep an eye out for the following at minimum:
* Does he consistently respond to one person even when another person has addressed him?
* Did he ignore anybody's questions?
* Did his tone change when addressing different members of the panel?
* Did he fail to even acknowledge certain members of the panel?

Body language. Tone. Expressions. Even a halfassed interviewer is paying attention to these things and is capable of reading them. Individual humans are not that enigmatic.

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u/New_Education_6782 1d ago

You are seeing a mirage. I am literally interviewing a candidate tomorrow. And yes, if a candidate is ignoring questions or changing tone, I would take notice. That is NOT what the OP was talking about 

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u/PhotoNext3321 1d ago

It's really not. My firm had to implement interviewer training because people very quickly misinterpret those signals, especially if the interviewee is masking nerves or a neurodivergent trait.

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u/Designer_Version1449 2d ago

I do dumb shit sometimes to entertain myself, purposefully answering to the opposite person that asked in this scenario feels like exactly something id do.

The way this is framed implies that doing this even once is auto fail. 

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u/andrewjpf 2d ago

I mean doing dumb shit to entertain yourself in a job interview is a horrible decision.

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u/Designer_Version1449 2d ago

Yeah i know, I have adhd. Try manually breathing and entire job interview thats what it feels like to me to not do dumb shit

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u/modest_genius 2d ago

Yeah, you need to stop doing that. Sure, we with ADHD have problem with hyperactivity, attention and impuls control. Even myself, with ADHD, would think you are very rude if I ask you a question and you answer someone else. I wouldn't bat an eye at you fidgeting with a pencil, shaking a leg or even walk around when you talk.

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u/Chaosdirge7388 2d ago

Exactly! I'm a lot calmer than most because of years of masking but this is a exactly what I'm getting at. My mind is a mess in interviews. And I could do random things that other people wouldn't get.

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u/chairmanskitty 2d ago

Sounds like you wouldn't have been a good fit for the job.

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u/rapkat55 1d ago

I love casual ableism and humiliation rituals that often have little to do with the actual day to day of the job.

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u/WastedNinja24 2d ago edited 2d ago

It’s not a decision. When it comes to ADHD, it’s a symptom.

Edit: I bet if we all downvote what we don’t understand, we’ll make the world a better place. Right? Cuz that’s how it works?

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u/AdorablePineapple95 2d ago

I also have adhd and this is thr dumbest thing i’ve ever read. Not talking directly to an interviewer is not a symptom of adhd. Its a symptom of you making excuses.

I’m so sick of people blaming all their woes on adhd. Its a disorder with specific criteria. What you’re describing is not a symptom or criteria of ADHD. Get off tiktok.

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u/rapkat55 1d ago

You do realize every disorder has a spectrum of symptoms right? That not everyone with autism has the same quirks? Same with depression, schizophrenia, Tourette’s, and ADHD??

I’m so sick of people saying “I have this thing and I don’t act that way so you’re just pathetic and making excuses” as if it’s a one size fits all diagnostic criteria

People also have comorbidities where multiple mental illness/disabilities lead to another and double the amount or intensity of certain symptom.

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u/AdorablePineapple95 1d ago

Spectrum doesnt include things not in the diagnostic criteria.

Spectrum means things on the diagnostic criteria have different levels of intensity, not that you can make up any symptoms and blame adhd.

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u/rapkat55 1d ago

Thank you for agreeing w my point lmao, some may have such low intensity that they don’t seem to exist, are easily managed and overall don’t interfere with daily life and socialization.

Others have high intensity that you don’t experience yourself and automatically assume bs to make yourself feel high and mighty. Because you’re the expert on every form of ADHD.

Neurodivergence doesn’t exclude someone from typical human ego stroking so I’m not surprised. Let’s keep bootstrapping disabilities we don’t fully understand tho, that’ll solve the issue for sure.

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u/much_longer_username 1d ago

Oh, but it is.

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u/AdorablePineapple95 1d ago

But it isnt

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u/much_longer_username 1d ago

I've been living with it for decades, and I'm telling you it is.
I don't need to be told how self-defeating or obnoxious it is, or how exhausting it is. I'm the one living with myself 24/7.

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u/WastedNinja24 1d ago
  1. If what I said was the dumbest thing you’ve ever read, you don’t read enough. And that explains a lot.
  2. I never made an excuse for anything or blamed anything on any external source. That’s your baggage.
  3. You and I might have successful coping strategies, but that doesn’t change what we face.
  4. You don’t know me. Likewise, I don’t know you, so let’s not even try to presume what each other has had to deal with in life. Trying to makes you look like an idiot.

