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Interviewers Reveal The Worst Candidates They've Ever Seen

You would think that people who have a job interview would show up at least somewhat prepared. You'd be wrong.

scorpioskillz asked interviewers of Reddit: What's the worst interview you have ever conducted?

Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.


When the prospect doesn't know what a job is.

Had an older gentleman interview. At the end I explained that the background check form is sent to his email and all he has to do is go fill it out. He didn't understand this concept at all, despite me explaining it 4 times. He kept asking me where he would have to take the paper work, I said there is no paperwork it's just a form you fill out online (like our application) & it's all done electronically. He then asked who does it, I told him the company name, & he insisted that somehow our county would need to process the information & how did he do that? I kept telling him, all you do is open the email, click the link, fill it out and click submit. Boom done... he left still confused and said he'd have someone at home explain it.

Crazy enough we did hire this guy and when I called him to schedule his orientation he yelled at me because the 4pm class time was too late, even though I had told him there was also a 9am morning class the next week he could attend. He still kept yelling about how "no one wants to do it that late, we have lives, my day's already started I can't interrupt my day that late." He had no concept that 1. We hire people for 3rd shift jobs or people who already have day jobs and 2. The world does not revolve around your ideal schedule.

To answer a few questions, we were just hiring for very basic warehouse work and if you pass a background your pretty much automatically hired. We were in peak season and desperately needed people so we said f--- it, he's seasonal and will be gone in a month anyway. He did apologize profusely at the end of the phone call and didn't cause any more issues after that phone call, thank god. But I still kept my distance from him.

httphaimish

Oh no!

Had a young gentleman come in, not dressed for the occasion posture was horrible as he was slouched over on the table. The interview committee introduces themselves and give him the chance for an introduction. He just says "Look, I'm going to be real honest. My dad is making me go on interviews or else he's going to stop paying my bills." We continued through the interview and he actually answered questions genuinely but it sucked wasting time on somebody we knew we were not going to give the position.

el_monstrou

...WHY continue the interview?

Please answer, I have always wanted to know why the interview goes past the time when there is no way a hire will happen. Just end it for god's sake.

NewAeon

It's a legal thing (at least where I interviewed and hired folks). If you don't go through the same process for each candidate, they can claim discrimination. It's fairly rare to get blatantly bogus job applicants but they're probably the type of people who will be the most litigious if they see an opportunity. Most companies would rather waste an hour of time and wages than pay legal fees and damages to someone who never worked there to begin with.

helpelesscougarbait

Uh, what?

Had a lady show up and interviewed with her child and husband. I told her she was welcome to let them sit in the lobby while we interviewed, but for some reason she declined. So we did an entire interview while she held a toddler.

last_711_hotdog

Did the kid get the job?

Apple--Eater

Congratulations, you all get a job, we're a family friendly company.

meow_747

When punctuality is a foreign concept.

I was interviewing at a hiring event, and had a few people scheduled for interviews that completed the application online and did the pre-screening interview over the phone. For people that did not, they could get stuck there for over an hour waiting to go through the multi-step process, so I took appointment times seriously. I was the only person hiring for my department so anyone applying for anything in housekeeping had to do an interview with me, specifically.

One girl was not on time for her appointment so I started working through the other 6 or so applicants that had already been there 45 minutes. Shortly after I started one interview the girl finally showed up, about 25 minutes late. The woman signing everyone in happened to be the recruitment manager for the region, and the girl that showed up late was rude to her when she wasn't immediately sent to me to interview. The recruitment manager told her that I was with someone and would be available soon, but the girl could not believe how rude we were to "bump" her appointment and not be available for her. She got up to complain to the recruiter several times, called her unprofessional and disorganized, and sh!t like that. So I got done with the interview I was in and the recruitment manager pulled me aside to warn me.

At this point I'm just humoring the girl and planned to do a quick 3-5 minute interview so I could get to better applicants. This girl told me how incompetent the "receptionist" was on our walk to the interview room. I asked the same basic questions I ask everyone and instead of talking herself up she explained that every coworker she ever has is horrible and lazy. She said that as a mother of 2 she's much more organized than other people. She insinuated that I was incompetent at my job for not being able to see her right when she walked in. Like I felt like I had to defend myself during her interview it was so bad. She was a horrible person! Don't know why she thought insulting everyone would get her a job.

RaineBearNW

Times have changed, mom.

Easy.

I was interviewing for a junior programmer position. We were looking for someone to train for a cheaper rate.

