Stupidest thing you/interviewer have said in an interview

I'm trying really hard to keep a straight face at work

My first Interview for a Job straight out of college.

Interviewer - "How many cabs are there in NYC?"
Me - "I have no idea"
Interviewer - "How would you figure that out?"
Me - "Google"

I didn't get that job... I didn't know that type of question existed at the time...

Hah! Story of my life!

Posted from my mobile device

India, 2008 - Interview for a Major Automobile Company -

Interviewer: Do you have any idea about different POLLUTION control measures across the world and particularly in India ?

Me: I know only China has one child policy. India though encourages limit of 2 child per couple, it is not enforced, as the particular Chinese plan will lead to ageing working class problem in few decades. And Japan is already facing ageing problem. I do not think, any other country in the world has any such policy.

Interviewer: That was informative. But we do not deal with POPULATION control. I was asking about POLLUTION control.

Me: Increased population means, increased pollution. I was getting to the point.

I never got a call from Human Resources for appointment letter.

This place has kept me sane for quite some time, so I figured I’d share a story.

I had an interview at McCombs two years ago. I don’t recall anything special about the interview other than the pace was really slow as the student stopped to painstakingly write down each of my responses.

After the interview I get out and walk to my car and start driving north to go back to Dallas. I stop along the way and get lunch. Before I leave I go to the bathroom. I go to unzip my zipper, it’s already down.

Yikes.

The zipper was actually broken and could not be closed. So at least I could chalk it up to a wardrobe malfunction and not a mental error.
Interviewed for grad school with fly down? Check.

I like this thread. A couple of weeks ago I was interviewing with the largest retail company in the world for a strategy and finance internship. The interview format was 2 30-minute back to back interviews, one for strategy and the other for finance. Let's open this scene in the middle of the finance interview.

Interviewer: So our company's Mexico division is a joint partnership with us having a 75% stake. A couple of months ago around Christmas the CFO of the Mexico division wants to know if we should do a stock repurchase. He calls my boss, who calls me and tells me to figure out a plan for whether or not to do it. If you were me how would you handle it?

Me: I'd hide under my desk.

For some reason I did not make it to final round interviews.

a friend had a pretty similar experience.

He was asked how many pigeons would you find in Delhi. He was at his abusive best when someone told him he had to guess-estimate the thing instead of laughing like a retard and mumbling "no one can answer this". Even after the interview, he took a long time to figure out that the question was for real.

Applying for a technical sales job my senior year of college:

Interviewer: "What if I told you this job required you to work 60 hours a week?"
Me: (Without hesitation) "I'd proabaly shy away from it."
Interviewer: (Chuckles loudly) "Well, I appreciate your honesty..."

Needless to say, it went south from there.

The interviewer did not seem amused Obviously no second round for me.

Disclosure: it was my first interview ever for a job

I was in the last 10 minutes of an internship interview for the summer after my sophomore year of college.

Interviewer: "I hear (Bigcountry's school) has a large fraternity population, and fraternities are a great way to establish a solid professional network, but you're not part of a fraternity. Why did you decide not to join a fraternity?"
Bigcountry: "Well, I am a part of (professional organization) where I can establish a professional network.
Interviewer: "How is that different from a fraternity?"
Bigcountry: "Unlike a fraternity, (professional organization)'s focus is on professional development, not women and beer. I didn't feel I needed a fraternity to get those things."
Interviewer: "I am a pround member of (distinguished fraternity). I met my wife at a fraternity mixer and meet with fraternity brothers for fishing every year."
Bigcountry: "I guess I will be going now."

This thread is hilarious!
At my first ever interview out of college, I was required to clear three levels: technical, management and HR. At the management interview, I was grilled about my lowish GPA.

Interviewer: So everything looks good, but your GPA is an issue
Me: Yes, I'm aware of that...(offer up some polished response)
Interviewer cuts me off: Well what I'm saying is that your GPA is like a house with many rooms.
Me: Okayyy?
Interviewer: Now, in this house some rooms are good and others are bad
Me: Hmm
Interviewer: Now in your good rooms, you don't have to do anything
Me: **Crickets**
Interviewer: But you need to renovate your bad rooms.
Me: Okay, that's great advice but I'd love to tell you how I've grown from this..
Interviewer: Now don't be offended, by bad rooms I simply mean something minor like a leaky ceiling
Me: **Crickets***

Time stands still

Incredibly, he cleared me for the HR interview where I had to talk about Himesh Reshammiya's influence on Indian music.
I left with a job offer and a first class migraine.

Oh my gosh, I've never seen this thread before, some of these are hilarious.

When I was in undergrad, I was interviewing with a big manufacturing firm & he was droning on about their international presence. I asked him if those were really international offices or just plants with cheap labor...I may even have used the phrase slave labor. Oops. The things you do when you're young. Sometimes my bleeding heart liberal side gets the best of me. In my defense, I'm pretty sure I was right.

Im sure the interviewer would not have noticed it....unless you got him on his knees and under the table

I was interviewing on campus for a summer investment banking internship at Bank of America. This was before they merged with Merrill Lynch, so BofA's i-bank wasn't very prestigious at the time.

Anyways, I was in the first interview slot of the day and the two interviewers were late by ~20 minutes. Unfortunately, I had scheduled an interview with Lazard immediately after the BofA interview, so I was in a hurry. We exchange pleasantries and then they start asking standard i-bank interview questions. I nailed the questions and was sailing along. Then the interview then took an interesting turn:

BofA ibanker #1: "why do you want to work for BofA instead of another investment bank?"

Me: "well, umm (hadn't been asked this question before)...BofA is a smaller, less prestigious investment bank and therefore"

BofA ibankers:

Me: "...I'll be able to work on a tighter knit team and learn more and ramble ramble"

BofA ibanker #2: "BofA is just as good as Goldman or Morgan Stanley"

Me: let out an audible laugh before catching myself.

We then sat there and stared at each other for about 10-15 seconds. Time was running out anyways, so I told them "I have to leave for my Lazard interview now." They didn't even stand up to shake my hand or give me a business card at this point, and I just walked out.

Internship interview at a law firm during my college years:

Interviewer: I see you took an elective about public notary. Why didn't you pursue a position at a public notary's office?
Me: Well, as far as I'm concerned the problem with the public notary's profession in (my country) is that it is very difficult to get a full time position at a local office as the number of positions available regionally are preset by law and people usually work well beyond retirement age. It's very rare that someone retires from a position at retirement age, the only exception that comes to my mind is that public notary in (nearby city) who was basically forced to retire by the association because she is an alcoholic.
Interviewer: Yes, she is my mother.

A good 30 sec silence followed when I first blushed and then spent the rest of the time struggling to withold my urge to burst out in laughter at myself.

This was a few years ago, interview at a sports TV channel.

After discussing my work experience etc & the interview was about to end:
Interviewer: So what kind of sports do you watch?
Me: I don't really watch sports...
Interviewer: I appreciate your honesty.
Me (trying to salvage the situation): Maybe gymnastics during Olympics...?
Interviewer: We don't think that's a sport.

A few weeks of no news, then the recruiter told me they had a headcount freeze. I wasn't really interested in the position anyway.

Interviewing for an internship after my junior year of college in Evanston, IL. I was aware of top MBA programs at the time, but apparently also nervous for the interview.

Interviewer: (giving me his background) ...after undergrad, I spent of couple of years in corporate finance, then two years at Kellogg.
Me: Oh, the cereal company?
Interviewer: No, the MBA program.

No call back.