Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, according to biographer Ashlee Vance, asks an interesting question to prospective employees. During the job interview, Musk will say, “You’re standing on the surface of the Earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west, and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you?” I’ll let you ponder it for a bit before I give you the answer.
Have you been on the receiving end of a bizarre job interview question? According to web site thebalancecareers.com, here are some of the more interesting posers lobbed at prospective employees:
How lucky are you and why? If you were a pizza delivery man, how would you benefit from scissors? If you were a box of cereal, what would you be and why? Why is a tennis ball fuzzy? What is your least favorite thing about humanity? Can you instruct someone on how to make an origami ‘cootie catcher’ with just words? You’re a new addition to the crayon box, what color would you be and why? Describe to me the process and benefits of wearing a seat belt.
Those are a good start. In that spirit, I would like to humbly submit some hiring questions of my own. For instance, why would people go to a Psychic Medium as opposed to a Psychic Superior? What is the difference between a duck?
Two penguins are stranded on an ice floe when it snaps in two. As one of the penguins floats away, what did he yell to the other penguin? Why should you care if Jimmy cracks corn?
Not being the only person with questions, I found queries a’plenty online. For example, are children who act in rated ‘R’ movies allowed to see them? Are eyebrows considered facial hair? Do coffins have lifetime guarantees?
Do sheep get static cling when they rub against one another? How can something be “new” and “improved”? If it is new, what was it improving on? How come only your fingers and toes get wrinkly in the shower and nothing else does? How far east can you go before you’re heading west?
If a baby’s leg pops out at 11:59 p.m. but his head doesn’t come out until 12:01, which day was he born on? If a kid refuses to sleep during nap time, are they guilty of resisting a rest? If parents say, “Never take candy from strangers” then why do we celebrate Halloween?
If the sky is the limit, then what is space, over the limit? If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done? Since bread is square, why is sandwich meat round? What do you do when you see an endangered animal that is eating an endangered plant? What is another word for “thesaurus?”
Backtracking a bit, the answer to the penguin question, obviously, is “radio!” And finally, the solution to Elon Musk’s query is the North Pole.
The purpose of this column? Nothing, really. Perhaps to test the hypothesis that there is no such thing as a stupid question. If you find the answer, please let me know.