Kid pretty fresh out of college shows up for the interview with his mom. Now, this is OK. Things happen sometimes. One time a girl's car was in the shop. One time it was over 100° outside and dad asked if he could sit in the lobby. No big deal.

But this mom insisted on going into the interview room with her son. I asked her if she planned to show up to work with him every day for his full shift. She said no so then I told her that I was going to have to interview him alone.

At this, she INSISTED that she go into the interview room with him and she WOULD NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER.

So I responded with, "OK, in that case, this interview is over." The kid got the biggest grin I have ever seen at seeing his mother punished for this sort of behavior. I genuinely hope that he could finally cut the cord and make something out of his life.

PRMan99

Something tells me that was a case of "Johnny I'm going to show you how I got a job when I was your age" only to be met with the realization that getting a job isn't the same as it was 30 years ago.

0-3ahab

getting a job isn't the same as it was 30 years ago

Thank you! When I first started interviewing after graduating this year, my parents and I got in a big fight because I planned a week-long trip right after an interview. They said "WHAT IF THEY ASK YOU TO START TOMORROW" and "YoU ArE GoNnA LoOk LaZy"

I was like it's a huge company it's gonna take them a week to decide then another week to process all the licensing paperwork if I'm hired.

BahbZmuda

Was it leg day?

Man brought his own lunch to an interview because he was into lifting and needed to make sure he ate at certain times. Started eating said meal during interview.

Kiki_Masala

Why would he schedule an interview for a time he knew he would need to eat a meal? It's not like he didn't have advanced notice.

HoboTheDinosaur

But it also shows he's inflexible and is he going to insist on taking breaks to keep his schedule when other people don't get to do that? He seems like the kind of person who will make it hell on the people who do break relief too, taking his time and throwing off everyone else's schedule.

imminent_riot

"Hanging brain" lmao

I was a recruiter at an agency and had a candidate call in and tell me his impressive qualifications on the high-paying job I was trying to fill.

He shows up in a dirty white t-shirt, greasy hair, pants 3 inches too short and the kicker was - the crotch was completely ripped out and his underwear and balls were hanging out. Fastest interview I ever conducted just to give him the courtesy of one.

I sanitized the lobby chair and interview chair.

whateverspicegirl

What's the big deal? He was just hanging brain.

inthehauntedsouth

Nailed it.

Job interview: Had someone no-show on an interview. They called back a week later to see if they got the job.

Press interview: We had given our main camera operator the day off and our other camera operator showed up five hours late with no notice. Our sound recordist called in sick. I got to conduct one of our highest profile interviews while simultaneously operating camera and sound. Someone accidentally formatted the card minutes later and all the footage was lost.

broganisms

Get you a comment that can do both.

blissando

Job interview: Had someone no-show on an interview. They called back a week later to see if they got the job.

He's just playing hard to get.

CanadianJesus

Oof.

I interviewed Avril Lavigne over the phone about her second album. It was an interview for radio. I knew she was trying hard to be the 'Alanis Morisette song-writer' kind of performer. So I launched into a series of questions about her songwriting process: Do you start with lyrics or music? Do you write on piano or guitar? Those kinds of questions. Her response was "It's like, just really like, organic." End of answer. Everything after that was nonsense and yes or no answers to open-ended questions. It was a rough one. Super glad when it was over. Didn't air a single second of it.

cruisefromottawa

This is actually the type of interview I was expecting when I open the thread.

superbeastreality

Same! I clicked in thinking about the worst interviews I'd ever read/watched and then the top comment had to do with job interviews. I was like, ohhh those kinds of interviews, but then I read this comment lol.

LilyKnightMcClellan

When you're awesome but only on paper.

I once gave an interview to a guy that had like ten years' worth of programming jobs but couldn't write a single line of code to solve the interview question. It was apparent in about ten minutes that he wasn't going to figure it out, but we either couldn't or wouldn't just cut it short and show him the door.

VanFailin

So how does that work? Like, were his credentials just made up and he foolishly thought he could wing it? Or like he delegated all his coding throughout his career and never got found out? Or he had a brilliant understanding of one particular language but couldn't transfer his ability to learn other languages?

soso_tired

Find a company with a broken enough hiring process, luck out, get a job, perform poorly, get fired, rinse, repeat.

VanFailin

Screw it, I'm drinking.

Not an interviewer but interviewee.

But one time I returned a call for a potential job, and the guy who answered was clearly drunk. He kept forgetting what he was talking about and repeating himself.

Towards the end of the call, this guy actually asked if I had a cigarette. OVER THE PHONE!

