Guys, don’t do this. A man applied for a job he wasn’t really qualified for; the women who run the company turned him down; and then…oh, you can guess where it’s going. HOW DARE SOME IMPERIOUS LITTLE GIRLS
NOT RECOGNIZE HIS SUPERIORITY?
I’m a little disappointed in the imperious little girls, though: they were so nice that they demurred from publishing the haughty asshat’s name.
I’ve been on more than a few job searches, and we’ve had to turn down probably thousands of applicants for jobs over the years, and usually we get silent acceptance (that’s OK, we get more than enough correspondence as it is), or a polite, “thank you for considering me, best of luck” sort of reply. But I have seen a very few indignant responses in which the applicant is upset that we didn’t choose them — but none as pompous as the one at the link.
And you know what we really think? We want to thank the guy (it’s always been a guy) for doing such a fine job of confirming that we made the right decision in rejecting him.
Great googlimoogly. I’ve heard of some bad behavior by interviewees before, and I knew, intellectually, some (perhaps a lot) of it must be sexism-based, but… gah.
In case anyone is interested, though, there’s some wonderful stories of bad, stupid, and outright deranged behavior by job candidates in my field: http://philosophersanon.blogspot.com/2009/12/apa-interview-donts.html (is it okay to post links? I’m not certain… well, if it gets nixed, I’ll just say, search for “APA Interview Don’ts” at a blog called “Philosophers Anonymous”)
Fortunately, only a few will make despair for the human condition.
Well, he says he “is known for being understanding and for being tolerant, as well as practicing an active spirituality.” Ah, he’s spiritual. That explains the higher, lordly, transcendent stance. He should have ended his last missive by assuring the young ladies that they had his forgiveness.
Ho. Lee. Shit. They’re way more gracious than I could be, not publishing his name. No, every potential employer out there needs to know what they’d be getting themselves into if they hired this little man.
Yep, Karma certainly means that pointing out when somebody’s being a dick will come back and bite you in the bum.
Karma; it’s a thing, but I totally wasn’t just on the receiving end of it, because you‘re the poopyhead!
I had one guy, once, apply for a job at my start-up. He was someone I knew from a couple of mailing lists and I considered him to be a flaming asshole – he’d gotten in vituperative arguments with lots of people (including me!) over years. So when I got his resume on my desk I was surprised and emailed him a few choice quotes from some of his comments about my company on a few mailing lists, “I don’t understand why you’d want to work at a company that produced second-rate stuff, like you say here…” etc. A few hours later I got back a reply that his wife had shotgunned his resume to everybody and that I could fuck off and die. Then an hour after that, I got another reply saying that he’d consider a management position if we had one open.” Then, when I didn’t reply to that, I got a 2 page hate-mail about how I was a horrible human being. It was a really amazing performance. I replied, “I’ve been thinking of inviting you in for a face-to-face interview to see if you’re so utterly bizzare in person.” He’s still out there, still at it, and changes jobs pretty frequently.
I think job-searching is an amazingly stressful activity; people are putting themselves out there in a way that virtually guarantees a certain amount of rejection and there are some people who have never learned to handle it at all – let alone well. Add to that a bit of entitlement, racism, or sexism, and you’ve got a pretty explosive emotional situation.
One day I am going to do study on people on the internet who use projection and how often it happens
I noticed this gem in his reply.
I believe that should have been spurs, but perhaps he was thinking of sperm.
And he used “spurns” instead of “spurs” them on
The dude can’t even get the short words right.
How to convince somebody you’re not fit to be a science writer: Unironically evoke “karma”.
What an asshole.
If I write a gossip article about some scientist’s sex life, am I a science writer then, too?
Hmm. I seem to remember another instance in which a woman pointed out the unacceptable behaviour of one man and said (in different words), “Guys, don’t do that.”
Will another 3-year hatefest begin?
(Yes, I just Watsoned the thread.)
#9, Giliell
If the sex involves dinosaurs, you’re in!
