An email pops up in your inbox bringing you great news! It’ll make any jobseeker want to break out the party poppers and drinks—You got the job!
But then.
There is something that you do which makes other jobseekers heave a sigh—you decline the job offer.
“But why?” someone may ask.
There are many reasons why you may have declined a job offer. Maybe you figured the company won’t be a right fit for you. Maybe you don’t culturally feel at home there. Maybe the salary offered wasn’t enough. Those are legit reasons to decline an offer.
But then there are those reasons that don’t quite hit the mark. They don’t quite hit it very well on the logic scale for most. Here are 8 outrageous reasons why people decline job offers. Are you guilty of any of these?
1. The Office Is Haunted
Ghouls and spectral beings may be real for some people, may be all psychological for some others. Or maybe it’s just your mind playing tricks on you.
Maybe you were born with a ‘third-eye’ that can see outworldly things. Maybe you for-see yourself working late nights at the office and that particular photo/painting in the office lobby gives you the heebie-jeebies.
So with this swimming in your mind and you know that the Ghost Busters don’t actually exist just in case you need them, you decline the offer.
2. Saw Ex Working At/Or Nearby The Office
So you were at the office complex just finished up with your awesome interview at an awesome company that you were wanting to work at so long.
You sit down and recompose yourself after the interview, pleased and happy that everything went well. As you turn your head you notice someone familiar. He/she walks by not really noticing that you were just metres away, staring silently with a hidden gobsmacked face.
Ok I ain’t gonna want to see him/her ever ever ever again. Decline job offer.
3. Office Not Glamorous Enough For You
From the moment you stepped up to the company’s premises you had this sinking feeling that this place is well… just out of place for you. No awesome looking lobby with a smiling receptionist that greets you everyday.
No stainless steel shiny glass laden elevator to bring you to your 2000 square foot plant-filled sunshine-bathed office space. No espresso machine. OMG only 3-in-1 coffee available?
This place blows, it ain’t fit for my style. Job offer declined.
4. Dress Code Doesn’t Match Your Style
Interview was great! So far everything seems to fit pretty well. The office isn’t too shabby. The work that needs to be done seems fair enough.
The people are nice, but everyone looks kind of the same actually. The same colour-coded outfit all around. Ok, so this place requires a uniform.
What!? No early mornings standing in front of the mirror wondering whether this top fits with this bottom? No chance to show of some ‘bling’ to my soon-to-be colleagues? I will have a cupboard full of the same looking outfit for all 5 days of the week?
Hell no. Decline job offer.
5. Direct Superior Not Good Looking Enough
You had a hard time paying attention during the interview even though your answers and the person interviewing you were on point. You stare long and hard at this person who you will be working under for the rest of your career at this company. Nothing seems physically appealing.
No spike in heart rate, no bump in pulse. How can I stomach seeing this person for 9 hours a day, 22 days a month, 12 months a year?
Oh well let’s decline the offer. At least he/she had nice teeth.
6. Parents Say Cannot
So you got the offer. Expected salary seems fine, not great but hey, everyone has to start somewhere right? Office environment looks good and you feel that you could build some good working relationships at this company.
You go home and give your parents the details of your soon-to-be employer. With a cruel twist of fate, they shake their heads in unison and say you shouldn’t join this company. “You should join bigger company, more reputable company lah. This place no future.”
Maybe they are still seething a heartache over the fact that you didn’t become a doctor or lawyer or something.
Declined job offer.
7. Feng Shui Not Good
You nod your head up and down in agreement to your Feng Shui sensei, “This place will bring you untold bad luck. Even this jade tiger will not protect you.” Ok, ok maybe for some, Feng Shui is really important and every aspect of your life is determined by the direction of the winds, placement of the stars, and the years you were born in.
Maybe your superior’s Zodiac does not fit very well with yours. Maybe the date that you had to join the company was not auspicious enough to ward away negative forces from your life.
Maybe I shouldn’t join this company. You know, just in case anything happens. Decline job offer.
8. Office Smelled Funny
Throughout your time at the interview you had this weird itchy sensation in the crevasses of your nostrils. The more you took in oxygen, the stronger that lingering smell felt.
You shook it off and thought to yourself maybe just that particular day the rubbish truck did its rounds, or maybe the office cleaner was on a 6 month hiatus. You go home and Google up results for weird smells. Apparently black fungus hidden in areas can cause you permanent brain damage over time.
Ok, maybe I’ll preserve my gray matter and decline this job offer.
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Alright these are a few I have heard of before. Have you heard of other outrageous reasons why a job offer was declined?
This article was written by Joshua Boey with the title “8 Outrageous Reasons Why People Decline Job Offers” and was first published on Wobb, a job application platform for millennials who value the importance of good working culture.