Sometimes, you want the earth to swallow you whole so that you can hide for a while.
Most people experience this feeling at least once in their lives, and that’s what happened to a woman recently. She was on the interview of her life, and in 30 seconds, she messed things up in a hilarious way.
The interview took place in person during the pandemic, which is rare as many companies decided to do interviews online until things got better. It happened in the Netherlands where pandemic restrictions were being observed, yet the interview still went on.
The woman was allowed to sit down with the company’s CEO, which shows that this was a big opportunity. The woman said her nerves were doing a number on her that day. She wanted the job and thought she was the perfect fit. Landing this opportunity was very important to her, but she was quite anxious.
She tried to calm herself down before the interview, but it wasn’t working. The woman said it felt like a big lump was in her throat, and she could feel her heartbeat. This feeling intensified when she got to the job interview and saw the CEO walking down the stairs to meet her.
The woman noticed the man stopped in the middle of the stairs. For some reason, she assumed this meant she was supposed to meet him in the middle of the stairs, so she went to greet him. Before she got to him, he bent his arm at the elbow. After that, he extended his folded arm towards her as she walked up the stairs.
Her brain betrayed her. She thought he was going to escort her to the interview. The woman locked arms with the man without giving it much thought. After that, the two just stood there. Arms were still locked, and no one said anything or moved. He didn’t fully understand what had happened, and she was incredibly embarrassed as she finally understood she made a mistake.
At that moment, time just stood still. She wanted the earth to just swallow her alive.
She wasn’t sure what to do or say, but a few moments passed, and he finally said something. He told her he was just trying to give her an elbow bump. This is the kind of bump many people are doing because of the pandemic. He was practicing some safety measures. She quickly moved away from him in agreement. What he said made much more sense than what she thought. She was so embarrassed.
The woman still had to go through the interview with that lingering in her mind. She’d completely blown the COVID19 protocols the CEO was observing. She went home and couldn’t sleep because that moment kept replaying in her mind, no matter how many sheep she tried to count.
The woman decided to share her moment on Reddit and people fell in love with it. People on there kept asking her how the interview went. She thinks it went well, but she isn’t sure since she could only remember that crazy moment; everything else felt like a blur.
She didn’t know if she got the job at the time she posted this story, which was days after the interview, but she doubts she got it. Hopefully, she’ll be able to relax before her next big interview.
Getting used to the elbow bump hasn’t been easy for people during the pandemic, and this is one example of that. She was able to bring a lot of joy to many Reddit users. She probably feels pretty good about that.