A funny one from the hiring front

This from the files of the funny stuff:

I was at an interview with a pharmaceutical company. The interviewer was set up in a small meeting room in a hotel. After he led me into the room, he received a call which he had to take. In taking the call, he stepped out of the room for privacy.

Being a person geared toward preparation, I saw his interview manual on the desk. I moved quickly, and peeked at it. It was labeled "Behavioral Interview Guide" and it had 10 behavioral questions to ask, and the objective that each question was to determine.

I thumbed through the questions at light-speed. By getting a feel for them up front, I would be able to have a moment or two more to give an answer that spoke directly to the objective behind each question.

I put the manual down, and awaited the interview. In a few moments, the interviewer came back in, apologized for the interruption, and proceeded to conduct the interview...

...BUT...

He never asked a single behavioral question. Instead, he asked about the objective behind the question. For example, he asked:
"What is your philosophy on customer service?"

When the behavioral question had been:
"Tell me about a time you went above and beyond for a customer. What did you do, and how did it turn out?"

Any person can answer the first, and make it sound great. Not everybody could tell about a specific time. And of those who can tell of a specific time, the behavioral question gives the candidate the opportunity to open up and demonstrate how they view customer service - as evidenced by how they have treated customers in the past.

I declined the job for salary reasons, but it was still funny.