Several years ago I was interviewed at Bertelsmann Music Group, and the interview was so horrible that I've never forgotten it.
The twit who interviewed me was named Michelle. I was having a perfectly professional conversation with her as she went over my resume... Until she got to the part where I'd taken a job that came with a very slight pay cut from the one I had had previously.
Michelle asked me why I had taken the pay cut, and I replied that the company I had worked for was going out of business. I explained that I had wanted to have a job, not wind up on unemployment, and so when I found another job with a slight pay cut, I had taken it.
Michelle, Human Resources representative of BMG, promptly went ballistic on me.
"That's ridiculous!" Michelle yelled. "THAT'S RIDICULOUS! Nobody would do that! Nobody! NOBODY would take a pay cut to get a job when their company was going out of business!"
"Well, I did, " I said.
"That's crazy, " screeched Michelle. "NOBODY would do that, they'd wait until the company that was going out of business gave them a financial package, they wouldn't take some job with a pay cut!"
First of all, the pay cut in question amounted to only about a $20 a week pay decrease, so I didn't see that as being any kind of a problem, let alone a huge obstacle to taking the new job as opposed to being unemployed. It's always better to be employed than to be unemployed. I was still making a whole lot more per week with the $20 decrease than I would have made had I gone on unemployment. The top unemployment payment at that time was about $200 less than I was making in the job with the $20 decrease!
Secondly, the company that was going out of business did not give anybody, as far as I know, any kind of a "package." I was not retirement age. Perhaps companies that were going out of business traditionally give "packages" to retirees, but I was about 30 years old at the time and nowhere near retiring. Nobody who worked there was handed any "packages, " not even the company's President. The employees who stayed there until the place closed down were all forced to get situated in other jobs or go on unemployment.
I attempted to explain this to Michelle, but this was impossible. She had convinced herself that I'd worked for a company that was going out of business and would have given away mythical financial packages. Talking to Michelle was like trying to reason with the village idiot. No amount of attempting to set the record straight with this Michelle character worked. She "decided" she "knew" more about what had happened in that company than I did. She was also the most unpleasant little unprofessional cretin I've ever had to contend with on an interview.
This was several years ago so I hope for the sake of any current and future applicants that Michelle is long gone from BMG. However, if Michelle is still there, and is still screaming her particular brand of unreasonableness at prospective employees, all I can say is that I hope BMG eventually wakes up and sees her for the total, complete, and irrevocable nut job that she is.
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