Chalupa84

I feel like you could have just turned up at the office the next day and told him that he'd hired you over the phone.

milesunderground

A chance to be a yente.

I've had two nightmare interviews.

First one was maybe 20 years ago, and it was for a professional job. I asked why the guy had recently moved from one city to this one recently. He started off stating that he moved here because his partner got a job here. Shortly after, he got really emotional and started crying (I mean breakdown-type crying). He told me he and his partner had recently broken up with him, and was whoring around with other people. He told me all kinds of sordid details about the breakup, how unfair it was and how he wanted to just kill his ex. Next!

Second one was for an administrative role in another company. The interviewee came in wearing high heels, short shorts, a cotton tank top and no bra. Rather than sit across the table from me, she pulled up her chair next to mine and kept touching my hands and leg as she answered a few questions... all the while leaning towards me showing me her tits. I tried to end the interview, but she wouldn't easily end it. I excused myself after a few minutes and asked the general manager to go back into the conference room and ask her to leave. She proceeded to tell him to "F-off" and that she didn't want to work for this crappy company anyway.

Moral of the story is when on an interview, talk business... nothing else.

schlemeil_schlemazel

Sounds like you should introduce the guy from the first story to the girl in the second story.

Snorks43

Great plan, not.

She had a pretty middle of the road resume with 2 years of relevant experience. I reviewed the notes for her first interview with HR which basically said that she was polite but nervous. I was conducting the technical interview.

I started off by establishing that she had done well in the first interview to try to alleviate some of her stress. She argued with me, insisting that it had not gone well. Whatever, maybe that's how she's expressing anxiety. I moved on, trying to boost confidence by handing her a softball question. I presented a simple problem that was exactly tailored to the type of work she had been doing with a platform that I was familiar with. It was the type of problem that you would almost certainly experience multiple times if you had worked with this product for a short amount of time. She accused me of sexism for questioning her resume (which is the literal function of an interview) and refused to acknowledge the question.

At that point, I offered her some coffee, and stepped out to call HR, legal, and security. I assumed that she was a litigious predator looking to sue a company for discrimination, so we had security escort her from the building as HR observed, and legal immediately took possession of my notes and audio recording. Sure enough, she sued. Her case was dismissed, she appealed, and it was dismissed again. Then, she sued me personally and her case was dismissed.

Nevermind04

Why even have the interview?

A girl who gave one word answers. She got the job because the director knew her.

BaconRoad

This right here is absolutley what is wrong with the hiring process. A person who potentially could've been very qualified gets no shot just because the director knew this girl, and as a result, could give less of a sh*t, and still gets the job anyway. As long as you know someone within the company it doesn't seem to matter. This is how people get screwed over.

jknuts1377

Oh boy.

Angry belligerent guy, wouldn't sit up straight in his chair, one word answers, answered a call and text messages during interview.

CRIED when we said no.

😕?????

effieokay

What was the job for?

theONE306

Warehouse.

effieokay

Sounds like the perfect candidate for warehouse work. Angry and belligerent.

bretthren2086

People Explain What 'Rich People Sh*t' They Do Even Though They're Not Rich

Reddit user Abbas_Noorani asked: 'what is some rich sh*t you do even though you are not rich?'

photo of woman holding white and black paper bags
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

When I started college, I had every intention of cooking all my meals. It became very apparent very quickly that I simply didn't have the time to accomplish this, and I became the Takeout Queen.

I ordered food constantly. Between getting a monthly "allowance" from my dad (intended to go towards groceries), finding coupons taped to my apartment door everyday, and essentially being "allowed" to tip less than handsomely since I was a college student, I was able to afford this.

When I graduated and moved into my own place, things changed. I was too old to not tip properly, I didn't get any supplementary money from my family, and I had more expenses, such as rent. Still, I continued to order food, and it became my main expense.

My friends tell me the way I order food is only meant for "rich people." I have to skimp on everything else in order to have enough saved to support this. It's definitely true, but I don't think this habit will ever change.

I'm not the only one that does "rich people stuff." Redditors do lots of things that is classified that way, despite not being rich, and they are ready to share their stories.

It all started when Redditor Abbas_Noorani 16 asked:

"What is some rich sh*t you do even though you are not rich?"

Ravenous

"Food. I buy what I want and I try new stuff. I like cooking."

– 34i79s

"Grocery shopping without concern for budget is what made me realize I had made it back in the day. Good times."

"Now I have hard budgets again and it truly sucks. You question every damn decision and convince yourself to do without or downgrade to the lowest priced quality."

