a sample:
"I'm not wanted in this state."
"How many young women work here?"
"I didn't steal it; I just borrowed it."
"You touch somebody and they call it sexual harassment!"
"I've never heard such a stupid question." ht to AOSHQ
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 09:24 ||
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#1
Each and everyone of them registered to vote in 43 different states thanks to their part time work with ACORN.
#2
This is not a new trend in stupidity. I got the same quality of answer(s) in the late 80's / early 90's when I worked as a contractor coordinator (personnel manager) in D.C.
#3
Actually - at the risk of really pissing some people off...
I consider these sorts of questions to have no relevance to the job at hand.
In my experience I found HR to be a land of morons.
One time I got mad and demanded their whole job list from HR and looked through the applications myself - making HR set up interviews with people that met my needs.
#4
"I was a Chamber of Commerce Executive once hiring a secretary. [The candidate asked] 'What does a Chamber of Commerce do?'"
In most cities this is a valid question.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/09/2009 13:34 Comments ||
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#5
One job interview as a Machinist I was asked "Do you carry a gun"? I replied Only when I need to", Got he job, later learned it was a bad neighborhood and most employees carried.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2009 14:32 Comments ||
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#6
My son had an interview last week at a legal office.
A lawyer asked him: "can you show me how to touch a face thorough a circle the size of a quarter" (like this has anything to do with anything)
So my son drew a face on a piece of paper with a circle over it and touched the face with his finger.
The Lawyer said: "That's not the correct answer. you are suppose to hold your keyring infront of my face and touch my nose..."
We have an electronic front door. The son rode the Metra Train into work. Why should he have a key ring with him?
And WTF does such a question have anything to do with the litigation of tea-leaves in China?
#8
Last year one of the impending graduates at American U. got a first interview with a big law firm. He didn't have 'super' grades or other 'super' credentials so he thought he'd have to really stand out in the first interview.
The first question of the firm was "Why do you want to work for X,Y and Z?"
He leaned next to the interviewer and whispered,
"To fulfill the prophesy."
He actually did get a 2nd interview but ultimately was not offered a job.
Posted by: Lord garth ||
08/09/2009 15:25 Comments ||
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#9
Given the amount of snark rolling through here on a daily basis IÂ’m sure you folks have more than a few interesting interview stories to share. As evidence of my ill temper and poor judgment hereÂ’re a few from my past that could easily make a list like the one linked above:
I once had an interview with a large west coast firm that fell on a morning after I'd pulled two consecutive all-nighters polishing a startup company's product for an investor dog-and-pony show scheduled for the same morning as my interview. Round one occurred in a top floor corner office with a gentleman whose name was on the building. He inquired as to my reason for leaving my previous career and choosing my new direction to which I, without conscious thought, replied, "Money." Without missing a beat he slowly set my resume down on his desk, pushed his glasses up, leaned back in his chair and answered very evenly, "You're hired as far as I'm concerned. I've asked that question thousands of times over the past 35 years but until this morning not one single person had ever answered it honestly."
Of course the utilization of such a direct mouth-brain connection doesn't always end quite so well as I discovered at a white-shoe east coast firm with strong connections to the DNC and the then-barely former Clinton Administration. One partner quickly moved from typical interview topics to a discussion of whether pharmaceutical companies should be prohibited from enforcing their intellectual property rights so that "the poor" might benefit from the most recent advances. I took the obvious "patents as vital inducements that promote innovation" approach which was met with a slowly-advancing parade of horribles that saw the interviewer's volume and shrillness increase steadily with each successive horrible that I deflected. At the time I thought it a wonderful bit of theater and imagined that the interviewer was merely testing me to see if I would lose my composure under loud, intense & eventually irrational denigration of my position. The parade of horribles reached its climax with the interviewer's assertion that it was absolutely immoral to allow "hundreds of millions" of people to die of AIDS so that big pharma could continue to earn billions of dollars in profit each year to which I replied very evenly that AIDS is largely, though not completely, a lifestyle disease contracted most overwhelmingly often through one's own poor choices and that as such it would be most effectively countered via the use of condoms and clean needles and through just the slightest exercise of self-control on those engaging in activities likely to result in an infection. The interviewer never had a chance to respond as one of his partners rushed into the room at exactly that point and cut that particular segment of my visit short. Though I donÂ’t agree I understand that this interview is still discussed in a few upper division courses of a certain graduate program in the southwest as an exemplar of how, precisely, one should not conduct oneself during an interview.
