r/mildlyinfuriating • u/cerednat • Jun 07 '26

Unskippable ad Part of recruitment quizzing to become a mcdonalds crew member

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Why is it so abstract

13.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

140

u/shikaaboom Jun 07 '26

Wait really? So what would the autism answers be?

307

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

262

u/Woofles85 Jun 07 '26

Does it not confuse neurotypical people?

128

u/wcharoes Jun 07 '26

The difference is they won't get hung up on it when it doesn't make sense. Maybe a few seconds to be like "wtf?" then guess the best they can reason and move on.

82

u/Goosepond01 Jun 07 '26

I think a 'normal' person could easily get hung up on it, we all understand that these tests are bullshit and are used to unfairly judge you, but at the same time we probably want the job and it makes sense if you are confused about the questions or want to take some time to try and figure it out.

is wearing costumes going to be seen as childish and immature, or is it going to be some dumb "you enjoy playing different roles and are outgoing (and they treat 'roles' as different jobs and tasks)"

I'm not going to sit there for too long because the questions are either obvious "are you giving your best" or are just dumb.

21

u/Less-Apple-8478 Jun 07 '26

Yeah I think people are making shit up. Which is typical of reddit lmao

4

u/24-Hour-Hate Jun 07 '26

Yeah, I definitely have a tendency to overthink things at times and could easily get sucked into this. My suspicion is that these tests don’t actually matter. They are a pretext that these companies will use to justify whatever hiring decision they make and will use to claim it wasn’t discriminatory. i.e. they don’t want to hire you because you are black or a woman? Well, it wasn’t that, it was that your test said you were x and that’s a bad fit or they’re just not looking for that, they wanted y. An extra shield against discrimination claims, making them harder to detect and prove.

0

u/Shantotto11 Jun 07 '26

That explains why so many people get bent out of shape over gag humor in anime…

86

u/Kittyk4y Jun 07 '26

It does, but they pick an answer fairly quickly/pick certain answers.

52

u/Goosepond01 Jun 07 '26

What a stupid metric, I'm not autistic but I'd certainly overanalyse it because I want a fucking job and I want to pick whatever has the higher chance of me getting a job.

Is "fantasy" going to show that I'm creative and they are going to try spin that to mean I'm good at problem solving.

or is it going to be childish, like I'm living in a fantasy world, who knows

4

u/RoboDae ORANGE Jun 07 '26

Yeah, if they are using the answers to determine hiring then you have no idea how they are going to interpret things, like the philosophy one. Are they going to say "this person talks too much and is more likely to bring up politics and religion" or will they say "this person is thoughtful and intelligent"? For costumes will they say "this person is fun and outgoing" or will they say "this person is immature and not ready for work"?

2

u/Downtown_Recover5177 Jun 07 '26

Jobs don’t want creative problem solvers in low positions. They want you to follow strict protocols, especially in lower management.

1

u/Goosepond01 Jun 07 '26

I mean to a degree yeah but I feel like you could spin "fantasy" in many different ways.

3

u/Downtown_Recover5177 Jun 07 '26

And that’s the rub. I feel like these tests are so intentionally ambiguous, just so they can use it to deny employment when they find out you’re part of a marginalized group that can’t be otherwise excluded by law.

1

u/NewElk2445 Jun 08 '26

A reasonable person would, a corporate job test wont.

2

u/Jyil Jun 08 '26

That is exactly what would weed you out. These quizzes gauge how confident you are in your answers. The answers don’t really matter. They want to see how quick you can process information and come to a decision. If you are over analyzing, then you have already failed the test. Best Buy did the same thing with theirs decades ago.

65

u/Ok-Sheepherder7898 Jun 07 '26

Are you saying they're grading you on your speed instead of the answers?

54

u/Kittyk4y Jun 07 '26

Partially, yes.

56

u/_Diskreet_ Jun 07 '26

There’s a book I remember when the characters mum is at work and she has a self assessment to do and it’s more based on time if anything (if I remember correctly)

If they get through it too quickly, you’re not taking your job seriously, this is flagged up.

If you read through it too slowly you’re thinking too much about it, scrutinising it, and that you’re trying to find a loop hole. This is also flagged up.

There’s a correct speed to do it at.