– txmail

"On the same boat. The other day I looked at expensive butter that I used to stock up on without even thinking twice and sighed."

– cat101786

Monthly

"Forget to cancel my free trial."

– Adept_Insurance5550

"Damn. Thanks for the reminder."

– -Bk7

"I'm still a member of AOL."

– __SpeedRacer__

Too Hot

"I leave the fridge door open when getting the butter out even though my dad said it would cost billions and send us to the streets."

– frank-sarno

"I leave the front door open when I pop out to grab my mail. Took me years of living on my own to realize the AC bill doesn’t shoot up by hundreds of dollars if I do that."

– MelodramaticQuarter

Necessities

"Buy the good toilet paper."

– FrankGehryNuman

"Absolutely!"

"Good toilet paper. Can't stand cheapo toilet paper, you give yourself a surprise when your finger goes through the paper when wiping your chuff. Don't get me started on that stuff they used to have in hospitals! It was awful - sandpaper that didn't soak up but rather moved stuff đŸ€"

– helensmelon

Clean And Sweep

"I have a maid that comes weekly. I've found that my sanity is worth the cost."

– Eringobraugh2021

"Weekly? Oo la la!"

– a**ypantz72

Comfort Matters

"My thermostat stays at the temperature setting of what is most comfortable to me and nothing will change that."

– Cyb3rTruk

"Lol this really outlined how different climates can be. My thought was "Yeah, I'm going to be as cozy and warm as I want and not freeze in the comfort of my own home.""

– McCoyIsFun

Double

"Some days I have two sandwiches at lunch. I smile as I watch all my fellow proletariat eating their single sandwich."

– ShambolicPaul

"Brotip: Cut your sandwich an infinite number of times and rearrange the pieces into two full sandwiches. Don't give your money away to Big Sandwich!"

– NotInherentAfterAll

Sparkling

"Paying for car cleaning."

– angydevil

"Justified, tho my dad would kill me."

– Abbas_Noorani

The Big Cheese

"I sometimes buy name brand cheese instead of the store brand."

– NeuroguyNC

"Tillamook or nothing for me! I’ll buy store brand beans and paper towels and other stuff. But not for my cheese!"

– VariegatedThumb

Replenish

"We have a garage fridge that is full of all different kinds of beverages."

– SixStinkyFingers

"It's not the fridge itself, it's keeping it stocked!"

– 4x32Studio

A House Is A Home

"I own a house...."

– 1d0m1n4t3

"Oh damn rich people sh*t."

– Abbas_Noorani

"We shouldn't be able to joke about owning a modest home being rich people sh*t. Anyone who works full time should be able to afford a home."

– 1d0m1n4t3

Write Better

"I buy the gel comfort pens. Makes me feel I'm a higher class when writing at work. Smooth crisp consistent ink."

– UltraCoolPimpDaddy

"I have gotten into arguments over people stealing my G2 .07."

– savvyspoon2

Me Too!

"I buy small trash bags for the bathroom trash bins. My whole family uses grocery bags, but I don’t like how they always rip at the bottom."

– Deleted User

It's Required!

"No Margarine in my house, Butter Only, and lots of it. My arteries think I'm rich."

– weisblattsnut

Unused

"I have HBO but I don’t watch it."

– MillionToOneShotDoc

"I have Netflix, Prime, Hulu, and Disney Plus. Don’t watch any of it. Watch YouTube all the time and I’m too stupid to get Premium."

– AngryDerf

Now, that's the definition of having money to burn!

Of course, I wouldn't know. I need to save money for my food!

Couple exchanging rings on wedding day
Photo by Saeed Sarshar on Unsplash

Generally, when people talk about marriage, they get excited about the big wedding day and the honeymoon thereafter.

People don't always talk about what happens in the marriage after the "honeymoon phase" wears off, and they certainly don't talk about the other long-term realities of marrying someone for life.

Pondering this, Redditor Ok_Reality-77 asked:

"What did you realize after getting married?"

It's Not All Romantic

"Marriage isn’t just about the person you want to have fun with. It’s also about the person you want to spend $10,000 on a new furnace with, or go to a funeral with, or get a flat tire with."

"Your spouse should make your way in life easier, especially during the hard times."

- aggressivelysingle

Wedding Invitation Drama

"I don’t get upset if I don’t make the cut for someone else’s wedding, that s**t is expensive."

- coconutmama77

"I had one wedding where I got pretty ticked off about not being invited, to be honest."