A few years earlier I interviewed with a consulting company who forgot they’d scheduled me and neglected to ensure that any of their normal technical interviewers would be in town. As a result I had the pleasure of interviewing with the farm team who came equipped with questions hastily scribbled for them by HR … along with acceptable answers. One eager your interviewer inquired how I might determine the weight of a Boeing 747. My immediate answer of, “Check the documents that accompany the plane and/or its registration or regulatory filings,” was rejected and I subsequently suggested that I’d call Boeing. Having been told that I wouldn’t be able to call Boeing I then suggested that I’d call the prior owner, sales agent, or regulatory authority responsible for licensing the aircraft for operation and that weight being a rather important characteristic of an aircraft someone along this chain was bound to have a fairly authoritative answer. The interviewer, somewhat annoyed, noted shortly that I would have no access to a phone. I amended my answer to include postal mail, email (if so equipped), and all other available means of communication. Now exasperated the interviewer said in a rather condescending manner that he’d hoped that I would have been able to provide a more technical answer to his question. I replied that if that were the primary consideration I might shred the entire plane into very small fragments and collect those fragments in a location in which they were uniformly randomly distributed. I would then inquire of the customer the accuracy, precision and statistical certainty required in the analysis and would design an experiment which would include compressing known volumes of the shredded components into small blocks, measuring the average density of said blocks, submersing the blocks in groups of one or more in known volumes of water, measuring the volumetric displacement of the water, backing out the weight of each block from these known parameters and finally estimating the weight of the entire plane based on the derived weight of the tested blocks in relation to the volume of remaining debris. I noted that the customer’s requirements would, of course, determine completely the parameters of the experiment and thus the cost and required precision and how many environmental variables we would need to control or measure precisely in order to produce our estimate to the customer’s specifications. I noted dryly that the customer might be somewhat annoyed at this solution if they had intended the plane for use in the transport of goods or persons and that we might therefore want to have a few more details of the customer’s reasons for wanting this particular information prior to our launching a detailed technical analysis of the issue. The interviewer remained unimpressed though I thought my answer a nice allegory for the sort of “value” outside technical consultants often bring to engineering efforts. The irony was completely lost on him.
I suppose there's a reason that I eventually came to be self-employed. ;)
#12
I have a friend in Utah who just completed a job interview for a "teaching" position and was asked if she could have any car, what would she drive. It turned out they were wanting her to pay them to teach her so she could then teach others.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/09/2009 17:45 Comments ||
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#13
asked if she could have any car, what would she drive
an F-150, Duh! Drink up ya scurvy dogs!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 17:51 Comments ||
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#14
Frank... I thought it was a 1975 Toyota Land Cruiser with a big block Chevy engine mod...
#15
'77 FJ40 - still in the garage with a 350 355 Chevy - Holley Carb and Edelbrock cam/lifters package. Garaged since my divorce (ex wanted to punish me by selling it) in '91. Immaculate condition
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 18:52 Comments ||
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#16
not for sale :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 18:53 Comments ||
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#17
When it is for sale - my wife want's first dibs.
#18
I don't care what vehicle it is, short of a flying saucer. I just want it to have a chauffeur. So I can get an extra hour of work in while he/she/it is driving of course!
One time I got mad and demanded their whole job list from HR and looked through the applications myself - making HR set up interviews with people that met my needs.
Mr. Wife wants to know how that worked out for you, 3dc.
AzCat, I'm speechless from laughing so hard.
Good luck, dear Frank G, although I'm sure it's just a formality.
#19
Went to a interview as a librarian in a local school district. Each school interviews their candidates. The school I was to interview with was the top performer in the district.
I walked in, and the first words out of the (female) principal's mouth were "we don't normally have men doing this job; we do have some custodial positions, though."
I went to work at another, smaller school (as a librarian/assistant. principal).
#23
Tell mister wife it worked fine TW.
I got useful people and only had to scream for 2 weeks.
Of course HR never even pretended to be friendly after that.... Feeling was mutual.
Authorities have closed the offices of the Lebanese-based LBC satellite TV station in Jiddah after it broadcast an interview with a Saudi man speaking frankly about sex and showed off erotic toys, a Saudi official said Sunday.
Abdul-Rahman al-Hazza, the spokesman of the Ministry of Culture and Information, told The Associated Press that LBC's office in the western city of Jiddah office was closed because of the program and because it is unlicensed. "The closure is indefinite," al-Hazza said.