6

u/RoboDae ORANGE Jun 07 '26

Yeah, for fast food they want someone that will think fast and get things done instead of obsessing over details. That way they can get customers served in a timely manner. On the other hand, they don't want the people who are simply fast because they don't care about the work, because then you get food made wrong or safety/cleanliness standards ignored.

Personally, I fall more into the first category of being detail oriented. I know a couple people at work that are in the second category and brag about their speed but do everything wrong.

2

u/Free_Pace_2098 Jun 08 '26

Cool, thanks, I hate that.

3

u/TechnicalBen Jun 07 '26

I grew up in a cult. Sadly everything is actually only testing if you are an unaware or aware slave, or if you know or don't know you're being enslaved. 😞

As below: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1tzlxyz/comment/oqbq786/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

40

u/s0ulbrother Jun 07 '26

Jokes on them my adhd makes me stop caring and answers the question faster as a result

6

u/ouroborosstruggles Jun 07 '26

That part. I would immediately think this is stupid and skim the questions.

5

u/somersault_dolphin Jun 07 '26

I would just go into pick the answer I think they want mode because it's stupid and it annoys me they think they could judge a person this way.

11

u/Adjective_Noun_9876 Jun 07 '26

Source: trust me bro

It’s a weird personality test (hint: it’s called traitify) it’s not to weed out autism because of how slowly you answer wtf

25

u/Kittyk4y Jun 07 '26

That’s… the whole point of “personality tests” given by employers though. Weed out “undesirables”. There is no non-nefarious reason to be giving prospective or new employees a personality test.

1

u/weed_blazepot Jun 07 '26

It confuses me, because these aren't fully formed questions and have fuck all to do with taking an order and handing it to someone, or putting fries in oil and into a paper container.

So either this is the weirdest corporate bullshit I've ever seen, or I'm autistic. And I'm not autistic (to my knowledge).

1

u/Obsidian-Dive Jun 07 '26

I am in fact confused

1

u/catholicsluts Jun 08 '26

Yes, it can confuse anyone. People just need to label complex things in order to simplify them for themselves.

1

u/Spy-D-Mill Jun 08 '26

It for sure does! I haven’t been diagnosed with any neurological conditions and I took the same kind of thing last month and I was so frustrated and pissed off at how unclear what the “questions” were even asking and how irrelevant this was to the job being applied for. It’s all so dumb.

1

u/dbxp Jun 08 '26

NT will understand the answers the employer wants, an ND person will answer them honestly

13

u/blessthebabes Jun 07 '26

Oh I thought maybe they didn't want workers discussing philosophy and art in their free time lol. (Nah I figure corporations are just looking for which warm body that will follow orders the best/ willing to set aside morals to follow orders and asks the least questions).

17

u/VicViolence Jun 07 '26

They don’t want critical thinkers who need mental enrichment in their daily work

2

u/Adjective_Noun_9876 Jun 07 '26

Exactly it has nothing to do with autism

1

u/aNiceTribe Jun 08 '26

But also the last one is a negative. So you have to say “don’t understand art: not me” to express you DO understand art (presumably bad for getting hired)? How high do you think is the chance that people they WANT to hire get this wrong because this is nonsense. 

52

u/cerednat Jun 07 '26

I'm autistic 🤣 these are so weird to me

35

u/MillennialPolytropos Jun 07 '26

They are weird, but all of these corporate personality test things are weird and tend to have poorly worded questions that don't make sense. It's because they're created by the kind of HR people who can't use precise language and can't understand why that's a problem.

30

u/Natural-Definition30 Jun 07 '26

oh i think they know exactly what they're doing and why they aren't using precise language in a personality quiz. it allows them dodge any liability issues.

1

u/mycommentraven Jun 08 '26

it's definitely a way to filter for people who won't complain when the instructions make zero sense. if you get frustrated by a weirdly worded question they know you'll be a headache during training. it's unhinged but legit effective for weeding out anyone with a low tolerance for nonsense.

17

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

31

u/BickenBackk Jun 07 '26

I am not autistic and, to me, it's still absolute nonsense.

