Astrological job discrimination

March 31, 2010Jon Brooks 1 Comment »

From Pink Slips are the New Black, “the blog for unemployed people by unemployed people,” comes this post about a strange job-hunting experience that ended in an ugly case of astrological employment discrimination.

A Job Interview that Made Me Go Hmmm…

I went through the most bizarre experience this week. I applied for a job Monday night and got an e-mail from the employer at 4 a.m. the next day asking me to call her in the morning. Unfortunately I had to work from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. and I had a meeting at 1:30, which meant I wouldn’t be free until around 3 p.m. I wrote an e-mail telling her that, and she responded by telling me that she wanted to speak to me that day, and that she was busy at 3. I replied and told her I would try to call her.

I called her and left a message, she called back, but I wasn’t around to pick up the phone. Then she called again around noon and I pick up. Immediately she started interviewing. “I’m sorry,” I interrupted. “But this isn’t a good time.”

“Fine, call me back,” she answered, and abruptly ended the conversation.

I called her several times after, left messages asking to schedule a time, and nada.

Finally, when I tried calling her Friday morning, she picked up the phone.

Again, she immediately started interviewing me off the bat. The interview was pretty standard until she asked me, “What’s your astrological sign?”

“Gemini,” I replied.

As soon as she heard my answer I could tell she immediately lost interest in me, ended the interview and politely said goodbye. Is there such a thing as star sign discrimination? Is it me, or is absolutely weird that she even asked me my astrological sign?

Also, last time I checked, people scheduled interviews. I may not work full-time, but I have obligations, I can’t always drop everything without notice, so it’s more convenient to schedule a meeting time. I know it’s an employer’s market, but that was strange. Did she really expect me to drop everything?

One response to this entry

  • Annie Shreffler Says:

    Amazing. This fits right in with our coverage of job discrimination stories on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show. Yesterday: Ageism, Today: Transgendered Need Not Apply.

    Thanks for sharing this. I posted for our folks on Help Wanted.

    AS