Nobody likes to get the brush-off after an important interview but it’s fair to say that James Allen got a more discouraging response than most when he recently applied for a new job.
The 48-year-old attended the offices of Right Price PVCu for an interview for the position of window and conservatory manufacturer and was told by director Sarah Haseler that he would be contacted later that day.
When he heard nothing back, he wrote an abrupt email to Ms Haseler to enquire about the status of the job.
“Just a quick email to say that you promised to phone me today. You did not. I rang your mobile but you did not answer. I sent a text you did not answer. When you promise something you carry it through,” he said.
According to The Telegraph, he got more than he bargained for when he received a foul-mouthed response, calling him and “old aesthetically challenged guy with no teeth”.
Ms Haseler has since admitted that she sent the email in error, saying that she had earlier read an article that recommended writing a therapeutic response to anything that made you angry or upset in order to “get it all out to move on”.
“I then wrote another email reply to James.Unfortunately, I now realise that it was in fact the other email which was sent in error, which was never supposed to be seen by him. I must stress this was my personal opinion, and not the opinion of the company, and the email written, although sent in error, was in retaliation to a person insulting me,” she said.
While she did not mean to send the message, she stood by its content and blasted James’ behaviour as “unbelievably rude, inappropriate and insulting, towards me personally and also the company”.
“I actually thought it was a joke. I was waiting for the hidden camera crew to jump out and say ‘ha, got ya’. I was genuinely shocked, hurt and angered by his behaviour and attitude, and the things he said. We have worked very hard to build this family business up and when someone is insulting the business it does feel like they are hurting a member of your family,” continued Ms Haseler.
“He was derogatory, belittling and offensive and I felt extremely uncomfortable the entire time he was there. When he left I politely said ‘Thanks, I’ll give you a ring to let you know’. That evening, a few hours later on the same day he came in, he sent an email, which was also rude, insulting and harassing.”
Mr Allen has defended his performance during the interview, saying that he believed it went well and Ms Haseler’s “nasty” response had damaged his confidence.
“Nobody’s ever given me a personal attack on the way I look – I was wearing a shirt and tie and wasn’t wearing jeans or anything,” he said.
“I’m a confident person normally but she has brought into question my face and my age. It’s knocked my confidence. Just because I’m a man and I’m 48 doesn’t mean that I can’t get upset.”
