Okay so this is now the 2nd job interview I have had that they have asked me that. The only reason I am worried is because a year ago I had an interview at some stupid sandwich place and the guy was awful. He asked me to take my mask off and tried to debate me when I said no, then he went on a huge rant about workers and how hard it is to run a business and how good he is at business blah blah. He then asked me “if I called your last three employers what would they say” and I said “organized, hard working, timely, passionate.” And he went off on me saying he called the last 5 places I worked asking about me and they all gave great reviews or weren’t available the only one bad thing was from a my 2nd job I had during the height of the pandemic where I called out a lot because I had just lost my mom. I told the man it was because I had lost a family member and he couldn’t care less and made me feel like shit. I obviously didn’t get the job but I felt like I was manipulated into going to that interview just to be yelled at for an hour by a stranger. I never did anything because I was always trying to think of the most solid revenge.
So basically now a year later I got fired from my job in June at a restaurant ((because I refused to seat patrons in the rain??)) basically owner didn’t like me and I was at will so he fired me and I just had an interview today where the
manager asked me that question “if I called your last three employers what would they say about you” and I said my answer and then the interview was over very soon after like weirdly soon. She could have just had not a lot of questions but.
My question;
Could a potential job call my past jobs and ask specifically about my job performance or aren’t they just supposed to say “would you hire this person again”
Is my old job allowed to delve into things like that with my potential employer?