[tpm] Job interview question

[Christopher Browne]

On 1/15/06, Alex Beamish <talexb-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On 1/12/06, Indy Singh <indy-k5e8U2l/CWTzIImvGDD8mw at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> >
> > You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night. You pass by a
> > bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus:
> >
> > 1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
> > 2. An old friend who once saved your life.
> > 3. The perfect man (or) woman you have been dreaming about.
> >
> > Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could
> > only be one passenger in your car.
> >
> > Think before you continue reading. This is a moral/ethical dilemma that
> > was once actually used as part of a job application.
>
>  Interesting question .. obviously, I don't think far enough outside the
> box.
>
>  I imagined stoppping, helping the old lady into the car, saying hello to my
> old friend and asking the young lady for her phone number in case the bus
> has come by the time I come back to pick her up.
>
>  That's a cute question, but it's tough to imagine using a brain teaser in
> an interview situation unless you were trying to figure out if the candidate
> in question was really quite smart (but having a bad day) or a dolt (but
> making a lot of good guesses).

This strikes me as a stupid question to use.

There is no "moral dilemna"; it's a pure hypothetical case where the
answer you're *supposed* to give is the "old lady."

You essentially have three choices:
a) Show yourself to be "kindly to the elderly", which bodes well for
the firm as you are thinking of legal consequences...

b) Show off a preference for "personal preference" which implies
you're not thinking about corporate legal liability...

c) Show off a preference  for "being a player" which implies that
you're a sexual harassment suit waiting to become...  a corporate
legal liability...

:-).
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