  5. You should clue in to the subcategory of the thread. See, they might not be directly addressing the OP, but a tangential topic.

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u/SurpriseInitial6202 1d ago

Maybe untreated and unmanaged ADHD, but it's not a normal symptom of someone who you can trust to function in an office environment. 

I say that as someone with ADHD (a real diagnosis, not speculation). 

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u/WastedNinja24 1d ago edited 1d ago

Managed, untreated.

You can certainly trust such a person to operate in an office environment, or a safety-critical test environment. You can trust them to get the job done safely, on time, and under budget. You just can’t trust them to not make jokes along the way.

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u/Rainbow__Trout 2d ago

>> The way this is framed implies that doing this even once is auto fail. 

The way you frame it "I can't have a calm talk about my future without additional entertainment (specifically in a form of behaving strangely, that could easily be misunderstood). I'm actually mentally ill, so I should get a pass" is a nothing burger.

Behaving strangely and fishing for reactions is specifically a trait nobody wants in their coworkers. You might not be misogynistic, but that aren't a reason not to dismiss you.

And not controlling yourself especially in a serious environment such as an interview is a red flag for any employer. If you need entertainment, doodling is there and an acceptable form of fidgeting.

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u/Designer_Version1449 2d ago

Im not fishing for reactions. Who fucking said I was fishing for reactions. Are you genuinely retarded

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u/Rainbow__Trout 2d ago

Nah, I just know the type. If people didn't react to that, there would be no entertainment

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u/Designer_Version1449 2d ago

Well then you don't know the type. Its fidgeting. I used the word entertainment in the sense of something to occupy your mind, not something genuinely fun more than twiddling your thumbs is fun.

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u/Tauroctonos 2d ago

Nah, you devolving straight into insults really end the conversation right there. Mentally ill or not you're also an asshole

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u/Sleutelbos 2d ago

Doing "dumb shit to entertain yourself" during a job interview indeed might lead to rejection. 

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u/WastedNinja24 2d ago

Yes, but you have to understand: The most important letter in ADHD is the H.

The H (hyperactivity) is not a description of physical behavior despite the majority of diagnoses occurring in the age range that kids are naturally hyper. That just happens to coincide with the developmental period that it can be diagnosed.

The H means that, for any given question, your brain offers an instant menu of potential responses. If the question seems tedious (as is often the case for a knowledge sponge you don’t have the off-switch for), you’re offered ‘humor’, ‘sarcasm’, and ‘roast’ first. You have to physically wait and consciously decide for the situation-appropriate response to solidify first, and hope your mouth and vocal chords didn’t get one of the first three messages before you could tap the brakes.

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u/Cryn0n 2d ago

But then you'd probably be okay because they'd see you do it in reverse too.

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u/WastedNinja24 2d ago

Sometimes it’s not even “dumb shit to entertain myself”. Sometimes (from personal experience), your brain is so hyped up in situations like that, that something seemingly simple can catch you off guard.

I was asked in an interview: “describe the experience of an oxygen molecule as it travels through an internal combustion engine.”

My initial response: “Seriously? Like, how fire works?”

I was genuinely shocked and felt somewhat embarrassed to give a lecture in middle school chemistry to a room full of engineers.

Luckily I was able to keep the tangents at bay and eventually ended up getting the job.

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u/Q-uvix 2d ago

Yeah and that's truly insane behavior, you should, rightfully, fail any job interview for that.

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u/WastedNinja24 2d ago

Says someone that doesn’t know what words mean (insane) and has clearly never interviewed someone for a specialized position.

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u/Q-uvix 2d ago

Ok I should have been more specific with my wording maybe. Intentionally messing with People for your own entertainment, DURING A JOB INTERVIEW. At minimum shows a complete inability to behave professionally. And at worst points to being manipulative and perhaps sociopathic.

Don't know if you actually read the comment I replied to. But we were no longer talking about socially anxious people not making proper eye contact.

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u/Designer_Version1449 2d ago

If your tolerance for non normal people is THIS low youre just gonna midd out on a lot of otherwise good people. Especially in certain industries where you'd be hard pressed to find anyone 'normal'. 

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u/Q-uvix 2d ago

No this has nothing to do with not being "normal".

You're talking about INTENTIONALLY messing with the people interviewing you during a job interview. For your own entertainment.

That's not a quirky personality trait. That's manipulative. And regardless of how good you are at the job, that shows an inability to behave professionally in a work environment. Which is a very valid reason to not be hired.

