From Weird to Insane: 12 Job Interview Questions That Left r/Antiwork Redditors Speechless

“When are the stupid questions during interviews going to stop?” posed a Redditor on r/Antiwork, and we’re wondering the same thing. We’ve all been there: You’re desperate for a job, you finally score an interview, and the HR drone asks you a completely nonsensical BS question that’s a waste of everyone’s time. It’s confusing, irritating, and even insulting when you’re trying to be professional and the questions seem anything but. Here are the most outrageous examples we found of infuriating job interview questions.

During a “6 figure tech job” interview, u/No-Date-2024 was asked this head-scratcher that seems better suited to a zookeeper. “I told them that they can move on to the next question. I did not get the job.”

Redditor u/Magnus_40 gave a very detailed answer regarding oxygen molecules, metabolic rate, and how much air would be in their lungs. Still, "the HR wonk was unimpressed but when you ask an engineer a stupid technical question that's what you get. I didn't get the job."

Weirdly, the Redditor specified that there was no followup “why?” question to find out why you want to be a T-rex or a stegosaurus. Just pick a dino out of the blue.

“The correct answer is ‘Batman or Ironman so I can buy this business just to fire you for this stupid f*****g question.’”

The best answer: Scrooge McDuck so I could skip this interview and swim through my piles of money instead.

According to u/DangerousBotany, they were asked that in a phone interview. “I asked what they were hoping to get from that question and they admitted they picked it off a list!” Way to put some effort into it, interviewer.

Many Redditors have experienced the “sell this pen” question. “The last time ‘sell this pen’ happened to me in an interview, I chuckled that I’ve seen 'Wolf of Wall Street' too,” said u/mrfuzee. “I explained to them that I viewed the sell this pen question as a gimmick because it would only demonstrate my ability to sell nothing to someone.”

“Me: ‘So they don't fall through the hole.’ Both HR ladies get really excited. ‘You're the first one to know the answer!’”

Redditor u/TeaDidikai asked the interviewer to clarify which variety of cucumber they would be in this scenario, which delighted them. But the real question should have been if they got that question from a Monty Python movie.

This one was asked in an interview for a government job, not a theme park employee, which makes it even more ridiculous.

Do they want an answer like “white pine” or “the apple tree I climbed in my backyard as a kid”? The interviewer probably doesn't even know what they’re trying to get at.

“Not starving under a bridge naked. What’s yours?”