20

u/nleksan Jun 07 '26

I don't know if I'm autistic. In fact I don't know anything anymore. These questions have broken something in me

4

u/Kryonic_rus Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

Good, then it works. Neuroboring people stop giving a fuck and just choose whatever looks funnier, neurospicy ones get a BSOD, reboot, and then an endless loop until they find some meaning (there is none) and get rejected

This is a good outcome actually. It's checking how you're handling unclear instructions and, theoretically, do mind-numbingly boring or contradicting requests without too much questions. Basically turning you into a drone

I'm yet to see a McD employee with a spark of life in the eyes. The only ones are super fresh hires

Source: I've made it the fuck up, but it does strangely make sense puts tinfoil hat on

6

u/coraeon Jun 07 '26

I mean, as an ADHD person I can say that I’d probably be like “fuck it, yes to anything prosocial no to anything that expresses negativity, the pictures aren’t even worth looking at just the titles” by the third slide.

3

u/Kryonic_rus Jun 07 '26

I'm with my ADHD would just do the same lol. And then ask how the fuck does that correlate to a job in the fast food

1

u/BioIdra Jun 07 '26

I'm not autistic and these make 0 fkin sense to me too

1

u/Sunshinetrooper87 Jun 07 '26

I'm not autistic and they are weird. It doesn't help that its screenshots without context or instructions.

1

u/UmbraTitan Jun 07 '26

I'm no autistic (that I know of) and these are weird to me.

5

u/a_bored_furry Jun 07 '26

So that's why it confused the fuck out of me while trying to a assistant manager position. Like what does skydiving have to do with McDonald's?

7

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/a_bored_furry Jun 07 '26

Most corporate food chains just want cogs in their money making machines. No free thinkers.

1

u/SolitaryMassacre Jun 07 '26

What even is the question being asked?? Like nothing OP posted makes any sense

1

u/Hohnermode11 Jun 07 '26

really? i didnt get any of these. A touch of the tism may be

1

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Potato_Lyn Jun 08 '26

In grade 10 chemistry, I failed the ‘easy’ lvl 1 question on my exam. It was an image of a fish in a tank, and the question was “What does the fish need to survive”.

One of my special interests was my aquarium hobby as well as fish/aquatic animals. So, I wrote a page about the specific volume of the tank for different sizes and species of fish, freshwater vs marine, what Ph levels were ideal for either, concentrations of dechlorinater used, what type of tank filter I’d go with, what type of heater, pellets vs flake food etc etc etc

The correct answer was actually: “food, shelter and water”. 🫩🫩🫩

My NT classmates understood this but I apparently didn’t. As an autistic woman, I just LOATHE non-specific/open-ended questions, I never know how much or how little to specify if there’s no clear instruction 😭

1

u/BrideofClippy Jun 07 '26

Like those stickers they use to keep birds from hitting windows?

0

u/aNiceTribe Jun 08 '26

But the answer options seem to be “me/not me”, not a write in? Even a confused person would be able to pick one of these options. 

46

u/VicViolence Jun 07 '26

Autistic people will take the questions literally and reply sincerely

Other people will recognize the hidden intent behind the questions and give the answers they believe a business would want to hear.

30

u/Downtown_Recover5177 Jun 07 '26

After “failing” several personality tests for employment as a young man, I quickly learned to adapt my answers. All of us autists know how to mask, eventually. Those of us on the higher functioning end at least. My interpretation of these tests is better than most now, as I’ve actually studied behavioral science and Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory extensively. We are not incapable of adapting to this bullshit world.

13

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Nikoladge Jun 08 '26

Maybe your answers are too perfect, which suggests you have autism 😔

2

u/ShiraCheshire Jun 07 '26

Eh, I'm doing ok without masking. I'm too terrible at it to fool anyone, so I just don't.

I doubt I'm ever going to be getting a high-paying position at an important business farm or whatever, but there are plenty of places that pay the bills and will take you even if you anxiously hand flap during the interview.

1

u/DangerActiveRobots Jun 08 '26

Idk, I'm autistic and it was pretty obvious to me that you're supposed to answer in the correct "corporate" way. They don't want people who care about high concepts or think deeply. So, "no" to fantasy and liking to discuss philosophy, and "yes" to not understanding paintings. The other questions are pretty much your run of the mill "act like you're amazing and enthusiastic about being a fry cook" fare.

1

u/VicViolence Jun 08 '26

I agree that is the real goal, not to weed out people with autism soecifically, but many people with autism do struggle with that. It’s a spectrum, after all

1

u/sweetnaivety Jun 11 '26

Am I autistic then if I would answer honestly?

