10 Job Interviews That Went Completely Off Script

Job interviews are supposed to follow a script—smiles, résumés, and standard questions. But sometimes, they take a turn no one sees coming. Here are 10 interviews that went completely off the rails in the most unexpected ways.

1.

[edited] I knew my answers were solid, and I understood the technical side well. But the interviewer kept sneering, saying “Really?” with pure disdain. I considered leaving at 20 mins but stayed, thinking it’d be good practice.

At 40 mins, in walks the director, and everything flips. The sneering interviewer? Suddenly all smiles, hard-selling the role and position to me. The director chats with me, I meet the team—everyone’s great. Then they drop the twist: it was a test. Their style? Be rude, watch how candidates react.

What I didn’t know: they’d been watching me on camera the whole time. Said they were impressed by my calm. They couldn’t understand why I turned the offer down. © bibbiddybobbidyboo / Reddit

2.

At an interview to be a county street sweeper, a guy asks me if I have a girlfriend, proceeds to rant for 5 minutes how young people don't get married anymore. Then he asks me what I want to avoid on the job.

At the time I had no idea how to answer as I'd never been asked that in an interview before. So I ask him to clarify, to which he just repeats the question, over and over until he gets super angry that I don't know how to answer that, then asks me to leave. © iforgotmyfirstnameFU / Reddit

3.

[edited] I interviewed a candidate sent by a headhunter, and within two minutes, it was clear she had no experience or qualifications for the role. I use a predefined scorecard for fairness and documentation. After five minutes and half the questions—with bottom scores—I paused and said I thought she was in the wrong interview.

She agreed, admitting she realized it early on but didn’t know what to do. She was actually relieved I ended it early. We parted on good terms. Later, I confirmed the headhunter had sent her to the wrong interview. © Lokabf3 / Reddit

4.

I had been unemployed for a bit, was desperate for a new gig. Had gained a lot of weight living off of fast food, so my good pants didn't fit me very well.

I sat down in the interview chair as the person was walking around to their side of the desk... and the button of my pants popped off, did a one-hopper off of the desk, and RIGHT into their coffee cup. Swished, no clink at all.

For the entire interview, they were sipping their coffee, and I was sitting there with my pants unbuttoned waiting for the big reveal. I left before they got to the bottom of their coffee, but they HAD to have put two and two together. © PM_Skunk / Reddit

5.

I had an applicant who when they came in was clearly pregnant and while she would have been a great fit for the company we needed someone to start immediately and her water broke during the interview. She begged for the job despite being in labor, we offered health insurance from day one and her husband had just been laid off.

I honestly felt bad for her as we had to call an ambulance for her. I did hire her about six months later, she eventually took over my position and is now the regional manager. © Christine Bozarth / Quora

6.

Interviewer, putting candy bars on the table to open the interview: Have a candy bar. Do you want Hershey’s or Snickers?

Me: Neither, thanks.

I: Go ahead, pick one.

M: I don’t want any candy now, thanks.

I: Take one, Hershey’s or Snickers.

M: Okay, I’ll take the Snickers.

I: No, I want the Snickers. You take the Hershey’s.

M: No, thank you. © PomegranatePlanet / Reddit

7.

I applied to a government branch as a network admin. The newspaper ad asked for a bachelor's degree. They called me into the interview. When I got there, the first thing the interviewer said was, "We wanted someone with a master’s degree. Why did you apply?"

Now, I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they had other interviews that day and got them mixed up. I just informed the interviewer that the ad I applied for requested a bachelor's degree, and confirmed the position I was interviewing for.

"No, we definitely wanted someone with a master's degree. So, again, why did you apply?"

"If you wanted someone with a master's degree, why did you bother calling me in for an interview?"

"You're very rude and unprofessional." Yeah, you messed up at every junction thus far, but I'm the one who's rude and unprofessional. © fibericon / Reddit

8.

Started as the worst, and ended as the best. The beginning started like this: "I'm so sorry to have to inform you of this, but we pulled the wrong résumé contact information, we didn't mean to call you in for an interview."

Before leaving, the interviewer gave me a brief tour of the company grounds (because they felt so bad for wasting my time). They introduced me to the department head that I would have been working for, (if that department was actually hiring).

Had a great conversation and the department head was convinced that I would be an asset to them, and they hired me on the spot. © Rhinosauron / Reddit

9.

Five interview rounds with the last interview round being with the CEO, all for an entry level customer service job. During the last interview, the CEO said you weren’t allowed to get sick, and you weren’t allowed to leave at the end of the day until all of the work had been done.

So even though the job was 8-4 the CEO said customer service reps often stayed until 6 PM or later. She also asked if I would be comfortable secretly reporting to her about what the customer service team is up to.

I declined the job offer, and the company harassed me with emails asking why and what they did wrong. Really glad I didn’t take the job. © freshlydeliveredegg- / Reddit

10.

[edited] The summer after freshman year, I applied for a mall job. The interview started with a dull questionnaire—everything seemed to be going smoothly, but then the manager paused and asked, deadpan, “What’s the most you’ve ever stolen? Give me a dollar amount.”

I blinked. “Is that… a real question?”

“Just a number,” he said.

I told him, “Zero.”

He frowned. “You sure?” Then leaned in. “Try again.”

It felt like an interrogation. I held firm: “Zero dollars.”

He sighed, “Do you even want this job? Be honest. Give me a number.”

I cracked,“Fine. Sixteen dollars and forty-two cents.”

He lit up, “Not so bad! What was it?”

“A toaster.”

I hadn’t even thought about it—I just blurted something. He laughed, and the rest of the interview turned into small talk. They offered me the job the next day. I told them I’d already taken another one. That, too, was a lie. © RamsesThePigeon / Reddit

Whether you’ve faced odd questions or full-on chaos, these stories prove no interview is truly “by the book.” For more wild twists, check this article.