First, From a previous thread:
If you’re reading this ChefGuy, or anyone else who knows what these questions really mean, I have one more
I tend to say whatever is on my mind
What are they trying to determine by that question?
And a what would you do for a bank teller position
It is a busy day and several people are waiting in line for service. A business owner who you see regularly states that the deposit receipt he received last time he was at the bank has the wrong account number on it. What would you do next in this situation?
[ol]
[li]Deduct the funds from the account number on the receipt and deposit them into the customer’s account.[/li][li]Pull up the account information for the incorrect account number. Call that customer and ask him/her if the deposit was made. If the deposit was not made, transfer the funds to the proper account. If it was made, tell the business owner that the transaction appears legitimate and no change can be made.[/li][li]Provide the customer with the 800 customer service number and ask him to resolve the issue through them.[/li][li]Walk the customer to your manager’s desk and explain the situation so that your manager can resolve the situation.[/li][li]Take the customer’s name, account number, and phone number and tell him that you will research the matter and will call him by the end of the day with an update.[/li][/ol]
To me 4 and 5 seem the most reasonable, but I guess for fast service 4 would be the best option, right? (That’s what I chose anyway)
I would guess they don’t want to hire someone who shoots their mouth off without thinking first, or without showing any tact.
Yeah, I wondered if the question meant something like that. Thank you.
For the bank teller option, why would you be calling the other customer to ask whether the deposit has been made? If you have his info, he’s your customer, so you can see in the computer whether the deposit has been made. I also doubt that being finished automatically makes the transaction legitimate. So I don’t know whether 4 or 5 would be preferred (and I expect that each bank may have different policies for that, as well as different ones about how important fast service is), but 2 seems to be completely wrong in any case.
1 is wrong because you need to investigate and, if corrections are needed, apologize/inform the other customer involved. 3 seems… terribly stand-offish. I’ve bothered come here in person and you give me your 800 number? Gee, such wonderful customer service - not!
As a former bank teller, #4 is the right answer. You are there to process transactions, handle money accurately, protect the security and integrity of your station/register/computer, etc; anything requiring an investigation is the manager’s job.
#5 is promising to do something you may not have the authority to do – never a good idea. What if you got slammed with people cashing payroll checks and didn’t have any time to look into it – customer is going to be pissed if he doesn’t hear from you.
As to the phrase in the OP – they want to see if you just blurt out any damn thing you are thinking, such as to a difficult customer: “Lady you are such a b*tch!!”
When it came to 4 and 5 even though I chose 4 I was hesitant because I wasn’t sure if that would be a responsibility of a manager, or if I would be passing off my responsibility onto him or her.
As for the say what’s on my mind question, like the other three mentioned in the OP, I didn’t quiet grasp the true nature of the question. None of those questions suggest what they really mean. I wonder how may people, like me, didn’t understand and answered incorrectly.
Originally Posted by Chefguy
I’m puzzled by these statements. How do you know the person is guilty? Because it says so in the content of the question.
It is maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go free.
Not “people I think are guilty but the court says are not guilty,” but guilty. They are telling me the criminals are guilty. It is not my judgment. I am not jumping to any conclusions. The conclusion has been given to me.
This is what they’re getting at
Truth: Yes it is
Answer they want: No it’s not. The fact is the COURTS are they SYSTEM we as a society have set up. It’s not perfect we all know that, but we have to obey it and accept the decisons, right or wrong.
What they’re getting at: The company will also have rules that may seem unfair, and in reality may be unfair, but you’ll be expected to abide by those rules and not get mad when they seem unfair. Or if one person gets written up for something and another does’t. You’ll just have to fall in line and toe the mark
Truth: yes, we all do
Answer they want: No I don’t. I make a decison and stick to it. If need be I can modify it
What they’re getting at: this is a job and unless you’re a brain surgeon, nothing you do is probably gonna impact the lives of someone traumatically. If you have issues, and are following the company it’s up to you to abide by them or to report the conflict to your managers
Truth: Yes, even well meaning comments can be misinterpreted
Answer they want: No, because I THINK before I act and therefore, if any mistakes I make, they are so unnoticed that for all purposes they are non-existent
What they’re getting at: There is no room for error when it comes to customers, clients, vendors and managers. The company has developed a program and has rules if you follow them you’ll be ok (at least in theory they do). If you stick to the program there will be no margin of error.
