Now, imagine you arrive just on time, ready to smash it, when suddenly you realize that there are eight other potential candidates still waiting for their turn. Well, the author of this tale doesn’t have to, as this is a real issue they recently faced!

Applicant arrives 5 minutes early for a scheduled job interview but ends up waiting over an hour to be seen

They get an offer but turn it down and brand the company “disrespectful” for not valuing their potential workers’ time

“Had a job offer today, I declined because of their actions” – this internet user took to one of Reddit’s work-related communities to tell its members a tale about how they recently had to turn down a job offer because of the recruiter’s tardiness. The post managed to garner nearly 8K upvotes as well as 377 comments discussing the situation.

It’s no big news that job-seeking isn’t always easy; I mean, once you’re on the hunt, chances are, it will take you months to secure a position in an appealing work environment! However, going through all the listings is, quite frankly, the least of your worries. 

The thing is, companies love to sugarcoat stuff. Salaries, job descriptions, responsibilities, hours, break times – it could be anything really. 

How many times have you heard a recruiter advertise their workplace as being like a “family,” for instance? They claim that it creates a motivating and morale-boosting environment, sort of pushing that movie-perfect family dynamic when, in reality, all you’ll probably get is a toxic high school relationship. 

It’s standard for employers to want productive and high-performing workers – the problem is, though, more often than not, they’re not willing to give you the same energy back. 

In fact, it’s become so normalized that we tend to forget that it’s a two-way service and not a frequently dubbed “day prison” with a sentence you’re legally obliged to serve. It’s vital to remember that you too are allowed to have that standard and not make a self-proclaimed convict out of yourself purely because you happen to exist in a world with a wage slavery quirk (unless there’s no other choice, of course, as sadly, many are doing whatever it takes to survive). 

Now, to paint a picture, did you know that according to a 2022 piece from Zippia – a website that provides online recruitment services – 50% of 1,000 American workers claimed that they dislike their jobs, with the leading factors in discontent being unfair pay, underappreciation, and lack of communication? 

Not a surprising statistic, but it still speaks volumes, eh? 

Shortly after, they receive an email saying that their application had been withdrawn due to a no-show

Well, the author of today’s story also dealt with some underappreciation – however, they were lucky to catch it rather quickly. 

Let’s do a quick recap. The applicant was set to have an interview at a warehouse at 13:30, yet when they arrived 5 minutes early, they noticed eight other potential employees that had already been waiting for half an hour. Of course, there’s always a possibility that there was an emergency, but can the red flag be any redder? 

Anyhow, more people had come during their wait, and at 14:45, they were finally called into the room, where they received an offer shortly after. 

Naturally, the hour and fifteen-minute wait provoked the original poster to draw some conclusions, and they decided to decline the proposal while also bringing the hiring manager’s attention to their lack of value toward potential candidates.  

According to the netizen, it was all done very peacefully – but as the cherry on top, to sort of conclude this puzzling encounter, in their second edit, the OP stated that a couple of days later, they received an email saying that their application had been withdrawn due to a no-show.  

Upon reading the tale, many Redditors shared their own experiences; a user that goes by u/JelliedCarcasses, for example, also happened to decline a job once because the interviewer was late and even dared to eat during the process. u/Inquisitor_Koto faced a questionable recruiter too, but their situation was much more alarming as their would-be coworkers and supervisor were “casually joking” about harassment. 

Others applauded the author for knowing their worth and even wondered if the company was trying to be clever by making folks wait and hiring the one who proved their “patience and thirst” for the job. 

What do you think about it?

Fellow online community members shared their thoughts and opinions on the matter