A hilarious and frustrating tale of a dev getting ghosted during a virtual interview with Deutsche Bank, top-tier Reddit horror stories, and survival tips.
Getting ghosted by a Tinder date is bad, but getting ghosted by a massive global bank for a tech interview? That hits different. Grab your coffee, folks, because the HR department at Deutsche Bank just gave a masterclass on how to piss off candidates.
So OP lands a virtual interview with a "Big Bank".
Puts on a nice shirt (pajama bottoms probably still on) and waits in the virtual lobby for a solid 30 minutes. Absolute crickets. Nobody joined.
At the 10-minute mark, OP shoots an email to the recruiter like, "Yo, are we still doing this?" No response.
A whopping 1.5 hours after the scheduled time, they finally get an email back. Instead of a decent apology, it’s a masterclass in passive-aggression: "It was never canceled." Ah yes, the interview just magically drifted into the void.
Fed up with the disrespect, OP dropped the bomb and named the culprit: Deutsche Bank. Big yikes.
The "Name and Shame" Squad: Unanimous agreement here. Call them out so other devs don't fall into the same trap.
The Escalators: Some veterans like Accomplished_Emu_658 suggested going full nuclear: "I have emailed up the chain in the company to let them know how unprofessionally the recruiter acted."
The Grammar Police: User xZephys pointed out the slick corporate phrasing: "Notice how they wrote this in passive voice ('It was never canceled'). They won’t want to take any responsibility."
The Legendary Offline Ghosting: User punkwalrus shared a horror story that makes OP's look like a walk in the park. Showed up for a 9 AM in-person interview. The admin was clueless and shoved him into a glass "fishbowl" room. He sat there watching the whole office work until 11 AM. Called the contact number, heard the phone ring at the new admin's desk, but she ignored it saying, "I don't answer that line."
Finally got kicked out of the room at 11:30 by another group holding a meeting, only to find out his interviewer was "out of office this week." The absolute icing on the cake? When he emailed a complaint after wasting a day off and cab fare, the interviewer replied: "I don't have time for interviews!" Absolutely wild.
Look, tech interviews are stressful enough without companies playing hide and seek. If an employer's process is this broken before they even hire you, imagine the absolute spaghetti code and toxic culture waiting for you inside.
Your time is money (or at least, time you could spend gaming or coding side projects). If you're on a virtual call and no one shows up after 10-15 minutes, take a screenshot, send a polite "Looks like you're busy, I'm dropping off" email, and close the tab. Do not sit there burning 30 minutes of your life.
Remember, an interview goes both ways. You are interviewing them just as much as they are grilling you. If the HR acts like this, dodge the bullet and keep grinding. You deserve a team that actually respects your time!
Source: Reddit
