Techie recalls ending a job interview after hiring manager pointed out his 3-minute delay: ‘If this is minute one..’

A techie has shared a Reddit post about an unusual experience from a recent job interview that ended far sooner than expected. A short transit hiccup caused the techie to join the first-round interview three minutes late.(Pexels/Representational Image) The interview was for a first-round position in IT Operations. According to the post, the techie joined the call three minutes late due to a transit hiccup. As soon as the interview began, the techie apologised and mentioned that the short delay was due to logics. Instead of an introduction or a routine start, the hiring manager, described as a team lead of IT Operations, immediately remarked: “Yes… Indeed, 3 minutes late already…” “Culture at 09:03 is very important for an interviewer,” the caption of the post reads. Techie ends interview politely:According to the post, the manager made this comment before giving any greeting or sharing details about himself. After the hiring manager’s remark, there was a long pause during the interview. The techie mentioned that the comment appeared to set a strict tone from the start, prompting him to end the interview shortly thereafter. “If minute one is a gotcha, what’s month one going to be?” the techie added. Deciding to end the interview early, the techie said politely but firmly: “Understood. I’ll give you the remaining twenty-seven minutes back. Have a great day.” Check out the post here: Screengrab of the Reddit post.(@Efficient_Finance935/Reddit) Reddit reacts:The post quickly drew attention on Reddit, with many users commenting on the strict approach of the hiring manager. Some praised the techie for handling the situation calmly and setting boundaries, while others shared similar experiences of interviews ruined minor issues. One of the users commented, “Valuing time might be very high on someone’s criteria, especially for projects operating in Japan and Germany.” A second user commented, “Apologising after joining late is one thing, but did you give a prior intimation about the issues you were facing?” “While everyone is applauding your response (which sure was quick and witty), I think we as Indians do not understand time,” another user commented. (Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)