My sympathies were with the person in “Next Time, Eat the Pizza After the Interview” who, when asked to bring “references,” brought two people along to a job interview.
Among my course readings this week, this New York Times article, circa January 1999, stood out for its cataloging of “strange and self-defeating behavior” exhibited by job candidates.
I was much more tolerant of what I felt was honest error than the applicants who demanded “perks” or insisted on an inflated salary.
One of the characteristics of the autism spectrum is to interpret statements literally and I could see myself doing something like this if I hadn’t already been exposed to an explanation of what “references” are.
The anecdote reinforced just how much in our society relies on “cultural literacy” that everyone is presumed to have. It isn’t easy being the person who doesn’t “get” what everyone else understands.
Cross-posted to a discussion forum for Cuesta College course LIBT 214, Library/Information Technology Internship.
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