As we're all sharing some bizarre experiences we've had, I feel I have to chip in.
I had 2 very weird interviews with the same FAANG company, before actually joining the company in 2021.
Anyway, we're in 2011 and my career in tech has just started. I hear back from a recruiter regarding a role I've applied for, and to be considered for this position it is mandatory to be fluent in French. Which shouldn't be a problem as I happen to be French.
The recruiter tells me that the person that was initially supposed to interview me first (a native French speaker) is currently off sick, and that his manager will be interviewing me instead.
I'm in a room in the lovely old offices of this company, by the Bord Gais theatre for those who live in Dublin. The manager I'm about to spend the next 30 minutes with is American, and majored in French. At least according to the recruiter.
She greets me with a "bon matin !" which doesn't sound right in French, but that I immediately realise is the literal translation of "good morning!". She mumbles a few things which I now can't remember, but something along the lines of "la entretien il est aujourd'hui dans le Facebook, pourquoi ?". I just smile at her while trying to process what she just asked me. But I can't, so I ask her to repeat what she just said. V2 of her question is even worse, and we spend the next 5 to 6 minutes trying to understand each other. Eventually she switches to English and goes on to tell me how she moved to Dublin from the US a couple of years ago.
A few hours later, the recruiter emails me and tells me that unfortunately, being fluent in French is mandatory for this role and that I obviously am not.
Funny thing, I've been in Ireland for 16 years now, and I know a ton of people who also had some very weird interviews with this same company, all roughly between 2010 - 2017: like for instance a hiring manager who had brought her dog to the office (and therefore to the interview room). The dog kept barking / jumping on her, and she very clearly didn't pay any attention to the answers my friend was giving her (he didn't get the role). I could go on with stories like these ones for hours. All at the same FAANG company, all in Dublin, all between 2010 and 2017.
Like I said earlier, when I eventually joined in 2021 the interviewing process felt a lot more professional.
Better than my interview at a Apple, where one of the senior engineers who was supposed to interview me didn't show up - twice in a row.
I'd been recommended for the role by colleagues who'd moved to Apple; I gave them some rather pointed feedback for them to pass on to the hiring manager and moved on.
An interviewer that doesn't show up is really bad. Not matter where you work, you'd probably end up having a chat with HR if you did that twice.
Sorry about that buddy!
Wow, why do you think the communication was so off? (I don't know much about French)
My guess would be that the intervewing manager was just translating English sentences directly into their French worded equivalent without actually following the rules/grammmar, and so it was confusing -- right?
I initially thought they might be attempting to read off a Google Translate conversion but I suppose if that interview was face to face then that'd be implausible.
My understanding of the situation is the exact same as yours. Which I find funny now, but obviously not that much back then.
The interview was in person, and she only used her laptop to take down notes. I remember thinking to myself "jeez she could at least have prepared some questions" but nope.
I'm glad it happened though, as I've told this story dozens of times since and it still manages to make me laugh :)
Was this a technical role?
Not really, it was technical support through tickets.
I don't exactly remember the specs, but French and SQL were the main requirements. Actually, more French than SQL.