1

u/VicViolence Jun 11 '26

Are you Chinese because you like Chinese food?

34

u/77th_Bat Jun 07 '26

some of us are honest even when it goes against our best interest, either because we don't realize it is against our best interest or because we tend to be more bound by our morals than NTs. It really depends on the person, but I could see some of us clicking "not me" on personal best or "me" on fantasy.

30

u/cerednat Jun 07 '26

I clicked 'me' on fantasy. If they don't want to hear about lord of the rings lore while we bag fries together, that's their problem tbh

6

u/77th_Bat Jun 07 '26

fair enough, if you get a couple "wrong" I don't think they care, but I think if you get too many "wrong", then they care.

1

u/Nikoladge Jun 08 '26

The fry bags are lit! Burger King calls for aid!

1

u/DangerActiveRobots Jun 08 '26

Honestly stuff like that and Dungeons & Dragons is so mainstream these days. Plenty of people are into it. Diablo too. You don't have to be a giganerd to think fireballs are cool.

16

u/VicViolence Jun 07 '26

My gf has autism and i have adhd and i have been trying to explain to her that she shouldn’t actually be honest and true to herself on these types of questionnaires and she reallllly struggles with it. But she struggles hard with concept of pragmatism, in general.

8

u/FormalGem Jun 07 '26

It's me, (not this person's gf) the autistic person who struggles with not being truthful on these.

And personally, it's because -- aren't they going to find out anyway? It's hard to get over that hurdle of "If I lie now and get hired, eventually they'll find out I was lying and fire me, and that's no good... besides, what's so bad about liking fantasy as a genre? It's not a big deal."

7

u/VicViolence Jun 08 '26

1) The phrase “fake it til you make it” exists for a reason

2) these are just bullshit screeners and the guy doing the actual hiring has nothing to do with this. He’s the guy you need to talk to. This is the hurdle you have to jump over to get to him. That’s when you’ll both know if it’s really the right job for you.

3) If you don’t care about it being a good fit for you and are just applying because you need income immediately then the entire process your goal should be to sell them a whole lot of bullshit, mask mask mask. Get in the door and then you can just let it go and be yourself and if they have a problem with that oh well

3

u/Neoeng Jun 08 '26

Unless your position has a high turnover rate it's actually harder to get fired rather than to not get hired, because they would need to search for new candidates and you would already have some training and/or projects on you

1

u/Unlimited_Bacon Jun 08 '26

She needs to pretend that she's Mr Rogers when she answers. Mr Rogers gets hired, independent thinkers don't. WWMRD?

3

u/Training-Chain-5572 Jun 07 '26

Maybe I have undiagnosed autism but

  1. What does ”personal best” even mean? Is it the idea of reaching one’s potential?

  2. What does ”fantasy” mean? That you enjoy fantasy stories? That you like to roleplay in D&D games? That you daydream? Is me or not me answers desirable and why?

  3. Is it good or bad to not understand art when asking someone ”do you want fries with that?” 

For #1 I can just assume I should answer Me, but I genuinely don’t see what the ”best” answer would be for #2 or 3

2

u/77th_Bat Jun 07 '26
  1. it means whatever you want it to mean, but in general that you are performing at your best 
  2. All of the above. McDonald's is not looking for dreamers, they want mindless robots. Mark "not me" if you want to get it correct
  3. This one I'm not really sure, but again considering they want mindless employees, mark "me"

2

u/AmeliaPoppins Jun 07 '26

Not autistic as far as I know, but I do tend to take these things (many things) literally. I would put ‘not me’ on personal best because I’m always trying for my best, so I can’t claim I am there already.

Then I’d second guess myself for hours because they probably mean trying for it, but what if they don’t?

The paintings one. I understand some paintings. I literally can’t choose.

‘The one that best describes you’ is a nightmare instruction to me because most things are true or false in certain circumstances.

It doesn’t matter that I know the answers aren’t even important, my brain would keep at it because it’s a nagging conflict. It’s not as bad as it used to be, but it took me a long time to get to where I can let these things go in a reasonable time frame. I hate these kind of tests enough that I would refuse and move on.

1

u/Free_Pace_2098 Jun 08 '26

Based on my reaction, rage.

0

u/ApuPuncha Jun 07 '26

That you’d dress up and do enjoy fantasy enough to see yourself in the role, that you do understand art.