[Read the story.]
What a fascinating read! Following Andrew Grant is like watching "The Sopranos" in that you are initially repulsed but at the same time drawn to the spectacle. I guess it's just the simple curiosity of wanting to see how low they will go, but these sleazy characters do hold my interest. More, Mr. Grant, more -- whatever can be next? Fleecing some seniors, perhaps your relatives, out of their retirement through some half-baked Ponzi scheme, selling time shares in boutique offshore eco-bungalows, or finding your niche as a low-level functionary for the local Republican Party? What loathsome behavior will come next? More, please.
-- Susan Gula
What on earth possessed an editor from Salon to pay for and publish this pathetic tale? Andrew Grant should shut the hell up, get off his ass, and get a real job. Why should we care about the job-hunting humiliation of a former dot-com shyster who doesn't appear to have done an honest day's work in his life?
Look, I know what it's like to lose a relatively comfortable and prestigious job and move back in with the parents at age 32, to have to shift gears and start over again, to eat my share of humble pie by waiting on obnoxious teenagers and smug soccer moms at Chili's until I landed something more worthy of my white, privileged, educated and charming self.
Gen Xers need to grow up and quit whining about the fact that real life does not in fact resemble a Fitzgerald novel.
-- Mitch Moore
I have to tell you how much I enjoyed Andrew Grant's article about his job interviews in Atlanta. It was almost like hearing about the exploits of Ignatius J. Reilly again, years after "A Confederacy of Dunces" had me rolling on the floor with laughter. Well done.
-- Stephen J. Smith
I don't get the point of this article. Not only is it a staggering six pages long, it is also little more than a self-pitying rant. You know why you didn't get the job, Andy-boy? Because you weren't prepared, you never took the interview seriously, and you didn't deserve it. That's the reason. Quit whining and work at a Wal-Mart for a while. I find it hard to believe that Salon bothered publishing this drivel. Why not find some people who are really suffering hardships -- like all those that are now living on the streets thanks to the current economic climate.
-- Riana
I loved Andrew Grant's recounting of interviewing with a consulting firm. The jargon, the posturing, the asininity; I remember so well the feeling of unreality as I sat volleying with similar interviewers a few years ago, all the while trying to figure out if anybody there could possibly believe what they were saying or if, like me (I'm not proud of it, I'm just reporting it), they were spouting total bullshit and knew it. Andrew's obsession was the Chicken Show; mine was "The Monty Python Show" -- I kept expecting John Cleese to pop out from behind the conference room door and to find I was in a skit about the Ministry of Silly Interviews. I had two full days of nonstop breakfast-through-dinner interviews and then, thank goodness, I completely lost my voice at the end of the second day. When I was actually offered the job (this was back in the boom times when offers were easier to come by), I declined. While my supply of bullshit had evidently been enough for two days of interviews, I decided that I preferred to believe I didn't have a big enough supply to last for an entire career, or even a few years of one. I hope I was right.
-- Name withheld
Is this a tragi-ironic story that's supposed to bring us some joy? The story of a 25-year-old who didn't bother to look for work while living rent free and getting more on unemployment than I get for working? Perhaps the few nasty things he says about his parents are supposed to make me like him?
After reading the first page and skipping through the second and last pages of this six-page story, what little I could glean from this asshole's story is that he wasn't humiliated enough.
-- Keiran Murphy
Andrew Grant's article today was great. Hit the spot. Extremely well written, clever. I enjoyed it.
-- Mark Yolton
It's disheartening to know that part of Massachusetts' crippling budget woes are due to irresponsible, self-aggrandizing assholes like Andrew Grant who sat on their ass dreaming of their next get-rich-quick job while collecting extended-extended unemployment benefits.
-- Stacey Tardif
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