In my role as the SF office for my teeny startup firm, I met last Friday with a young gentleman we are considering hiring to talk more about the firm and the role that he could play in it.
It has been H-O-T HOT in San Francisco this past week and upon meeting me and shaking my hand, he immediately apologized for not having factored in cool-down time after the bike ride to our offices to meet me for lunch. And he was kinda sweaty.
We walked in the hot hot heat to a local fancy-pants sandwich shop ('wich craft) for lunch and took the last table available, which happened to be in the sun. It was extremely warm.
We tried our very best to have a deep and insightful conversation about environmental sustainability research, and I thought we were going to make it through lunch without incident, I really did.
And then: my heavily perspiring interviewee stopped halfway through a sentence about research methodology and said, I'm really sorry but I'm going to have to take off my shirt.
I started to laugh, thinking he was making a hilarious joke about how uncomfortably warm we both were when I saw his fingers move toward his top button.
I choked on my laugh and my grilled cheese in horror and disbelief.
Good thing I'm wearing a tank top, he offered as consolation as his fingers made quick work of his shirt buttons.
Good thing, I thought, as I promised myself I would keep my eyes strictly above the neck for the rest of the conversation which, luckily, we did get through without further disrobing.
Perhaps my favorite part of this whole episode, though, has been the reactions I have gotten from people I told afterwards. Eric, for example, moved pretty quickly from disbelief to, dare I say, admiration.
"The guy was hot. Good for him to just do what he needed to do. I respect that."
My brother, too, was supportive of the interviewee's choice to remove his shirt during a job interview. "I think that's awesome," he concluded.
Have I inadvertently stumbled across some sort of universal male fantasy? Do all men secretly harbor this subversive desire to conduct business in their undershirts? Is this about stickin it to the man? Or are they just really sympathetic of this dude being hot?
And yes, we did offer him the job.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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4 comments:
if you offered the job, the tactic must have worked....
i loosened my tie once during an interview, and i've also removed my jacket. i know, i'm a rebel....
Nice! Might you go so far as to roll up your sleeves next time? Or your pant legs? That would be a fun one. Can you imagine halfway through an interview pausing to roll your pants up to your knees? I might have to try that.
And you do make an interesting point. I suspect had he had a worse body it might not have worked out so well for him. (Can I be sued just for joking about this...?)
if its going to be that kinda interview...
I only mention it because sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? Sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here - the Dude from Los Angeles. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude. The Dude, from Los Angeles.
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