u/Brilliant-Laugh3309

I'm probably just venting.

I take my lunch break every day at 12:30pm. That's been the routine since I started this job about 14 months ago. Someone called the office around 12:45pm. We don't have direct lines, so the phone rings for everyone and someone is supposed to answer within three rings. My coworker answered, and it turned out to be a potential client I had spoken with fairly recently. At the same time, I was in the break room getting my lunch ready and cutting up an apple.

As soon as I got back to my desk with my food in my hand, my coworker told me who was on the line and asked if I could take the call. I politely told him I was on my lunch break and would call them back when I was done. He pushed again, so I repeated myself. Then he responded in this annoyed tone: "...uh, alright?" as if I was the one making excuses.

Then, while he was still on the phone, he told the potential client that I "didn't remember them" and told them to email me "to remind me," and that I'd answer when I got back. That is not what I said at all.

And that's the part that really bothered me. I respect my coworkers' time. If someone calls asking for a colleague and I know they're eating, or on break, or have their office door closed, I offer to take a message or tell the caller to try again later. I don't make it sound like my coworker has forgotten who they are.

Honestly, I'm thinking about talking to HR about it, but he's one of the long-time employees who everyone seems to like, so I'm not sure it's worth the headache. Either way, for the past few weeks I've been very close to leaving even without another job fully lined up. I recently had a recruiter screen and got moved on to the next stage, which is a 50-minute in-person interview, so I'm hoping it goes well and leads to something so I can get out of here.

A few years ago, I was helping out a bit with engineering hiring. I usually handle sales/commercial roles because, honestly, I deal better with that type of candidate. We had an open role, and I was searching through a few companies that the usual hiring person had identified - places where we generally offer stronger benefits and better pay, and where we'd successfully hired from before.

So I sent a message to someone who seemed like a good fit. A short note, with the salary range included upfront - I always do that so nobody wastes their time - and the job spec attached. Nothing aggressive or salesy. Just something simple like, "Your profile looks like it could be a match for this role; would you like to have a quick chat?"

I should also mention that he had "open to work" on LinkedIn, and the type of role was literally listed in his preferences for jobs he was open to.

Anyway, about two days later, he replied with just one word: "salary?" Fine, maybe he had skimmed the message and missed that part. I replied and told him it was around ABC, which was a bit higher than the going rate here.

I checked LinkedIn again that night and found a wall of text waiting for me. He told me he made five times that amount and that the salary was insulting. We had hired at that same level before and were paying above average, so I wasn't really convinced. Then he started tearing apart the job description, saying the work was beneath him and that he would never lower himself to do the responsibilities listed.

Then he went on about how he could do ABCDEF, which had nothing to do with the position in the first place, and insulted me for being stupid enough to think he might be interested in a role he had basically selected himself in his "open to work" settings.

To be clear, this wasn't a blunt message like, "Thanks, but this is too junior for me." Nothing about it was professional, or even normal.

Then it got personal. All recruiters are stupid, useless, and a bunch of other insults, and at the end he capped it off by telling me to go end myself.

Anyway, fast-forward a few years to this week. I'm now at a much bigger company - a Fortune 200 - and covering several other technical roles. And guess whose name showed up in the applicant list?

I opened the application and checked, and yes, it was him. The same person. He stayed at the same company from the time of that old message until the beginning of this year. I clicked on the LinkedIn profile he attached, and it really was him, including a post about being made redundant from his last role. Why do bad things happen to such lovely people, right?

The annoying part is that he is qualified on paper, and I feel like the hiring managers would probably want to speak with him. But we pay significantly more than my old company, maybe around 2.5x, and I already know that this guy apparently makes five times that.

So I have about six other suitable candidates, and I'm thinking there's no logic in wasting the hiring manager's time with someone we clearly won't be able to get at the price he wants.

I'm very much looking forward to sending the rejection template and choosing the reason: unsuitable personality fit.