The Saudi man, Mazen Abdul-Jawad, has been in detention since last Friday. Abdul-Jawad, a 32-year-old Saudi Airlines employee, has begged forgiveness from Saudi society for appearing on LBC's "Bold Red Line" program, in which he appeared to be talking about his sexual exploits. His July 15 television appearance shocked many in this conservative kingdom.
The television segment begins with Abdul-Jawad apparently talking about the first time he had sex — at age 14 with a neighbor. Then the divorced father of four sons leads viewers into his bedroom where he says: "Everything happens in this room." Sulaiman al-Jumeii, Abdul-Jawad's lawyer, insists the interview was manipulated, his client was not aware in many instances that he was being recorded and the sex toys were provided by the LBC staff.
More than 200 people have filed legal complaints against Mazen Abdul-Jawad, dubbed a "sex braggart" by the media, and many Saudis say he should be severely punished.
In Beirut, LBC's chief Pierre Daher on Sunday maintained his company's no-comment policy since the controversy erupted. He refused to confirm or deny the closure when contacted by AP.
MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is discussing the purchase of a French Mistral-class amphibious assault ship worth between 300 and 400 million euros ($430-580 mln), a high-ranking source close to the talks said Tuesday.
"Such talks are being held at the level of experts; the Russian side is represented by the Navy, the United Shipbuilding Corporation, and plants' representatives. In September we will provide a final conclusion for the Russian Defense Ministry," the source told RIA Novosti.
Earlier a French business daily, La Tribune, said Russia is planning to purchase a Mistral class assault ship from France. The purchase, if successful, would be the first large-scale arms import deal concluded by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia first expressed an interest in bilateral cooperation with France in naval equipment and technology in 2008, when Navy chief Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky visited the Euronaval 2008 arms show in France. The admiral said at the time that the Russian Navy was interested in "joint research and also direct purchases of French naval equipment."
According to military sources, the possibility of buying a Mistral class amphibious assault ship was discussed at the naval show in St. Petersburg in June this year. A Mistral class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 helicopters, four landing barges, up to 70 vehicles including 13 main battle tanks, and 450 soldiers. The ship is equipped with a 69-bed hospital.
The Russian Kommersant business daily confirmed on Tuesday the possibility of the deal, but said Russian military experts were skeptical about it. "The Russian Navy lacks the means to finance even the production of corvettes and missile boats, let alone the purchase of large combat ships," the paper quoted Mikhail Barabanov, science editor of the Eksport Vooruzheny (Arms Export) journal, as saying.
Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said "although the practice of arms imports will become more common in Russia in the future, the Mistral deal is rather questionable from a military standpoint, as well as Russia's hopes for the transfer of advanced technologies from France."
Russia's current weapons procurement program through 2015 does not envision construction or purchases of large combat ships, so the possible acquisition of a French Mistral class ship is most likely to happen under the new program for the years up to 2020, which is still in the development.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
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MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is hoping to reach an agreement with India in August on an additional $1.2 billion to finalize the overhaul of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy, a Russian newspaper said on Thursday. The next round of talks to determine the final funding amount for the carrier's repair and modernization is due to take place in India within the next few days.
According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper, India has no alternative but to allocate the required $1.2 bln, despite recent objections from the government's accounting office, because the Indian Navy desperately needs to replace its INS Viraat, which, although currently operational, is now 50 years old.
Under the original $1.5 billion 2004 contract between Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport and the Indian Navy, which includes delivery of MiG-29K Fulcrum carrier-based fighters, the work on the aircraft carrier was to have been completed in 2008. However, Russia later claimed it had underestimated the scale and the cost of the modernization, and asked for an additional $1.2 billion, which New Delhi said was "exorbitant."
After long-running delays and disputes, India offered in February 2008 to raise the refit costs for the aircraft carrier, docked at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia for the past 12 years, by up to $600 million. Russia said it was not satisfied with the proposed amount and the issue of the additional funding remains unresolved.
The Times of India newspaper said earlier that the deal had been criticized by India's Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that called the ship "junk" in a July report. "It can be seen that the Indian Navy was acquiring a second-hand refitted aircraft carrier that had half the life span of and was 60 percent more expensive that a new one," said the report.
However, Indian defense minister's aide Pallam Raji has recently said the Indian authorities are ready to consider Russia's proposal to raise the price of the deal by $1.2 bln.
Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy director of the Center for Strategic Analysis, a Moscow based think tank, has said that the Indian government will most likely agree on the new deal considering that China has launched an ambitious aircraft carrier construction program. He reiterated that India's only aircraft carrier - INS Viraat - will be decommissioned in the next few years, while construction of its own aircraft carrier would take much longer than the remaining overhaul of the Russian warship.