I kinda suspect that they started by blacking out the name of the natural history artist and then realized that it would be easy enough to identify him if they gave the name of the writer as well.
PZ, you used the rudest, harshest words, you can expect a proliferation of polite pinnipeds any moment now.
“Guys, don’t do this.”
*shudder*
So. Much. Misandry.
Damn, Watsoninja’d by Og. :)
“Guys, don’t do this.”
You should have included a trigger warning on your comment. For extreme emotional/verbal abuse. I confess my pulse-rate jumped when I read that. But mostly because I was laughing.
Sorry. Thought the connection was obvious.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to flinch at that heinous comment of fascist thought-criming. I was worried I was being over sensitive.
Job interviews are a little less formal when it comes to farm work.
“G’day mate – got any jobs going?”
“Nah, sorry, we haven’t got enough work to put on a new man.”
“Yeah … but the little bit I’d do, you’d hardly even notice.”
Misandreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!11!!1!!!!!
Sorry, what were we talking about? My brain shut down there for a minute.
I’ve been part of four job candidate searches, and the worst we’ve gotten is a couple of applicants who came off as somewhat entitled and demanding with regards to setting up interview times (plus the inevitable half of applicants who utterly fail to actually answer the interview questions). My supervisor (our department chair) is a woman, so I guess we’ve been relatively lucky to not encounter overt misogyny.
And it goes on: he uses for , says “significant” when he seems to mean “important” and where “significant” doesn’t make sense, and switches between “one” and “you” within the same sentence.
That’s an award-winning poet?
http://nooooooooooooooo.com/
The whole exchange started with the most politely-worded rejection letter I’ve ever seen. That’s his idea of “bitchiness?”
Perhaps that’s part of the problem: the applicant saw the unusual niceness of the letter, and interpreted it as weakness, which he then tried to exploit. Some people have weird reactions to nice treatment by others.
Also, he misused the word “spurns” when he should have said “spurs.” That’s either a typo that should have been caught, or just using the wrong word — either way, that doesn’t make him look like a good writer, especially in science, where it’s more important to use the right words in the right places. Oh, and “superior than?” Really, dude?
Yes, those are the more superficial flaws in this guy’s sad rant. I don’t have time to wade any deeper in this swill, especially after others have done so already.
They need to hire Dana Hunter, who loves her some science and can write!
This guy is clearly an asshole, and not even vaguely competent as any kind of writer, no question there.
Apparently, he’s active in the spiritual discernment of utter bitchiness and imperiousness of women. An asshole of the first water, that one.
Apparently, he’s active in the spiritual discernment of utter bitchiness and imperiousness of women. An asshole of the first water, that one.
#NotAllMenJustEnoughThatTheRestOfTheMenShouldSpeakOutAgainstIt
Indeed, when someone reacts that badly I can only think “wow, we just dodged a grenade”.
Go tend to your wounded ego, asshole. You don’t belong in a team.
In other news, had a tech meetup last night, 50 guys, brilliant and all, but not. a. single. woman.
The only female dev in our team will leave because she got pregnant during the trial period.
-sigh-
If you have to tell people what you are…
I really don’t understand why someone would reply to a rejection letter (other than to say something like “thanks for considering my application”). If they are sending you the rejection, they’ve probably already picked who they want to hire. In fact, they probably have a short list of candidates they might invite if their first choice turns them down. So what do you hope to gain by protesting the rejection, regardless of how polite or rude the tone? I just don’t understand what someone would hope to gain from that.
Hey, even getting a rejection letter is rare, at least in my field, so I reply to each and every one (sent by email, anyway) with “Thank you for your consideration, best of luck, and best wishes!” Why be a jerk?
I think the managers of From Quarks to Quasars should call themselves “The Childlike Empresses” on their business cards from now on.
The women bosses were insightful enough to spot in advance that within a week he’d be having temper tantrums and telling them how much coffee he needed, which brand. A very lucky escape!