You have to be realistic, I’ve worked in H/R and everyone KNOWS there are exceptions. H/R is not looking to catch you in a lie, they’re looking for someone to answer honestly. Then they take that “honest” answer and look for other signs in the interview and such to see if you’re going to have issues
Markxxx is right. For example, if you answer “Yes, sometimes I look bad and feel bad about things I’ve done” what they will do in the interview is ask you for an example of something you regret. If it’s because you teased someone in gym class in junior high, that’s not a big deal. If you regret beating your wife because she ran away with the kids, that’s going to be a problem.
I guess I’m just too literal. I answer the question they ask, not the question under the question under the question. I have that problem IRL too. I’d be hell on a witness stand.
That’s what I’ve done too. I’m kind of surprised to learn that these questions have “deeper” meanings than what they appear.
Do the companies that ask these questions think that subconsciously we really understand what they’re asking? Is there some sort of science which proves that the majority of people who answer the questions a certain way will be good or bad employees? It seems to me that if you ask one question but really mean another, then you don’t really know that much about a person at all.
And as for clarifying answers in an interview, that makes a lot more sense, but one job I applied for a few months back instantly told me that due to my answers that I wasn’t a match. Oh well, I guess they want to weed out people quickly, and I guess this is certainly one way to do it.
I think if you mentally add “always” or “constantly” into the question, you will see what you they are truly asking.
I say what’s on my mind
vs.
I always say what’s on my mind
Alternatively, if you feel like the best answer would be “occasionally” or “every now and then” then answer “no.”
Once, many years ago, I was up for a promotion and was required to take some standardized test of my trustworthiness or something. The only advice my boss gave me was something along the lines of, “Be the most honest person in the world.” (I don’t remember his exact words, but that was the gist, and he phrased it kind of funny like that.)
So the test was loaded with questions like “Have you ever thought about stealing money from the cash register?” And I recalled my boss’s advice and thought, *AHA! They want to see if I’m full of crap or not. I have never stolen money, I wouldn’t steal money, but if they want me to be completely honest, who hasn’t at least thought about it at some point, right? * Wrong! I outsmarted myself, and didn’t realize until later that what he meant was to represent myself as the most honest person in the world. By misinterpreting those words, I screwed up the whole test.
Long story short, I still got the job (it took a subsequent polygraph, though), and my whole point here is that tests like this are stupid and don’t really tell you about a person, because there’s all kinds of overthinking and second-guessing going on.
So, it appears that these questions act as a sort of intelligence test as well. If you are not smart enough to figure out what the appropriate answer *should *be, you may not have the mental horsepower for the job. 
Oh wow. Then I’ve been answering this question wrong for a long time. My mom used to grade these things. She told me that by and large, questions that ask about the actions of other people assume that you’re measuring everyone else by your moral compass. For example, these questions on the test she used to grade:
What percentage of people do you think smoke marijuana every day?
A: 0-25%
B: 25-50%
C: 50-75%
D: 75-100%
and simliarly
What percentage of judges do you think are honest?
A: 0-25%
B: 25-50%
C: 50-75%
D: 75-100%
These questions assume that you are going to project qualities on other people you see in yourself. If you are not a pot smoker, you’re going to assume that a small percentage (0-25%) smoke pot every day. If you’re an honest person, than you’re going to assume a high percentage of judges (75-100%) are also honest.
So I always looked at the guilty criminal questions the same way. I’m an honest and law abiding person, and I expect the same standards applied to others. If I’m not honest and law abiding, then I would cheer for others who get off scot-free too, right?
Damn, no wonder I’m having such trouble finding a job. 
So these tests really are as nefarious as I thought they were. Damn.