"One of the bridesmaids at my wedding got married a few years after we did. She was out in Baltimore, and we are UK-based, but she wanted my wife as her bridesmaid too, so we of course flew over. We were the only ones not local."

"In the rehearsal the day before, one of the groomsmen wasn't there, so I stood in for him."

"Then later that night, I was told that the wedding was a small affair and that only my wife was invited to the ceremony. I would be only an evening guest. They just neglected to mention that on the invite."

"It caused massive ripples among the guests because there was no reason for snubbing me like that."

"I really liked the groom and he was in bits trying to deal with the psycho fit his bride was throwing about everything, so I ended up just doing as told so as not to cause an issue for him on his day."

"Years later, she asked my wife on a video call if we wanted to come visit them sometime soon, and her husband said to her, 'You're kidding, right? You know he doesn't like you after the wedding s**t, right?'"

"She was shocked to learn that I thought she was an a**hole, lol (laughing out loud)."

- Wind_Yer_Neck_In

The Wrong Partner

​"Bad marriage does way more harm than being alone."

- rosiebunnies

"When I left my first husband for being an irredeemable a**hat, I truly thought I’d sworn off marriage forever. But here I am, 14 years into my second marriage, and I couldn’t be more thankful that I was wrong about marriage being a bad thing."

- -comfypants

"I’ve had my own bad relationships. Then I started to look at my parents' unhealthy relationship but then saw that my brother actually has a really good one, and that helped put things into perspective. Some people should be together, and others should not."

- Lancefree

The Value of Disagreements

"That true partnership means conflict is inevitable but productive."

"Part of me knew we'd disagree, but I took some time to know the best way to work through it. It's not being a doormat and it's not being right every time."

- d20sapphire

The Importance of Alone Time

"How much I NEED alone time..."

- blacksweater

"We live in a house larger than we need. So we each have hobby areas and our own bathroom in addition to general s**t we don't do together. Our friends think it's weird, but we are strong as f**k, and their relationships didn't survive the pandemic."

- GoldenBarracudas

Secret Personalities

"People can be really, REALLY good at hiding who they truly are."

"People keep telling me I must have missed signs. I think they just haven’t encountered people that can change on a dime like my ex-husband."

- InstantElla

Increased Income

"How much easier it is to afford things as a joint couple with two incomes."

- Ornery-Cattle1051

"To me, this is one of the few downsides to being single. I like my single life but do not like my single income."

- SnoopsMan

Constant Forgiveness

"Marriage is a constant exercise in forgiveness."

"Be sure you love them, like for real."

"Luckily for me, I do."

- pussinbootskitty

Marrying the Family

"They say you marry their family. You absolutely do."

"One day I was a girlfriend, and the next I was holding my husband's grandmother's hand while she died. I was dragged into family fights the likes of which I'd never seen. I've been loved and weaponized and defended like I could never fathom."

"I laughed at people saying they married the whole family. I was so wrong."

- IHeartChipSammiches

"You put this into words so beautifully. I never would have imagined how much I love his family as my own, even though they bug the crap out of me sometimes, lol (laughing out loud)."

- chipmunk_butt

Communication is Key

"That good communication is vital to a relationship."

"The ability to have a calm, rational conversation over any topic is something to strive for. The trust that the two of you can talk about anything in a safe environment is key. The ability to be honest and open with each other."

"Communication, y'all. It works."

- agharta-astra

Ditch the Highway

"You spent X amount of years doing things your way. So has your new spouse. Just because it's not your way doesn't mean it's wrong."

"It's okay to compromise, but it's also okay to realize that some things may come down to My Way, Their Way, and Our Way."

"My husband and I learned a lot from each other but 15 years later, we have never, NEVER compromised on how to fold laundry so we just each do our own. I don't mind doing his, but I'll fold it my way. He'll easily wash and dry mine, but he folds his way. It's nice that the laundry is done, but then I had to refold everything."

"For those wondering, I fold shirts in a tri-fold rectangle and he does some weird square thing. Incompatible in our dresser drawers."

- Scucer

Hands and Height

"I have to add (this may sound bizarre) that if one of you is left-handed and the other is right-handed, you will most certainly run into some problems."

"It seems ridiculous, but where you place things that you need multiple times on a daily basis comes down to space and which hand you use (e.g., dish soap, hand soap, etc. Basically anything on a counter in a kitchen or a bathroom)."

"This also applies to height differences. Sometimes we really, literally have to find the in-between, or accept that one or the other will be doing it for themselves and it’s not insulting. It’s just really for the best sanity of us both."

