Corporate Strategy
Corporate Strategy
192. Stupid interview questions
We roast filler TV, then discover that “stupid” interview questions can reveal real judgment, curiosity and systems thinking. Fast riffs, real signals, and a few traps worth dodging.
• filler vs substance across anime and long-running TV
• appliance question as a proxy for work style
• estimation puzzles as a reasoning display
• survival in a conference room as constraint testing
• animal challenge mapped to role traits and nuance
• encoding a phone number without digits as creative constraints
• alien-on-the-team as an AI trap question
• pancake stacks as risk and failure-mode thinking
• motivation beyond email and noise
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Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.
SPEAKER_02:One. Nothing wrong with me. Two. Nothing wrong with me. Nothing wrong with me. Three.
SPEAKER_01:Nothing wrong with me. Four. Something's got to give. Something got to give. Great song.
SPEAKER_00:Good, good start to a great pod. Am I right?
SPEAKER_01:You got my dog fired up. Yes, fired up. She's running around. She's almost about to bark. She and you look at your dog. Your dog's just sleeping. She's sleeping. She's sleeping. This is just the dog.
SPEAKER_00:You could say, you could say her body hit the floor.
SPEAKER_01:You could say that. Would you say you let her body hit the floor?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I I let her do whatever she wants, but sure, you could say that I let her body hit the floor.
SPEAKER_01:Well, good. I'm happy you stuck true to the song, to the theme.
SPEAKER_00:I try and stick true whenever I can. I try and like literally take the word true and just stick. Just stick. Just stick. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I have a feeling this is going to be the idiot pod.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, good.
SPEAKER_01:This episode right here is like a filler episode that you could probably, I shouldn't say this. We're gonna edit this out so no one hears it right now. This is like an episode that you could skip an anime that has no type of benefit to the story whatsoever. And that's what we're doing today. It's gonna be a quick one, it's gonna be a fun one, but you could probably never listen to this and you'll be okay in your whole entire life.
SPEAKER_00:These are my favorite episodes of TV shows, though. I love the filler episodes. Like give them to me. I'm not surprised. In in like live action shows, yes. In cartoons, absolutely not. Uh I don't know why, but I feel like live action filler is the best. Cartoon filler is the worst. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I uh I remember, man, I don't even know however long ago I was watching Dragon Ball, the OG Dragon Ball, not Zoe, not Super. When he's a baby, he's a little baby dude. Little baby dude. And the filler episodes on that, I could not stand. No, I don't know what it was. And I think the problem is because there's hundreds of them. Yeah. It's so long. There's too many. Like a couple are good. You sneak a couple in here and there, it's great.
SPEAKER_02:But UF20 is bad.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, have you seen how many episodes of One Piece exist? Is that still going? Okay, hold on. We I like real real time. Real time. I want to make great podcasts. Of one piece are there.
SPEAKER_02:Question mark. Oh my gosh, Clark. Take a guess. Just take a guess.
SPEAKER_01:I'm trying to think of like long TV shows. Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, uh-huh. Other anime like Dragon Ball. If you put it all together, I'm just gonna throw a random number out there. And if it's if it's right, if it's right, we're quitting the podcast, we're going to buy buy lottery tickets right now. All right. Okay. Yeah. 8,017. Holy crap, dude. What are you doing? Is that good?
SPEAKER_00:Is that crazy? 8,000 episodes of a TV show? I don't think there's enough like life on planet Earth to generate that much TV. I just threw a random number out there. I thought you were gonna tell me I did it. Oh you got me excited. 1152. We're definitely not buying lottery tickets. Yeah, but I mean orders of magnets here golf. Yeah, but I mean, still, that's nuts. And there's this, there's you know, I'm a Jojo fan. There's a joke in the Jojo community, which is uh, you know, it's it's the the amount of one piece episodes is just a mountain high, but the actual amount of like one piece manga is tiny little thing. But then it's like, you know, Jojo, on the other hand, has done a perfect job of taking the mountain of text and producing the equivalent amount of show. So, you know, Jojo Ultimate Anime, uh keeping it uh to Hirohiko Araki's original vision. Um that's you know, that's that's what you do. But like, yeah, one piece is just 99 filler. It's it's nuts, it's so much filler.
