18 Stories That Will Make You Appreciate Your Job Even More

When looking for a job, we may get carried away by the excitement, the challenge of doing something new, or a promising salary. However, there are certain “red flags” that warn us that not everything is as nice as it may seem. These internet users have shared anecdotes of job interviews where they realized it was better to run away as soon as possible.

• I remember an interview I had years ago where the boss clicked every red flag imaginable. When I asked about wages and raises, he said it’s all performance-based, and they come randomly. There’s no yearly raise or performance review, just whenever he deems it necessary. So never. Asked him about paid time off, and he said there’s no pay unless you work. © milkyn***les** / Reddit
• The phrase “work hard, play hard” generally means overworked most of the time and the occasional office party. © 1—1----1-1-1---1 / Reddit
• I work for a “flexible” company. It’s really flexible with sudden work or projects that need to be done in a month but would normally take three. © goshetovan / Reddit
• “Might have to do weekends occasionally,” which for me meant working every weekend. Left that job real quick. © BisonWeird147 / Reddit

• When they say, “We all wear many hats here,” it means, “You will do the work of 3 people, but we will only pay you for one.” © ScorpionX-123 / Reddit
• You have to submit multiple forms of media even before an interview is offered. Submit a complete resume & cover letter to the advert on the job website, then get redirected to the company website, where you gotta copy and paste your resume/cover letter into their own fields. Afterward, fill out a personality test, or the worst one of all: “Please submit a short 5-minute video telling us about yourself and why you want to work for our company.” Do you want to hire or not? Stop making the application process so difficult. © crazylittleEntity / Reddit
• My former boss said in an interview with a local paper that the company was like a family. A few weeks before, he had fired about half of the staff. © Lvcivs2311 / Reddit

• The strangest interview I’ve ever been on was made out of red flags. They told me, “We’re not legally allowed to require this, but we demand that you do it voluntarily.” They didn’t pay overtime, but everyone volunteered to work 2-3 hours every single day, just because the company deserves it. The last part of the interview was: “When you make a mistake, our accountants will calculate how much money your mistake will cost the company. Will you commit to voluntarily pay the company the amount of money you cost them?” © Oudeis16 / Reddit
• I think the worst interview I had was when I was told I didn’t have enough experience to do accounting, despite a degree and 4 years of experience, but I’d be great as an admin assistant. Then he spent the whole time talking about how admin assistants didn’t know how to do anything. He wanted people to walk in knowing everything without training. © jenh6 / Reddit
• When they offer you the job on the spot, it means they’re desperate and willing to overlook general precautions in the hiring process. It also usually means people leave that job frequently. © YouGottaGetItGoinBud / Reddit

• Not smiling. Seriously, if they can’t muster up a fake smile for a job interview, just imagine their attitude when they aren’t trying to impress you. © jtsara / Reddit
• I always ask the interviewer to rate or describe the current state of employee morale. I don’t expect them to tell me it is “puppies and rainbows,” but if they struggle or have to beat around the bush to say, “People don’t hate working here,” that is a huge flag to me. © Commercial_Yak7468 / Reddit
• They give you the tour, but won’t let you talk to anyone — including the people on the team that you’ll theoretically be managing after your potential hire. © ThadisJones / Reddit
• Here are a few red flag questions I was asked for an interview for reimbursement analyst at a health company:
  How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
  How do you get an elephant into a refrigerator?
  What is the first thing you would do during an apocalypse?
  If you could be a fictional character, who would it be and why? © QueenGreen5875 / Reddit

What is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you in a job interview?