"Basically, India does not have an alternative but to agree [on the deal]," he said.
Russia has pledged to finish the Admiral Gorshkov's overhaul as soon as possible and deliver it to India in 2012 if the additional $1.2 bln funding is provided by New Delhi.
After modernization, the carrier will join the Indian Navy as INS Vikramaditya, and is expected to be seaworthy for 30 years. Admiral Gorshkov is a modified Kiev class aircraft carrier, originally named Baku. The ship was laid down in 1978 at the Nikolayev South shipyard in Ukraine, launched in 1982, and commissioned with the Soviet Navy in 1987. It was renamed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
In 1994, following a boiler room explosion, the Admiral Gorshkov sat in dock for a year for repairs. After a brief return to service in 1995, she was finally withdrawn from service in 1996 and put up for sale.
The ship's displacement is 45,000 tons. It has maximum speed of 32 knots and an endurance of 13,500 nautical miles (25,000 km) at a cruising speed of 18 knots.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
...The idea of selling India one of our old CVs (which usually gets brought up here)probably is a non-starter. First, there is way too much classified about the design and construction of our supercarriers for us to turn them over to anybody. Secondly, one important reason these 'negotiations' over the Gorshkov have dragged out so long is that somebody on the Indian side is getting some serious baksheesh. Until that individual or individuals gets caught/retires/slips in the shower, this is going to go on for a bit yet.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/09/2009 10:21 Comments ||
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#2
I wouldn't argue the baksheesh angle, that's a universal rule, isn't it.
But how much on the Kitty Hawk (for example) is so classified that forty years after her construction it can't be shared with the Indians? It's not like the world doesn't know how to build a carrier, it's just that no one has the skill-set we have.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2009 11:19 Comments ||
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#3
India has no alternative but to allocate the required $1.2 bln, despite recent objections from the government's accounting office, because the Indian Navy desperately needs to replace its INS Viraat
Yeah, the Russians called that one right. Sink 3 billion into the thing, and then demand another 1.2 after they've already spent that. Is there a formula for calculating exactly how much to extort out of a customer, without making the customer think he's throwing good money after bad?
#4
India's Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that called the ship "junk" in a July report. "It can be seen that the Indian Navy was acquiring a second-hand refitted aircraft carrier that had half the life span of and was 60 percent more expensive that a new one," said the report.
I think that sums things up nicely. India's CAG seems to have his head screwed on straight.
Kitty Hawk was laid down in '56 - but her hull design is almost identical to that of Enterprise (CVN-65), and that of the ships that followed her. Any decent naval architect could get a very solid idea of how US CVs are built if he had a chance to run loose on her for a few days. And don't forget America (CV-66)- even though she was laid down in '61, she is considered Kitty Hawk class. Her sinking four years ago in a series of weapons tests was is so classified that the only pictures of it (and it took nearly 30 days of live fire and controlled shots to sink her) are of some debris floating on the surface.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/09/2009 15:26 Comments ||
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#6
Thank you Mike, I stand corrected.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2009 16:26 Comments ||
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#7
But, Mike, I thought that carriers were obsolete, because one little missile could sink them. I mean, in Top Gun, they were afraid of airplanes that had Exocet missiles.
Seriously though, from what I understand, it may be difficult to actually sink a carrier. However, if you damage the flight deck badly enough, the carrier will have to return to port for repairs. And, oh by the way, won't have all that neat air cover she's used to.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/09/2009 22:00 Comments ||
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A former Pakistani chief diplomat was found dead in his Islamabad residence on Saturday, police said. "Dead, y'say? That's too bad..."
'We found Niaz A. Naik's decomposed body in his house, which was locked from inside,' local police official Baddar Munir told AFP. "What? What? Dead? And the room locked from the inside?"
Naik, 70, who retired as foreign secretary, the top bureaucratic post in the foreign ministry, more than a decade ago, was known for his back channel diplomacy aimed at improving Pakistan's ties with India. "So there was a motive, too...?"
'We have sent the body for autopsy to ascertain the cause of death,' Munir said, adding that Naik was living alone in the house. "Tell Doctor Quincy, M.E., to call me as soon as he's found something!"
Naik's friends had earlier informed police that the former diplomat was missing for the last five days. "Hah! Missing, was he? Dead, more like it! Legume! My saxophone! And my stash!"
