Bad Bosses·
LATE NIGHT INTERVIEW
A legal job candidate navigates a late-night Zoom request, a rude tone, and a reply-all mix-up that leaves them wondering if the firm wants them or just tests them.
Was this a fair mistake or a bad look?
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The interview had already raised a few red flags. Then, at 8 p.m., the head of the firm emailed asking for a Zoom call with other associates, and the applicant suddenly wondered whether they were being strung along, or shoved along, or both.
The poster had already interviewed once with the head of the firm when the late email landed. It wasn't a casual note, either. The message asked them to set up a call with additional attorneys, and the timing came after a full day already packed with two other interviews and a personal obligation the next day.
The poster said they might have been able to make it work. What bothered them was the tone. In their words, they "didn't like the rudeness of the reply."
That irritation didn't come out of nowhere. In an edit, the poster clarified that the sender was the head of the firm, and that the interview itself had already come with "some minor red flags." One of them was a comment about hiring. The head had said he only wanted to hire new associates from now on because "older lawyers are too stubborn."
The exchange got messier from there. In another edit, the poster explained that the original email had been sent to two other attorneys as well, and they had been trying to respond to them, but accidentally hit reply instead of reply all. In other words, the message that seemed to be going to the firm had been aimed at the copied attorneys only, not at the boss who had set up the next round.
That confusion became part of the story. The poster later shared the earlier email that started the thread, giving the full setup for the scheduling request: "I'm copying my partner, (name) and his associate, (name). The associate position is on their team. Please coordinate a Zoom meeting with them to explore whether this could be a good fit."
Even with that context, the poster said the situation never felt like a done deal. In a further edit, they pushed back on commenters who assumed the job was already theirs: "I know some folks are suggesting I had the job, but that's not what it felt like from that initial email."
So the whole thing stayed where it began, with a late-night scheduling request, a reply that hit the wrong person, and a candidate left wondering whether the firm was courting them, testing them, or just being blunt about the process.