'Hey, F*ck You, Buddy. Now, Hire Me Please!' Imagine encountering an unnecessarily rude person on your way to work. Then imagine having that very person show up for a job interview that same day. Yeah, it's as awkward as it sounds.
By Jason Fell
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Whether it happens on the road, the sidewalk or on public transportation, commuter rage is a real thing. You're running late for work and some dolt in front of you simply won't get out of your way. You lose it. It happens.
But for those who suffer from the rage, there's a problem: You never really know who you're screaming at. Take what happened to two men in England recently as a telling example.
Matt Buckland is head of talent and recruiting at ecommerce startup investment firm Forward Partners. Just like any Monday morning, Buckland got on London's subway system (the "tube") to get to work. Except it wasn't like other mornings. On the subway train, a man pushed past Buckland and made some brazenly rude comments to him.
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One can only assume that Buckland didn't think too much of it -- until he welcomed his afternoon interviewee into his office. See, as the head of talent, Buckland had arranged for an applicant to come in that day to interview for a developer position. That's the moment his day became super weird.
Karma - the guy who pushed past me on the tube and then suggested I go F myself just arrived for his interview...with me...
— Matt Buckland (@ElSatanico) February 16, 2015"It was totally awkward," Buckland told the BBC. "So I approached it by asking him if he'd had a good commute that morning. We laughed it off and in a very British way I somehow ended up apologizing."
Despite the pair laughing it off, the foul-mouthed rager didn't wind up getting the job. "As it worked out, he wasn't right for the role," Buckland told the BBC.
Yeah, no kidding.
If you read the comment thread on Buckland's tweet -- which has been retweeted almost 19,000 times -- it turns out this sort of thing isn't so uncommon. The moral of the story: Try not to be such a jerk on your daily commute. You might just be killing your career.
