Jobseeker Asked to Return Money For Coffee After Rejecting Job Offer

It’s common to receive a text from a friend bugging you to pay them back, but not so much from a random employee you barely know from a company you applied for a spot in.

Apparently, some employees are taking their saltiness from people not joining their companies to the next level. Either that or they need their money back because spending $6.50 on a stranger is unsustainable in this economy.

For a job seeker who turned down an offer to work at a company, an employee texted him back asking him to Paynow him back for the coffee she had bought him before his interview.

Bear in mind that this is the employee’s doing, and the company didn’t tell her to do this.

How the Story Unfolded

The job seeker, known as S, uploaded screenshots of his conversation with the employee on Facebook.

When the employee first texted him saying he was supposed to have received a call, he declined the job offer and said he wanted something “more fixed and stable.”

While the response from the employee was neutral at first, wishing him all the best, she followed up by asking him to Paynow her $6.50 for the coffee she had bought him at the interview.

S told MS News that he was supposed to meet the employee at the company’s office for the interview, but she took him to a nearby cafe before the interview when he arrived at the office.

She ordered a coffee for him and asked him how he wanted it done.

S Paynow-ed the amount to her and followed up with a message saying that this has never happened at any of the many job interviews he has attended.

He called her out on her unprofessionalism and advised her to inform prospective job seekers that they would need to pay her back if they decided to decline offers.

He added that this left a “bad taste”, and he “dodged a bullet.”

In another post, S uploaded a screenshot of his conversation with a manager, whom he subsequently texted after the incident with the employee.

The manager told S that the employee would be “dealt with”, and he replied that he hoped the manager would highlight this to the superiors.

He also said the employee had to Paylah him the $6.50 back, which he received in the end.

The manager told him that the company “does not condone” her actions and her behaviour is unacceptable.

Company Releases Statement

The company, Sirius Star Marketing, uploaded a post on Instagram on Thursday (18 May) to address the situation and formally apologise for it.

They mentioned in the statement that they deeply regret the harm this incident caused and said that what the employee did “does not reflect the principles” upon which the company is built.

The employee has since been dealt with and understands the “severity and repercussions of her actions.” The company said “immediate action” has been taken to prevent such incidents from occurring again.

 

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Series of Unfortunate Events for Job Seekers

Back in February, the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Philosophy accidentally sent rejection letters to more than 200 job seekers.

The Department had accidentally keyed in all e-mails of intended recipients into the “cc” field instead of the “bcc” field, so all applicants’ e-mails were visible.

Such an occurrence risks the livelihoods of the applicants, as their current employers may be reluctant to renew their contracts when they find out they’re seeking another job.

The Department of Philosophy issued a public apology holding themselves accountable for the mistake like Sirius Star Marketing did.

They also said they were reviewing recruitment procedures after the incident.

Safe to say that both incidents mentioned here were unexpected.