'Niaz A. Naik was a distinguished diplomat who served Pakistan with great commitment and professionalism,' an official statement quoted foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi as saying. 'The foreign ministry and the nation will always remember his services,' Qureshi added. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Legume! My cape! The game's afoot!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak)] Minister of State for Pakistan Railways Jadam Manghrio has said massive corruption has caused a Rs 16 billion loss to the department.
Talking to The News at the Khairpur Railway Station, the minister made the startling disclosure that the department had 60,000 (75 per cent) ghost employees. He said corruption of Rs 7 billion was carried out each year on account of fuel of trains alone, adding that the Pakistan Railways provided Rs 14-15 billion for POL for trains. He said out of it, only Rs 7 billion was utilised while the remaining amount was misappropriated.
Jadam said land grabbers had occupied the prime land of the railways, adding that the department and the police were also involved in it. The minister said he was trying his level best to bring reforms in the department but expressed his inability to end corruption.
Jadam said the president of Pakistan had a discussion with him regarding the department. "I informed him that there was huge corruption in the Pakistan Railways." The minister said he was satisfied with the client service of the booking offices but the recruitment policy was not fair. Jadam said appointment orders of 500 employees in Peshawar were recently cancelled due to incomplete formalities.
The minister said railways is a technical department but employees lack technical expertise. Jadam said 80,000 people were on the PR payroll, but 30,000 were absent from their duties while another 30,000 were out of the country.
The minister said railways officials were fully aware of his schedule but the train arrived 1:30 hours late. He said the trains mostly arrived late, annoying the people.
When this scribe told him that due to lack of goods service, exporters of dates were not able to export lakhs of tonnes of dates, the minister said he would provide cargo facility to exporters.
The minister said accountability should be held in the department, and added that he was involving the Federal Investigation Agency to bring down corruption. He said loop lines of the PR had been completely closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
75%? Really? Ya think somebody mighta ...noticed that?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 9:12 Comments ||
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#2
Our democratic congress must be quite envious of these numbers. Of course hiding 60,000 non-people within a National Health Care Bureau of 1.5m new, Affirmative Action hired civil servants would be no challenge at all.
Initial results from the first post-war elections in northern Sri Lanka show the governing party has taken Jaffna, the region's biggest city. But it suffered a surprise defeat in Vavuniya, the other town where polling took place, where a group supportive of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels won.
The local elections came a day after the defence ministry said it had arrested the new head of the Tamil Tigers, Selvarasa Pathmanathan. Mr Pathmanathan was detained abroad and was being questioned in Sri Lanka, it added. The rebels have confirmed his arrest.
According to preliminary results, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's governing United People's Freedom Alliance, won control of Jaffna city council in Saturday's election, securing 13 of the 23 seats available. The Tamil National Alliance, a fractious but broadly pro-LTTE parliamentary grouping, came second with eight seats.
Turnout was only 20%. Monitors said one problem had been that many people did not receive voting cards, for reasons that are unclear. Refugees were also required to apply to vote.
But in Vavuniya, where turnout was 52%, the UPFA was pushed into third place, winning only two seats. The TNA came first with five of the 11 seats on the council, followed by a moderate Tamil grouping.
The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says the result in Vavuniya will be seen as an upset. For one thing, our correspondent says, the TNA had openly said it did not feel this was the right time for elections, with more than a quarter of a million Tamils still detained in nearby government camps and much of the north depopulated.
And it was generally believed that the government would do well, having a broad coalition led in the north by a powerful and stridently anti-Tiger Tamil party, and having promised a "northern spring" of major development projects that would gradually return the region to normality, our correspondent adds.
As a result of its victory in the war, the government is expected to have done well in the Sinhalese-dominated southern province of Uva.
Voting passed off largely peacefully, although monitors reported scuffles, including one involving a government minister at a camp housing refugees from Jaffna who had been voting remotely.
However, our correspondent says there has not been much chance to scrutinise the conduct of the elections or the campaigns. Just as it did from the war zone, the government once again kept independent journalists out of the north, and even election monitors said information was hard to come by, he adds.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Authorities have closed the offices of the Lebanese-based LBC satellite TV station in Jiddah after it broadcast an interview with a Saudi man speaking frankly about sex and showed off erotic toys, a Saudi official said Sunday.
A former Pakistani chief diplomat was found dead in his Islamabad residence on Saturday, police said.
[The News (Pak)] Minister of State for Pakistan Railways Jadam Manghrio has said massive corruption has caused a Rs 16 billion loss to the department. 
