It is not uncommon for job interviews to be held in casual places such as coffee shops rather than at the company’s office as the relaxed environment could help ease a job applicant’s nerves.
However, what’s not common is for a company to ask the job applicant to pay back the coffee after an unsuccessful interview session or if the applicant declined the job offer.
Well, that’s exactly what happened to this Singaporean job seeker as his interviewer for a marketing company contacted him after he declined a job offer and asked him to repay SGD6.50 or RM22 for the coffee he had during the interview.
The experience and WhatsApp conversation screenshots of the incident were shared by the job applicant Sriram Suresh on Facebook recently and has since gone viral.
As of the time of writing, the post has gotten over 1,800 shares and more than 700 reactions from netizens.
In the post’s caption, Sriram said that he had never once encountered this type of company before where they brought him to a coffee shop for an interview but when he declined the job offer, they asked him for money back for the coffee.
In fact, he was pretty blunt when replying to the interview’s request for the coffee money back, asserting to the interviewer,
“I’ve been to quite a number of interviews but nobody has asked me to pay them back for a cup of coffee. Had I known I would have paid on the day itself, now it just seems unprofessional,
“Please do tell your next potential hires that they’re required to compensate for the coffee if they decide not to proceed any further. Leaves a bad taste done like this. Guess I dodged a bullet here, thanks for your time.”
In the earlier part of the WhatsApp conversation, Sriram notified the interviewer that he will pass on the opportunity as he is looking for a job more fixed and stable than the vacancy.
The interviewer wished him all the best before she told Sriram to pay RM22 for the coffee via PayNow. Sriram did so before replying with the aforementioned quote.
In an update to the post, Sriram shared how a manager from the company contacted him and apologised for the whole ordeal.
The interviewer had also refunded the money, with the manager promising to take action on the matter professionally. Sriram believes that was not their standard practice and that it could be an honest mistake.
So, what do you guys think of the whole situation? Have you experienced a situation such as this before? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
Also read: Employer in Taiwan Tells Interviewee to Look for Another Job After Being Asked About OT Payment