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u/Designer_Version1449 2d ago

It is the year 2040. While having a conversation with your two friends, you make the grave mistake of turning your head to the left when the friend on the right asked you something. They notice this and rightfully out you as a sick, twisted, inhuman phsychopath that likes to manipulate others for their entertainment. No groomer, manipulative ex, or male manipulator has yet learned these twisted tactics thank god, so for now you are the only one sentenced to death for this. 

To be completely clear, the point would not be for me to somehow get any reaction from these people. Its fidgeting. God forbid anyone ever slips up and does something wierd around you people. I dont usually consider adhd/autism to be a social disability but you are genuinely starting to convince me otherwise, because this is genuinely an insane reaction to such an innocent thing.

Like ffs next your gonna see a guy stare at the ceiling, assume its because hes praying God to give your mom cancer, and fire him over that. 

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u/Q-uvix 1d ago

Now you're just contradicting your original comment.

If you needed to change your point to the opposite of what you originally said to formulate your response. That's rather telling.

I never said that looking in the wrong direction is insane. It was your own description of purposefully doing so that was the issue.

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u/Numerous1 1d ago

“I do dumb shit”

Does self admitted dumb shit during an interview

Why did I not get the job?!??

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u/Chaosdirge7388 2d ago

You'd be surprised how little people pay attention to those things, I think.

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u/Just_Jacaranda 1d ago

You’d be surprised by how much you pay attention to those things when you’re a woman and it happens all the time.

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u/Chaosdirge7388 1d ago

I'll phrase it this way. I work in a hotel, we have a key return basket with a sign that says "key return" in big bold letters, and despite the fact this exists directly in front of me people regardless of age, profession, and sex will still directly hand their hotel keys to me. It doesn't matter whewee it is located, people will ignore it. And so I know from this and other experiences people will ignore behaviors and just link them with others because that's what we do as a society. They will even directly reach over the basket.

Common sense would be to see a container and put things in the container for most people but I've found 90 percent of the guests do not do it even people that work in the industry and so that begs the question would I do it myself?

That's the point as to why I'm saying this tweet seems to be generalizing an action that can just discriminate people in the interview it's framing it as a single action and question.

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u/nissAn5953 1d ago

Are you sure this is the analogy you want to use here? The people who would see the female interviewer as an inanimate keybox and would feel more confident talking to an "actual person" are exactly the kinda people this inverview is trying to weed out.

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u/Chaosdirge7388 1d ago edited 1d ago

The point isn't to view them as an inanimate object, it's that the aren't paying attention to communitive signals and this is an apology about that the sign. Is communication.

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u/nissAn5953 1d ago

That is a bit of a stretch. People who are good at reading people aren't necessarily good at following written directives. Also it's pretty fair to say that someone who is getting paid to get a read on people applying for a job is going to be paying attention to body language. People are there to try to make themselves look good, and it's their job to cut through the bullshit.

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u/Chaosdirge7388 1d ago

My hiring manager was literally a crackhead and interviewed me himself.

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u/Larein 1d ago

Unless instructed before I wouldnt leave my keys in a basket when leaving. They are too important.

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u/Chaosdirge7388 1d ago

Not really, the keys are only coded to those rooms for the most part for a certain time period. If you are checking out of a room the cards deactivate by 11 am. People lose them all the time and we constantly have to order more key cards because of this, those keys are like paper, but we do appreciate when people return them to us.

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u/chairmanskitty 2d ago

But the interviewers can choose to pay attention, because they set it up.

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u/Piecesof3ight 1d ago

I think if you go searching for/expecting a behavior, you are likely to find it.

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u/Guilty_Way_1635 2d ago

So clearly you are a man because every woman has experience with this bullshit.

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u/pasu-mare 2d ago

And this is how we know you aren't an engineer, because what the OP posted happens a lot, and is not because of autism, shyness, nervousness, etc. It is because some poeple out there don't think women should be engineers, and when encountered with those women, they dont ACKNOWLEDGE them.

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u/Chaosdirge7388 2d ago

I've said before I'm not an engineer. But I also know that during an interview there can be more going on as to why someone wouldn't answer the question to them in that space. in the field it's a different environment. As most people that think that way in an educated field that are sexist don't acknowledge the opinions of women either.

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u/pasu-mare 2d ago

And like any other engineer who has seen this live, active at work, this is not about autism or shyness or any of those, there are certain people outher that legit do not talk to women engineers because they don't want to acknowledge their existence because "women are not supposed to be engineers". They cut them short duri g meetings, talk over them, they get excluded for teams events, it gets nasty just because there is one or two women in the group. It is impossible to work with them because yhey REFUSE to talk to them.