- HGLiveEdge

Cherish the Time

"I must say, for me, it would be Time. Time moves SOOOOO very slow, and SOOOOOOOOOOOOO very fast."

"I married my wife yesterday."

"We closed on our first house yesterday."

"We had our boys YESTERDAY."

"I finished our basement with my own two hands (and my best friends’ hands) yesterday."

"We sold our first home yesterday."

"My father passed away YESTERDAY."

"My boys started high school and middle school yesterday."

"I just made an @ss of myself tonight and needed to apologize to my wife! (This actually was tonight.)"

"Seriously, everything feels like yesterday, but it is moving by so quickly. I’m just trying to hold on, thankfully, she’s here with me."

- pencerules

Marriage Plus Kids

"Everyone was wrong, marriage changed nothing."

"But children... Children change everything."

- korinth86

"100% agree. We lived together before we got married. Absolutely nothing in our relationship changed. But kids. Oh lord, that changes everything."

- StannVeal

Medically Responsible

"It changes who can kick whom out of the hospital room. And that was why I got married."

"My husband got married for the feel’s and the frilly stuff. I got married so he/we inherit each other's stuff and get the final say on end-of-life stuff (it was a rough couple of years, I lost a lot of family in a short span)."

"Can all that be done separately from marriage? YEP. Is it viewed as seriously? Nope. Can it be done as easily and in one fell swoop? Nope."

"(This, more than the feelings, to me, is why people should be able to marry whom they choose, regardless of gender.)"

- sageautumn

Right in the Feels

"I like saying, 'My wife
' even more than I thought I would."

"We’ve each been married before, and we were together for 7 years before we got around to getting married (we knew where it was going very early). I didn’t think it would feel like that big of a deal to say, but
 I love my wife, and the experience of referring to her is enough to make me smile."

- BetweenCoffeeNSleep

While there were some tough realities mixed into this list, most of the experiences shared here were heartwarming.

Marriage might be diminished by some to be just a piece of paper, but for those who take the symbolism seriously, there is some real happiness in store for them.

Not everyone excels in the art of flirting, and who can blame them?

Getting the attention of someone you admire can be nerve-wracking, and your lack of confidence in the heat of the moment can be amplified and make you appear less attractive to the object of your affection.

Curious to hear examples of what to avoid in the pursuit of passion, Redditor Veetojek asked:

"What was the worst attempt at flirting you have ever seen?"

These advances are just genuinely bizarre.

Inept Pupil

"My friend in college started hanging out with 'pick up artists' and decided to demonstrate his prowess to us on the quad. His strat was to approach a girl and ask what she thought he should make for dinner that night (I guess it was supposed to lead to an invitation?) He then very-much-not-confidently approached a girl who was clearly in a hurry and, staring at the ground, delivered the line. The girl glared at him and, with great annoyance, said 'I have no idea! Spaghetti, or something?' And my buddy, still staring at the ground, said 'Oh-oh-ok. Uh, thanks' and shuffled away."

He also “learned” from this group that you’re supposed to touch a girl’s arm every time she laughs to condition her to associate your touch with a release of dopamine or endorphins or something. So I witnessed this several times as well, never done with any subtlety or charisma. He did finally get laid after about eight months of trying but the whole thing seemed creepy to me."

– Dr_broadnoodel

Weird Pitch

"It was me. In sixth grade I wrote a girl’s name on a rock and threw it at her during recess. Apparently they don’t like that đŸ€·đŸ»â™‚ïž"

– neon_eyeballs

"Did your approach change much from those days with the introduction of pokeballs?"

– OP

Stranger Danger

"On a walk with my dog, hot sweaty and not in the best clothes. This man drove behind me following me for a few minutes and I looked and said can I help you? He said let’s go on a date! Hop in!"

"I said no thanks and he revved his engine, asked if I was sure then sped off. I was legit scared."

– Allieora

These attempts at flirting are straight from a sitcom.

Down The Rabbit Hole

"A man asked a woman sitting next to me, 'I think your name is Alice since I'm lost in Wonderland.'"

– boukaree

"Oof. That made me cringe, imagining it."

– No_Letterhead_7683

Hairy Situation

"Guy on a trip saw a new girl in our group that he found cute. Decided to take the insult-as-a-form-of-flirting path and told her she had really hairy arms for a girl. Mind you, she had incredibly fair skin, so her hairs stood out more than usual. She, having too nice of a personality to say anything, laughed it off, covered her arm in a real smooth manner, and went on with whatever conversation was happening. My guy thought it worked because it 'made her laugh;' and you know you've got the green light when she laughs at your jokes. The next day he goes up to her during breakfast thinking he locked it up and exclaims, 'Oh my god your arms are so hairy that it's gonna make me sick!!' She doesn't laugh this time, runs back to her room, and changes into a long-sleeve shirt. She proceeded to wear long-sleeve shirts or sweaters for the remainder of the trip...in the middle of July. They didn't have a single interaction for the remaining 4 days."

