According to Undercover Recruiter, it takes recruiters around 90 seconds to decide whether they would hire someone, but some candidates made life just that much easier for recruiters. Although it’s hard to perform under pressure, and most people have stories of times they truly messed up an interview, these cases might be some of the worst out there.

Job interviewers took to online forum Mumsnet to share their hilarious anecdotes after one woman shared her friend’s “awful” tale of a recent candidate. According to the post, they “kept interrupting, threw a pile of certificates down on the desk when asked about his qualification, referred to people with disabilities (it was in a disability focused organization) as ‘mentals’ and [said] he wanted to help them because he was sure they aren’t stupid.”

“Then when he had the rejection, he sent numerous emails insisting he should have been employed. The story is so horrifying that I wonder whether he was deliberately that questionable.”

The story sparked her to ask others if they’ve experienced anything similar: “As an interviewer, have you ever conducted any awful, cringeworthy interviews?”

The stories that unfolded made hers look like no big deal. Some 73 percent of job seekers say that finding work is one of the most stressful things in life, so it’s unsurprising that some let interviews get the better of them.

“Had someone fall asleep in an interview once. That was awkward,” wrote one user.

“Greeted candidate on arrival. We shook hands… he then said ‘sorry, my hands are wet, I’ve just been for a piss,’” added another.

“As part of a set of competency based questions, I asked a candidate to tell me about something he’d done that he was particularly proud of. He started telling me about his baby twins. He then burst into tears as he got so emosh talking about them,” wrote one interviewer. “I just waited for him to finish blubbing then asked him the next question.”

With the world moving online over the past two years, Zoom interviews didn’t escape scrutiny either, with one recruiter sharing that their worst was with a candidate who “had a camera pointing directly at her chest. I said that the camera was too low and we couldn’t see her face. Candidate snapped that she couldn’t help that. Fair enough.

“At the end of the interview, she moves the camera up so we see her full face for the first and last time as she says goodbye.”

Another interviewer noted a Zoom interview as one of their worst too, writing about “the one who stood up to adjust the blind, and was only wearing a pair of pretty grimy Y-fronts.”

The same interviewer reeled off a line of incidents, including one candidate “who started by telling us he only needed to work for a bit of fun because he was wealthy enough not to need to, he just fancied a bit of an interest.”

Their worst however was “the one who came prepared with the presentation for the title we had asked for, except had clearly recycled the presentation from the last interview they had done, which was for our biggest competitor. The whole presentation slated our company and product, flattered the competitor outrageously and the candidate didn’t even realize until slide 14 or 17.”

Those on the opposite end of the fence also weighed in, with some interviewees sharing their most cringe-worthy moments.

In relationships, knowing when to say “I love you” is one of the biggest hurdles, so one candidate decided to get it over and done with in a first interview.

“I told an interviewer I loved him once and no one I have ever told the story to has let me forget it,” they shared. “I shook his hand, and the interview went very well. He said, and I quote, ‘Thanks for your time, I’ll be in touch to let you know the outcome.’ My response, ‘Thanks so much, have a nice day, love you.’

“There was a pause. I turned and left. Got the job, however, so don’t know if I would recommend such an approach.”