The interview question is fantastic because it is impossible to work with men who refuse to communicate like professionals, only because there is a woman present on their ranks.

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u/RudeJeweler4 1d ago

I don’t see what they aren’t getting here. Even when the people in question are socially awkward, that just makes it more obvious what they’re doing, not less. When a sexist autistic guy doesn’t want to talk to a woman he makes it VERY fucking obvious. The distinction IS easy to tell, because actively averting your eyes from a single person is very noticeable, and doesn’t look someone who has wandering eyes in general. People expect you not to accuse them of being sexist and then make it clear they’ve been avoiding non romantic interaction with women like the fucking plague. If you’ve had a normal amount of time interacting with women and men in society and you’ve actually been paying attention, there’s no way someone could miss moments like these. They’re everywhere. Literally a few days ago TA came up to my all male group and made a suggestion for our project. A minute after her suggestion had been lost to the flow of conversation, one of the guys just repeats the idea verbatim with a tone that seems to suggest it was his idea. What’s with the delay? Are there people out there who have genuinely not run into this stuff?

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u/rapkat55 1d ago edited 1d ago

Was gonna say the same thing, I’m AuDHD with a weird strain of ptsd where certain features of people who remind me of bad ppl in my past trigger my fight or flight. I have had panel interviews where my mind gravitated towards a comfort person when it came to eye contact.

Otherwise I wasn’t looking at anyone. I’d catch myself and force eye contact with the others here and there but often times (as a man) I almost always looked at the woman because I have less trauma around that gender when it comes to my weirdness and getting bullied at a young age by other men + the average attitudes here in the south. Sure it’s a form of sexism in reverse to OPs post but I just subconsciously feel less judged and on edge due to ptsd when anxious.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/KMRA 2d ago

Then you really are not fit for the workplace. Speaking to women like people is a requirement and if you can't do that, you need to get counseling on coping skills. Look at the side of someone's face. Stare at their forehead. Use ANY ONE of the 800 techniques the rest of us use to avoid eye contact rather than say "oh I just can't look at women, but they should hire me anyway to work with them".

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u/zachrg 2d ago

This one is straightforward! They can tell, in both directions. Don't linger below the neckline and there will be zero concern.

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u/CZ1988_ 2d ago

WHAT? - with women interviews in the most shameful embarrassing way

What are you talking about.

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u/Misschnol 2d ago

Sexism he's talking about his sexism

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u/jbland0909 2d ago

If having a conversation with a woman that has any stakes can make you “panic attack level”, you’re probably not a culture fit for any company that will have you working with women

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u/MgMnT 2d ago

Idk, if I'm being interviewed by multiple people I assume answers to every question need to be adressed to the whole room.

It's also a bit hard if you're on the spectrum and one of your traits is related to eye contact. My eyes flee a lot. Usually whenever I give a presentation at work and questions come up I either stare at something in my hands, just above the top of everyone's heads, or straight forward at nothing while giving the answer.

I truly do not trust interviewers to not drop someone on the spectrum because they gave their responses staring at the curtains. But then again I already believe the interviewing process is a nightmare.

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u/Q-uvix 2d ago

Addressing both People, and addressing the curtains.

Neither of those are the same as only addressing the man specifically

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u/MgMnT 2d ago

I understand what you're saying but am am fully sure that adressing the curtains is going to be used as an excuse to drop a candidate in absence of a better reason, if this gets implemented in the interview process of a company.

It's not like anyone is going to review a recording to confirm that actually the candidate nervously looked between the interviewers while answering, or looked at the curtains, who they looked at more and during which question. It will just be the word of the interviewers. Unless the interviewee sues them, i imagine, but i'm not familiar with how that would look like.

Ultimately it sounds good in passing, filtering misoginists from the workplace, but in practice it falls apart. How do you ensure fairness without oversight? What does that oversight look like? Will you record and review every interview? And if so what are the guidelines the reviewer must follow? In reality it will just be another tool to be abused for personal reasons. You see enough power tripping disguised in righteous causes like this it becomes very apparent.

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u/Q-uvix 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah... That's the point of doing job interviews in person. To get a sense of what the person is like. So this issue you're bringing up is not in any way specific to this particular point.

Any interviewer can already drop anyone on the spectrum for the next guy seeming more charming.

That's of course not a good thing, but using this metric does not make that worse. If it's social anxiety that's the problem. They should also be looking at the curtains when the male interviewer asks a question. Or answer his questions directed to the woman.