A few years back I interviewed for a line manager position at Bank of America. To prepare for the interview I made sure to take a full day of PTO as my manager at the time had a bad habit of delegating work at the last minute . I then took my suit to the cleaners, got a haircut, mapped out the drive to the location, and brushed up on my interview skills (preparing behavior situations and preparing responses to my work experience).
The day of the interview I arrived at the location 10 minutes early, checked in 5 minutes early, and waited in the lobby. 10 minutes went by, then 15, then 30, finally at 45 minutes I emailed the recruiter from my phone and told her that I waited almost an hour but the person I was supposed to meet with never showed. As I was walking to my car the security guard flagged me down and told me the manager just showed up and asked him to try and catch me. I then went inside for the interview, thinking that her lateness would work in my favor as most human beings would feel bad in this situation. Boy was I wrong.
From the moment the interview started she was distracted and not paying attention to anything I said. What she was paying attention to was the conversation she was having on her phone under the table we were sitting at (she was texting). Through the entire interview she did not make any eye contact or take any notes. I literally had to clear my throat after 15 seconds of silence when I finished providing her an answer because of how distracted she was.
After answering a few questions I had had enough and decided to end the interview. I told her that she was clearly distracted and not taking this seriously and that her conduct was completely unprofessional (being late, texting, and not engaging with me whatsoever). To her benefit, she did apologize and asked to continue to the discussion but I declined and said working for her would not be a good fit and left. I then emailed the recruiter again and asked her to withdraw my application as I no longer wanted to be considered for the role. When she asked why I explained what I had experienced and how the hiring manager's conduct was completely unprofessional. The recruiter apologized and said she would provide feedback to her manager and I thanked her.
Fast forward to today. When I walked in to my 2:00pm interview for one of my openings guess who was standing in front of me…the hiring manager from 3 years ago. I did not recognize her name as the recruiter did the intake and put the meeting on my calendar. All I did was print the resume and briefly reviewed it prior to the discussion. When the interview started part of me wanted to whip out my phone and start texting but I am not a petty person.
At the end of the discussion I did add a P.S. and told her that I actually had interviewed with her years back for the line manager role. She looked at me awkwardly as she tried to find an excuse as to why she didn't hire me but before she could respond I told her that I was the one who declined the opportunity after we had the interview. As the wheels began to turn and she started to remember the interaction I told her that we would be in touch and left the interview room.
Best day ever.
TL:DR – A few years back a hiring manager acted unprofessionally to me during a job interview and today the same person showed up for an interview I was conducting as the hiring manager.