Months after applying, I got an e-mail out of the blue, and was asked if I would like to interview for a position that day or the next. I said sure; they were doing exactly what I wanted to be doing, it sounded like a great position for me. I did as much prep as I could with such short notice, and showed up to a dinner interview (which in itself was "different"); only the person I interviewed with, let's call her M, was about 10-15 minutes late, and had double booked an interview. So we all ate together.
Maybe it was a stress tactic or something, or maybe she just got stuck in traffic, I didn't really care, it just came off as a bit weird...and it meant that we really didn't have that much time to talk about the job or our qualifications...a bit awkward to be like "So I think my major strengths are--Oh I'm sorry do you need the butter?". We had a nice meal though (us two interviewees and her), I thought we all talked pretty evenly and had an interesting chat. As we departed, she apologized again for double booking, and said she would call us to talk more. By the way she said she "could probably get our valet covered"--she didn't, and I think it cost about $30, which sucked, the other interviewee and I both had a little heart attack at the kiosk.
Anyway...I sent a courtesy thank you e-mail the next day (so, notified in the morning, interviewed at night, thank-you the next day), and then after not hearing anything by the end of the next week (with the last words spoken being "Okay so I'll call you tomorrow to talk more about the position," I called her and left a voicemail. Nothing for days. I called her back the following Wednesday and didn't leave her a message. And then again maybe a week later, not quite believing someone could be that rude, that surely there had been a family emergency or something. I don't think I did a bad job in the interview...maybe I wasn't perfect and she didn't want to hire me, but she could have at least said something. I had spent many hours writing up notes, which I didn't even open because we were at a tiny dinner table, and I have experience and knowledge and interest in their very narrowly focused company, so to not even send a boiler plate rejection seems...unconscionable and kind of shady. I don't think much of a person that's so rude, so it's probably better I didn't work there.
But thank you for one of my more unpleasant experiences while job hunting! You should really be more respectful towards people.
