Interviewing is a skill. And it takes a lot of clunky interviews to master it.

Imagine going into a job interview. Would you start the conversation by telling the person interviewing you your whole life story, or would you simply answer the questions asked of you and possibly ask a few questions of your own?

Read how one Redditor retells a story of an interviewee who made them so frustrated, they said something they regret.

Here are all the details.

AITAH for telling a guy to shut up during a job interview

I was interviewing this guy for a very good software engineering position.

He passed the first round, and both I and everyone involved in the second round really liked his resume and experience.

On paper, he had everything we were looking for, and honestly, this looked like a life-changing opportunity for him.

But, when it came time for the in-person interview — things were a little different.

Then he shows up, very serious and not smiling at all.

I’m used to that in tech interviews, and I understand it can be an intimidating environment.

We did a round of introductions, and then he opened the interview by saying, “Let me tell you a little bit about myself.”

We said, okay, go for it.

This is where things get strange.

He started talking and talking about his personal and professional background.

After about three minutes, I jumped in to ask a follow-up question based on something he mentioned.

He replied, “I will answer, just give me a moment,” and continued talking.

A coworker jumped in with another question, and he said the same thing to her.

The staff started to feel quite awkward.

At this point, we were kind of looking at each other, but decided to let him continue and give him the benefit of the doubt.

But after more than five minutes, I jumped in again with another question. I had to talk over him to do it.

He finally paused and answered, but in such a long-winded way that he ended up veering into another topic.

My coworker asked another question, and the same thing happened.

At this point, I was ready to end the interview. I tried to politely wrap it up several times, but he was unable to read the room and just kept talking.

In a last-ditch effort, the interviewer tried the standard closeout line.

I finally raised my voice slightly and said something like, “Thank you very much for sharing your background. In the interest of time, I’d like to ask if you have any questions for us.” This is standard protocol and helps us prepare answers for future interviews.

He asked a question about the team.

As I was answering, he raised his finger and interrupted to talk more about his background.

I let it go.

Then he asked another question, which my coworker started to answer, but again, he spoke over her to talk about himself.

You’ll never believe what happens next, though…

I tried once more to interrupt politely, but he kept talking.

At that point, I was done. I said, “John, you really have to shut up and listen.”

He was surprised, as was my coworker, but he finally stopped talking.

I continued, “You walked into this room with a 99 percent chance of getting the job. Now, that chance is zero. The only reason is because, in less than fifteen minutes, you’ve demonstrated that you don’t have the capacity to listen at all. So I’m telling you now, you’re not getting the job. But if you take anything away from this interview, let it be this: no matter how good you are technically, if you can’t listen, you’ll never excel in this career.”

And his response?

He apologized and said, “Can we start again?”

I replied, “You had your chance. Best of luck in your future interviews. Make sure you listen.”

Looking back, I know I could have handled that differently, but I still feel bad for the guy.

Was this interviewer too harsh? Should the guy have listened better? Let’s read the comments below and see what Reddit thinks on the matter.

Overwhelmingly, Redditors said “NTA.”

Here’s a similar thought.

Some even argued that this was valuable feedback.

And they noted that the distinction between therapy and an interview needed to be made.

This hiring manager said something that sounded harsh, but is ultimately valuable.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.