You think eating worms or grabbing hold of snakes is bad? Just wait until you read some of these awkward, embarrassing and even scary candidate stories!
"I had an interview for a job that had a ‘dog-friendly office’ in the initial phone interview I mentioned I had a dog and I was told to bring it into the interview! Sounded like a good sign and I knew my dog Bond could help win over the interviewer. I left the dog with the other staff as we went to make a coffee before sitting down to talk. When we returned my dog had gotten far too friendly WITH THE BOSSES DOG!!! Very humiliating! I got the job in the end, but it took me a while to get the courage to bring Bond back in."
- Jane, Durham
"I had to come up with a rap as part of an induction week in my first job out of uni. I am not a good rapper"
- Matthew, Leeds
"When I was an Assistant Manager at a hotel I was threatened by the Head Chef with a huge cleaver. He’d used the wrong pre-order and cooked all the wrong food, but blamed me for it even though I had nothing to do with it. It was 9pm and I’d already been on for 15 hours doing the breakfast shift and wouldn’t be going to bed until the guests did. I don’t miss hotel work."
- Simon, Leeds
"I once went to an interview in a very dodgy location, after coming out of the interview knowing the job wasn’t for me I returned to my car. It had been broken into and the stereo nicked plus the boot emptied. The most expensive interview I have ever had."
- Simon...AGAIN!
"I had to call a previous employer for a reference for a new job and was politely told the companies managers had been arrested for fraud, one of them is currently in a Spanish prison… don’t think I will be getting that reference anytime soon!"
- Lindsay, Leeds
"I went for a trial shift at a nightclub while I was at uni. The first job I was given was to ‘man-the-toilets’ ; a girl was sick on my shoes and I ran out straight away. I was in my overdraft for the rest of the year. and to make things worse it was my favourite night out and I have never been back since."
- Annonymous (still hoping I might be able to go back), Middlesbrough
"I had a job at a certain well-known supermarket. It was a relatively big shop and the day I handed my resignation my boss made me spend the rest of the day cleaning underneath the bottom shelf of every aisle in the store. No one had ever been asked to do it before and I am confident no one will be doing it again until they resign."
- Michelle, Bradford
"As a summer job when I was at college I stuck stickers on apples as they went past on a conveyor belt. Not the most exciting job going."
- Matthew, Manchester
"I started a new job part-time while studying, 12 hour contract 2 days a week, after the first 3 shifts I was asked to move to a 30 hour contract and be assistant manager, I politely turned the position down. I was then told if I didn’t take it I would be sacked… I left the job the next day!"
- Charlotte, Newcastle
"I met an interviewer in a coffee shop for a more casual meet, when I got there I realised the person interviewing me (and my potential boss) was a woman I had met at a party 6 month before who got so drunk I had to carry her from the bathroom to the taxi. Surprisingly she remembered me and so less surprisingly I didn’t get the job."
Annoymous, London
"I worked at a jewellers and while being audited there was a £6,000 ring missing, we were then told some of the money would be coming out of each of the staffs pay. One month later we were told that the manager had stolen it and had left the country. We did get the money back but still waiting for the apology."
Annoymous, Liverpool
"My first shift at a posh skincare company was going well until I was taken to the office by the manager and told I needed the have a more angelic walk and lady-like voice. I didn’t last very long there…"
- Amanda, Newcastle
