1094: Interview
| Interview |
 Title text: Hey, before you go, can you explain to me what job I now have? |
Explanation
This comic is based on a common annoyance when job hunting, being told that they'll "keep you in mind", but don't offer you a job. A job interviewer tells Black Hat that the job he was applying for was already filled.
Black Hat offers a briefcase to his interviewer. From the vague phrasing "this" and the context, one would expect the briefcase to contain money to bribe the interviewer into hiring Black Hat. Instead, it contains a portal or gateway into an impossibly deep chasm.
After falling through the chasm, the interviewer lands in the interviewee's seat, and Black Hat is now sitting in the interviewer's seat, effectively switching their roles.
The former interviewer tries to pull the same trick on Black Hat, creating a momentary illusion of an infinite loop through recursion, a common theme in xkcd comics.
When Black Hat opens the briefcase, however, he reveals another common annoyance when job hunting, being told that the opening has already been filled. Black Hat's statement works on two levels, one meaning that "the job opening has been filled", and the second meaning "the opening to the briefcase's chasm has been filled".
The title text is said by Black Hat. It refers to the fact that, even though Black Hat now has the interviewer's job, he has no idea what his function is.
Another job interview was portrayed in 1293: Job Interview
Transcript
- [Black Hat and another person interviewing.]
- Person: ...But thank you for applying. We'll keep your resume on file.
- [Black Hat pushes a suitcase over the table.]
- Black Hat: Perhaps this could change your mind?
- [Person opens suitcase.]
- Click
- [Suitcase opens up to reveal a hole with horizontal lines along the walls.]
- [Camera pans over the suitcase to reveal a deep hole.]
- [Camera zooms into the hole.]
- [Person is falling into the hole.]
- Person: AAAAAA
- [Person falls into a chair with the suitcase.]
- THUMP
- [Person is dazed.]
- Black Hat: ...But thank you for applying. We'll keep your resume on file.
- [Person looks bemused at the the suitcase.]
- [Person lifts suitcase.]
- [Person pushes the suitcase over the table.]
- Person: Perhaps this could change your mind?
- [Black Hat opens suitcase.]
- Click
- [Black Hat looks inside.]
- [Black Hat turns suitcase around.]
- Black Hat: I'm sorry-
- [Suitcase now has some paper and an envelope in it.]
- Black Hat: -That opening has been filled.
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refresh comments!Discussion
The title-text refers to one of the issues I've had as an interviewer - the applicant sometimes doesn't understand the job they're trying to get. Of course in this case Black Hat can be excused, since he now has the interviewer's job, not the one he applied for.
Normally when I get offered a briefcase it contains a monetary bribe, a factor missed out in the explanation. I too would be surprised to find a portal in a briefcase.
The title-text also sounds like it contains a dig at interviewers, who seem to exist solely to block and stall candidates.
The hovertext might also reference the fact that the original interviewer doesn't know what else is different in this universe, and therefore doesn't know what his qualifications are or what else has happened thus far.
The briefcase technique should be mentioned in this article. Is a form of causing a good impression in an interview.
Hovertext probably is a saying of Black Hat as interviewer, not other way round.
I agree, the hovertext is Black Hat asking the other guy, whose job he now has, what exactly IS that job. "Before you leave" is the clue: Black Hat isn't leaving, he has a job here now. Johngardner (talk) 20:42, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
Should the (ex-)interviewer be identified as Hairy? Mark Hurd (talk) 11:56, 15 April 2013 (UTC)
I just want to point out that I find this particular comic incredibly evil, even by black hat's standards. *shivers*
Probably my favorite comic, not counting the Journal series. Netherin5 (talk) 17:43, 6 March 2019 (UTC)
The last paragraph about the mind swap doesn't make sense. Hairy clearly drops into the seat. Also they now sit on opposite sides of the desk and Hairy still has the briefcase. Neither agrees with the mind swap theory. I'll remove it if no one objects.172.70.251.96 21:45, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- No fan of that theory myself, but "clearly drops into the seat" could be as much a mental illusion as the fall into the case (by whatever mind-swap-shock it might be that makes that happen), etc... I would have drawn the mindswap hypothesis differently, in Randall's shoes, but I can't rule out some valid reasons for this being the way that idea was drawn in his case. 172.69.43.197 00:22, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
- The chair drop is the least issue. He is clearly Hairy. He has the briefcase. They sit in opposite chairs from before. For that theory to make sense, all that has to be an illusion - why would Randall do that? Come on, by pulling the "illusion card" you can save every theory and include it here. 172.70.246.186 10:18, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
- The precedent of 381: Mobius Battle could be being invoked (nearly is, with Hairy clearly expecting it) except that the case only 'works' the once, and doesn't reset the situation), in a reality-warping/perception-warping manner. 141.101.98.87 11:08, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
- The chair drop is the least issue. He is clearly Hairy. He has the briefcase. They sit in opposite chairs from before. For that theory to make sense, all that has to be an illusion - why would Randall do that? Come on, by pulling the "illusion card" you can save every theory and include it here. 172.70.246.186 10:18, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
