Daily Dose of Dumb
Let’s say you’re interviewing for an IT job with a well known worldwide TV news network. You’re waiting in the lobby, maybe reading a magazine, when you hear someone call your name. At least you think you heard your name.
You’re ushered into a room where someone applies make-up to your face. You’re then led to a studio where you’re wired with a microphone and seated next to an interviewer in front of a bank of cameras. Suddenly the lights go on. The interviewer introduces you as someone else. Thinking it’s all part of the interview process, you play along. The interviewer asks you all sorts of questions about a subject you know absolutely nothing about. You do your best to make up answers. After a few minutes, the lights go off, the interviewer thanks you and you’re ushered out of the studio.
Is this a fancy new interview method? Nope – it’s simply a case of “The Wrong Guy.” Here’s the story . . .
Guy Goma was sitting in the lobby at the BBC’s offices in London, waiting for an interview for a job in the BBC’s IT Department. At the same time, another “Guy” — technology expert Guy Kewney – was waiting for a live TV interview about the verdict in the lawsuit between Apple Computers and the Beatles’ record label, Apple Corps.
When the producer went to the lobby to get his “Guy,” he mistakenly wound up with Goma. Goma was rushed through the process described above and then went “live” for all the world to see.
Here’s a transcript of the interview:
Interviewer: Well, Guy Kewney is editor of the technology website Newswirless.
(Suddenly realizing he’s the wrong “Guy,” Goma’s facial expressions run the gamut from sheer terror to bemused resignation, all in about 1.3 seconds.)
Interviewer: Hello, good morning to you.
Goma: Good morning.
Interviewer: Were you surprised by the verdict today?
Goma: I’m very surprised to see . . . this verdict to come on me, because I was not expecting that. When I came, they told me something else and I am coming, “You got an interview,” that’s all. So, a big surprise anyway.
Interviewer: A big surprise, yeah, yes.
Goma: Exactly.
Interviewer: With regards to the costs involved, do you think now more people will be downloading online?
Goma: Actually, if you can go everywhere you’re gonna see a lot of people downloading to the Internet and the website and everything they want. But I think it is much better for the development and . . . eh . . . to inform people what they want and to get the easy way and so faster if they are looking for.
Interviewer: It does really seem to be the way the music industry’s progressing now, that people want to go onto the website and download music.
Goma: Exactly. You can go everywhere on the cyber cafe, and you can take . . . you can go easy. It is going to be an easy way for everyone to get something to the Internet.
Interviewer: Guy Kewney, thanks very much indeed.
Following the conclusion of his “interview,” the BBC realized its mistake. Goma was then rushed to his real interview. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the job.
However, the story does have a happy ending. As a direct result of the mix-up, Goma became a celebrity in the U.K., making guest appearances on a number of TV shows. There’s even talk of making a movie based on his life.
Click here to watch the interview for yourself. Our recommendation: Don’t try this in your workplace.