– TYRONEmonies

Fumbling For Words

"My own. Drunk at a party talking to a cute girl she takes her glasses off. I thought this would be a good time for a genuine compliment. What my mouth said 'I like your face better with your glasses on' she just laughed. Pretty sure what I was trying to say is I like your glasses, and you have a pretty face. I just combined them."

– HooterEnthusiast

Clumsy Gymnast

"When I was in 3rd grade I had a crush on my babysitter."

"I decided to impress her by demonstrating my acrobatic prowess. I sprung from the side of a spiral slide and grabbed the monkey bars without touching the ground. Unfortunately, my hands slipped, I flipped through the air, and shattered my wrist in two places upon landing."

"My first thought was, 'Don't cry; be tough.' then I saw my wrist, it looked like a sine wave. I immediately started crying."

– ANerdCalledMike

Some guys come on way too strong

Hey, Barkeep!

"I saw two girls talking at a bar, and this guy walks up and interrupts them with a 'Heheheyyy, what are you ladies drinkin tonight eh? (Slaps the bar) Hey Barkeep, lemme get a couple rounds for these two!' They of course took the drinks, but promptly relocated away from that obnoxious dude."

– Xdude199

Bye, Scooter

"When I was younger I worked in a bar with a guy nicknamed 'Scooter.'"

"He'd say to any girl that was alone at the bar, 'Hi! My name is Scooter. I like to f'k. How do you like me so far?'"

"Some would glare and walk away, and a couple of times he got slapped across the face...but eventually he'd get a giggle."

"And he never went home alone."

– PJMurphy

Scene From A Gas Station

"When I was working at a gas station I had a dude just walk up to the register and just go ‘hey you have a boyfriend’"

"Of course he didn’t take ‘I’m not interested’ for an answer after. My assistant manager had to all put shove him out the door to get him to leave."

– SilverSoulFox

Daddy Cringey

"I worked in retail for a long time."

"I’ll never forget the time when this late 50s looking guy blatantly cat called an older woman who was wearing black boots. He said, 'Damn baby you gonna wear those boots all day for daddy?'. Then she goes, 'Not a chance.' He went quiet and she walked away. I had to hold in my laughter cause it was just so cringey to see."

– xSevusxBean4y

Either one's advances can come off as presumptuous and cocky or vulnerable and meek.

In most cases, people looking for love are overthinking it.

Here's a tip: Just relax and be yourself when approaching someone you like.

Being natural will not make you look desperate.

While there are no guarantees in scoring a date with this approach, chances are that with practice, you'll gain more confidence without overdoing it.

As the saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Nonetheless, several brands and businesses will sometimes make noticeable changes, be it to reach a wider audience, or simply to shake things up a bit.

In some cases, the effort pays off, like Dunkin' Donuts, who decided to stretch beyond simply selling doughnuts and coffee, eventually even dropping the "Donuts" from their name, but losing none of their popularity.

Other times, things don't go as smoothly, such as when IHOP (an acronym for the International House of Pancakes) temporarily changed its name to IHOB (International House of Burgers), which turned out to be nothing but a weeklong publicity stunt, but was met with anger and vitriol from it's fanbase during that controversial week.

Redditor Fflewddur_Fflam_ was curious to hear what other brands the Reddit community thought betrayed their core audience to disastrous results, leading them to ask:

"Who abandoned their core audience and paid the price for it?"

Humans Are Technically Animals...

"Animal Planet."

"Their tagline became 'surprisingly human.'"

"Nobody wants to watch ANIMAL Planet for people."

"They have other channels."- rainbirdmelody

You Could Say Their Mission Slipped Through The "Cracks"...

"Cracked.com."

"There were a couple years there where they transformed from a second rate Mad knockoff to some of the smartest, funniest stuff on the internet."

"Then the people who held the purse strings decided listicles and photoshop contests were more profitable than a writing staff."- MichaelMyersResple

"StumbleUpon."

"It was a small website giving you randomized internet pages which I used to browse for hours as they were so fun."

"Now it turned into Mix and I have no clue what it is."

"Pretty sure no one uses it and it makes me sad."- MightyDaisy

Working On It GIF by KAT BALLGiphy

Less Handcrafted, More Hand-Me-Down

"Etsy."

