Timeline for What's the worst question you were ever asked at interview?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 13, 2011 at 13:28 | comment | added | GHP | I had a former boss who always asked this stinker in interviews. I hated it. A lot of candidates totally freaked out and got brain-lock just trying to process why the hell we were asking about sewer equipment in a programming interview. I tried to explain to him that the "so it wont fall in" answer was crap, because it's all about the size of the lip just under the top edge, but he wouldn't hear it. | |
| Feb 17, 2011 at 19:29 | comment | added | orokusaki | @Thor - indeed! | |
| Feb 17, 2011 at 18:52 | comment | added | user1249 | @orokusaki, so a proper answer would then be "because turtle shells are round"? | |
| Feb 17, 2011 at 17:16 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki | ||
| Dec 18, 2010 at 13:57 | comment | added | Sevki | If Richard Feynman applied for a job at Microsoft hebig.org/blog/003029.php | |
| Dec 5, 2010 at 0:13 | comment | added | comonad | They wanted a questionable answer?! Even a circular cover could fall through, iff the hole would have been designed to allow that. There are two holes: the cover fits into the big hole and then lies above the smaller (hidden) hole. Only the shape of the smaller hole decides wether the cover could fall through or not. There exist square covers for octagonal holes, that cannot fall through. (At least in my basement.) | |
| Dec 2, 2010 at 20:26 | comment | added | evadeflow | A circular cover has 20% less surface area than a square cover with the same diameter. Producing ten thousand circular manhole covers should therefore have a lower cost than the same number of square covers. | |
| Nov 8, 2010 at 20:21 | comment | added | M.C. | I don't like that question and answer because the reason it doesn't fall through is that it has a constant diameter and it fits over the edge of the hole. | |
| Oct 13, 2010 at 21:37 | comment | added | alternative | @Kyrlessa Yeah you can. Drop the manhole cover vertically in the middle of the horizontal manhole, since the altitude is longer than the length. | |
| Oct 13, 2010 at 21:09 | comment | added | Tarka | @Kyralessa True, but another part of the reason they're round is so they're easy to roll to the side. Solid steel, do you think they're light enough to pick up? | |
| Sep 26, 2010 at 21:05 | comment | added | orokusaki | @Fishtoaster - Are you related to the Ninja Turtles by chance? | |
| Sep 16, 2010 at 19:21 | comment | added | ChrisF | @eds - I think that was the answer I came up with after what seemed like ages thinking about it - but it wasn't the one he wanted. | |
| Sep 16, 2010 at 19:13 | comment | added | eds | @Fishtoaster another common answer is "So that it doesn't matter which way you put it back on." | |
| Sep 10, 2010 at 12:58 | comment | added | CodingInsomnia | I was asked the same thing. Now, English is not my native tongue and I had no idea what a manhole was, so the interviewer first had to explain that to me before I failed to answer the question "correctly". Well, I got the job anyway.. | |
| Sep 3, 2010 at 21:13 | comment | added | ChrisF | @finnw - the problem still occurs even if the hole isn't big enough for someone to crawl through. In fact it's worse - how do you retrieve the cover if you can't get down? | |
| Sep 3, 2010 at 21:13 | comment | added | Nathan Taylor | I remember this question. It was dropped on me in a career preparation class. | |
| Sep 3, 2010 at 20:35 | comment | added | finnw | A lot of rectangular covers are just inspection covers (e.g. for telephone/internet cables and small drainage pipes.) They aren't designed to be climbed through (if the job requires climbing in then you will probably need to dig a larger hole anyway.) | |
| Sep 3, 2010 at 19:50 | comment | added | ChrisF | @Fishtoaster - this was in the UK. | |
| Sep 3, 2010 at 19:31 | comment | added | Fishtoaster | Most manhole covers in the US are circular. I say this as a person who, for a variety of legitimate reasons, goes through them on a regular basis. The drop-through answer is the expected one, but other good options are "Because manholes are circular" "Because circular pipes are structurally stronger" "Because the human body has a roughly circular cross-section." | |
| Sep 3, 2010 at 19:27 | history | answered | ChrisF | CC BY-SA 2.5 |