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Comment by jbob2000 | Hacker News Reader

jbob2000

Right, but as someone conducting an interview, checking your watch every minute waiting for someone to arrive, you don't know what their reasons are. And as the time passes, you start wondering what the hell is up with this person, wondering about all the other things you could be doing, etc. etc. and it leaves you in a bad mood for when they do arrive. No amount of explanation will change the bad mood, I'm not going to suddenly get bright eyed and cheery because it turned out to be a scheduling error.

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No, just no.

A candidate is taking time from their busy schedule and are considering making a contribution to your company/team/project. You should appreciate that more.

In the real world, shit happens. There are an inordinate amount of things that can go wrong and delay someone. In this case it's all the worse, since the problem was the interviewers own organization. The interviewer should be apologizing on behalf of his organization instead of being an asshole.

Nothing justifies the interviewers' reaction.

No, I think there is justification. In the real world, people aren't stoic and patient, especially executives who have their day planned out to the minute. The applicant did everything right here, and I'm not defending the interviewers, just trying to think about how that situation comes about. If the applicant was on time, would the interview have gone the same way? I don't think so.

You're conflating explanation with justification. Being a pissy asshole like described is explanable, but not justified: it betrays a deep lack of professionalism, and is a giant black mark on the interviewer.

Equivalent situation: If someone turns up 30 minutes late because they wanted to catch a couple extra zs, that's also understandable, but is just as unjustified and makes them just as much a jackass.

As professionals, we are called to treat everyone with dignity and respect, no matter what bug happened to crawl up our ass this morning.

I've definitely been there. Their receptionist told the CEO the wrong time. I showed up on time, and all the C-levels I was supposed to meet were gone. They gave me over to some other manager for a courtesy interview, but I already knew it was over. I immediately confirmed the time after with proof, and they admitted their error, but at that point, it didn't matter. I imagine they were too embarrassed to give an apology, and, after seeing how it was handled, I was no longer interested.

> No amount of explanation will change the bad mood, I'm not going to suddenly get bright eyed and cheery because it turned out to be a scheduling error.

It won't & can't change your past frustration - sure. But do you have to take it forward to the new few hours as you are judging another person trying to find his means of livelihood?

Me personally, no. But I recognize that it takes extraordinary actions to turn people's moods around. Saying "the recruiter messed up" doesn't solve my mood, I'm just mad at a different person now.

I used to do get riled up over things I don't control. Getting into a bad mood over this is your responsibility. Think of it as a situation to work on your emotional intelligence.

Okay, but then what you're saying is, at that point you are in a state of mind such that you are not going to be able to accurately evaluate the candidate. In that case, you should recuse yourself from conducting the interview that day, and reschedule, get someone else to do it instead or both.

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