'Used to be a fairly cool place to buy and sell mostly handcrafted stuff and items to make handcrafted stuff."

"Now it's basically shady Amazon with worse shipping."

"Everyone seems to be drop shippers and a lot of the more niche crafter/artisan things are pushed out and overwhelmed by cheaper, mass produced goods."- THIS_IS_MY_JOYSTICK

The Dreaded Paywall...

"Photobucket!"

"Back when forums were still a thing, Photobucket would host your images for free."

"Then one day they decided EVERYONE would have to pay monthly, no free tier, nothing."

"We all collectively agreed we would not be paying, and that was that."

"I feel like it may have contributed to the death of forums."

"Ruined a few of my car build threads, that's for sure."

"To this day they still send me emails a couple times a year threatening to delete all my photos if I don't come back."-pr0b0ner

Arguably, All For The Best?...

"Yik Yak."

"It was a way to have conversations with people in the area anonymously (really popular on college campuses)."

"They made an update to create user profiles and pretty much everyone just stopped using it because anonymity was the whole point."- Fakjbf

episode 16 moe GIFGiphy

Chocolate Lovers Revolt!

"This is incredibly niche, but in Norway there used to be two providers of chocolate powder, the kind you mix with hot or cold milk to make hot chocolate or chocolate milk."

"They were O'Boy brand and Nesquik, equally loved and enjoyed a healthy fanbase 'rivalry'."

"O'Boy is a Swedish product sold in Scandinavia and the Baltics since the 50s, Nesquik is of course Nestlé brand and sold all over the world."

"Sometime in the 2010s Nesquik decided to change the formula of the choco powder."

"I imagine to save money."

"And for making hot chocolate the new recipe was fine."

"What Nestlé underestimated, however, is that most Scandinavians drink their choco powder cold to make chocolate milk."

"The new recipe had a different type of sugar in it that wouldn't dissolve in cold milk, leaving a crunchy powder in the milk."

"Norwegians outraged, Nesquik was deemed useless, nearly everyone in the Nesquik camp migrated to O'Boy, and Nestlé lost almost all its market share overnight."

"A few months later, Nesquik is gone from the shelves nearly everywhere, never to recover from the blunder."- -Yngin-

Tornados Filled With Sharks Are Not For Everyone...

"Sci-Fi Channel."

"At some point there was no sci-fi on it."- AlienBeingMe

Tara Reid Storm GIF by SYFYGiphy

Not Everyone Can Keep Up With The Times...

"RadioShack."

"They went from selling electronic components, little gadgets, and interesting tech bobbles to nerds to trying to sell expensive cell phone plans and sh*tty batteries to a different audience."

"We saw that the customers who came to RadioShack shifted from middle/upper-income engineers and tech geeks to lower income people in a six year period."

"Then we saw the geeks stop coming in at all because they would come in for some capacitor or breadboard, and the person there wouldn't know what that was."

"If it wasn't a phone, they didn't know."

"Even if it was a phone, they probably couldn't tell you anything about it."

"Old RadioShack employees were knowledgeable and well paid."

"New RadioShack employees didn't give a sh*t about technology."- 001235

Seems FittingThat Their Old Audience Is "History"...

"Anyone else remember when The History Channel was about history and not about aliens?"- rienjabura

Found Footage Video GIF by Eternal FamilyGiphy

There's A Reason They're Not So Well Known For Their Food...

"Every restaurant that opens in the UK goes through the cycle:"

"New and interesting food."

"Very different from most British food."

"Becomes very popular."

"Owners sell to a large company."

"Large company decides that being popular isn't enough, they want everybody to eat there."

"Make the food more British."

"Looming failure is hidden for a while because they attract new customers at exactly the rate they lose old customers."

"New customers have tried it, realize they can get that food anywhere, stop going."

"Chain closes and is replaced by a Greggs or Nandos, depending on the size of the location (not dependent on how far away the nearest Greggs or Nandos is."- skztr

Money Doesn't Solve Everything

"Quora."

"There were excellent groups with intelligent discussions."

"Then it became monetized and people submitted 100s of questions a day."

"'What time does the Walmart close in Boise?'" "

"'My 16 yr old came home with an A- so I took away their phone for 6 months'."- JanuarySoCold

Bored Sales GIF by EGiphy

Success can be a very dangerous thing.

As it can make you think about nothing but getting bigger, often resulting in your leaving people behind along the way.

A cautionary tale for young entrepreneurs.