Overhearing Interviews

There is no official break room in the pawn shop where I work. Rather, it is a small area  connected to an unwalled edge of the warehouse where we store all of our loans. It is in this designated break area where interviews are conducted, and as the sole loan walker (see Loan Walking), I get the benefit of being able to overhear these interviews as I go about my loan walking duties, supposedly unaware of the conversation the interviewing manager and prospective employee are having.

To be honest, I often hear many things that are said during interviews. I don't feel so bad about this eavesdropping (which is unavoidable yet somewhat intentional) because there really is no way to keep the interview private, as it is not being conducted in a private area and I can't help but hear what they are saying. I do, however, never mention anything that is said during the interview to any of my co-workers--partially due to the fact that it is none of anyone's business in the first place, but primarily because I don't want to get into trouble for overhearing the interview.

For the most part, the people  who are interviewed seem to be normal, more or less. The background checks seem to weed out a lot of the, shall we say, more colorful applicants (see Hiring Woes). But there was one interview I couldn't help but overhearing that blew my mind.

The interviewee was a very tall man, about 6'4", and was built fairly heavy. The funny thing about this was that his personality was flamboyant to an obnoxious degree. When he spoke, he did so with the enthusiasm of an elementary school student going on his first field trip.

During the interview, I heard this tall, excitable man admit to being "obsessive". He grew very serious and his voice dropped a little as if he were embarrassed to be admitting it, but he said "It's bad. It's really bad. Almost to the point of OCD." And then he laughed nervously.

The interviewing manager laughed politely--to cover his shock and repulsion, I'm sure--and then moved on, asking a question about a time when the interviewee had been reprimanded by a manager in the past and how he felt about such reproach and how he dealt with the criticism.

The interviewee grew serious once again and then began explaining that he sometimes got "loud". It wasn't, he assured my manager, that he talked to himself, but he just thought out loud, especially when he was frustrated. He mentioned a time when he was dealing with a customer at a former job and began to say things like "What is this idiot doing?!" in front of the annoying customer.

The manager asked if he had gotten better about keeping his comments to himself or if he had found a method of dealing with his frustration.

The interviewee thought for a second and then responded with a half-hearted  response that he thought he was getting better at keeping his mouth under control in stressful situations. He then revealed his coping method to be just walking away from the situation.

I couldn't believe that this man was admitting to having OCD, being unable to control the things he says, and frequently becoming so flustered in stressful situations that he has to physically remove himself until he can calm down while in an interview. Not impressive, sir. Not impressive. An interview is the last place you should be admitting to such things. I wanted to interrupt and ask the man if he really thought it was a good idea to be divulging such secrets. I imagine he would have looked at me, blinked a lot, realized he had no shot at getting the job because of his indiscretion, and then leave without saying a word.

The interview concluded quickly after he offered this mass of damning information and I doubt I will ever see this towering sack of bubbles and giggles ever again.