SPEAKER_01:I was I was looking at like I did uh we're doing real-time updates. This is awesome podcast material. Some of the longest running TV shows, yeah, Guiding Light, General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, all of those are over 15,000 episodes. Yeah, yeah, and then the price is right, over 10,000. And then as you look at like comedies, like The Simpsons has around 800 episodes. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That's wild. And they should have they should have stopped around one. So sadly. I agree with that. Sadly. 100 was enough Simpsons. The first 10 seasons of The Simpsons is some of my favorite television ever made. And then everything after that is just a depressing downhill journey. Yeah, 100% agree. Yeah, Family Guy. What else is a depressing downhill journey? What's that? I mean, I do do you know what else is a depressing downhill journey, Clark? What what what's that? Welcome back to Corpus Tragedy Podcast within giving a big email. I'm I'm Bruce. And I'm uh Clark.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, Clark. Do I have something for you today? Tell me. Since this is the idiot pod, the filler episode, I figured we'd do something fun. Okay. Something you're really gonna enjoy. Oh, great. You're really gonna have a great time, and I think everybody listening is going to enjoy it. Because I looked up what are some of the stupidest interview questions that you could ask. And I figured, why not throw some of them out here just for pure enjoyment? Do we have to answer them? I don't know. I mean, we can. We can think we can we can theorize how you would answer them. Okay. Okay. Okay, okay. You like this? I'm in. I love this. I love this. Let's go. This would be this would be a good way for us to blow off some steam, to enjoy this afternoon and get through get through the rest of today. So this is gonna be fun. Everybody already knows. I would say when you think about like stupid interview questions, like you have the I'm not talking boilerplate, like, you know, tell me your philosophy on leadership. I'm talking stupid interview questions like how many golf balls could fit in an airplane. Like, those are some stupid ones, but these are like these are even more stupid than that. And it's gonna be really, and it's not like I just don't even know where to start.
SPEAKER_00:Give me number, just give me the first one in this list so I can kind of get a taste for like how stupid.
SPEAKER_01:You hear the whole one out for this, okay? Okay, okay. If you were a kitchen appliance, which one would you be and why is it the air fryer?
SPEAKER_00:There's no way someone's actually asked this question. How incredible is that question? I liked the first part, actually. I think it's a good question, right? Because what is an appliance's job at the end of the day? It does work, right? So, like if you're a stove, you are your purpose is to kind of ramp up the heat, get to a point of consistent stability, maintain that level of intensity, and then cool down when you're done, right? Like, you know, I am I am not a stove, I am a microwave, right? Like I can answer this question for you right now. Like, I am a microwave. Throw something in there, you push a couple buttons, you're not gonna get the tastiest meal out of it. But I guarantee you the results will be around what you'd be satisfied with, and you're gonna get it quickly and consistently every time. I don't know what I would be, but I would air fryer, because apparently that's the answer.
SPEAKER_01:I think just the structure of this question is the funniest part about it. It's like, tell me about your greatest failure and tell me why it was when you got fired from your last job.
SPEAKER_00:Tell me why it was having four children. Oh, I can imagine that. I can actually see like if you if you knew the candidate just dropping that on him just to break the ice, just to make it this is I mean, it is a good question, just to kind of lighten the mood. I'm not gonna call it stupid. I'm not gonna call that stupid. I'm gonna say it's an intelligent question with a funny little joke to break that ice.
SPEAKER_01:If you started with that, I think people would just be baffled. I mean, I get like the question due to what it actually is, how you answered it, I like that. But to end with why is it the air fryer? It's actually it's like an underhanded interview question. And I think it's hilarious. But if I if you did that interview, they'd probably have been like, This is not the place for me.
SPEAKER_00:I promise you, I next time I do an interview, I will drop that question in there. I promise you, and I will give you the I will give you the response. I'll do it.
SPEAKER_01:All right, you ready for the next one? I am so ready now. Okay, it's gonna I'm gonna skip a few because I got 15, but I'm gonna skip a few just because nobody got time for that. Okay, yeah, no one got time. How many pigeons would it take to move a car? Hmm. It's a good one.
SPEAKER_00:Ooh, I feel like you could actually answer this question.
SPEAKER_01:I feel like this is one of those golf balls and a 747 type questions. Like this one you might be able to figure out, but just the optics of it are funny.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. I I feel like you could answer this question. You would probably give a good answer, and it it'd probably be feasible if I had to guess.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I've uh I've done some interviews like this, and I actually I like the process of getting to the answer. I actually think it's kind of fun, regardless of the situation. Pigeons, moving cars, golf ball 747, manhole covers in the city of New York. Like, I like the thinking that goes behind that because you don't get to do that often. So it's kind of fun. And then you kind of get to look up after you're like, Am I in orders of magnitude? Like, our how many episodes is the longest series? Are we in orders of magnitude of what it is? I think they're a lot of fun. In an interview valid, are they? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:The fact that you literally just used the phrase orders of magnitude in response to this question tells me it's not a stupid question because, like, you're already figuring out how to solve it.
SPEAKER_01:I would definitely solve this one. I got a dumber one for you. I got a dumber one for you. And I I actually I love this one so much. I can't, I'm so excited to ask you this. How long do you think you can survive in this conference room with no snacks?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's a good one. These are not stupid questions. I love these questions. I love these questions, these are great.
SPEAKER_01:Uh one follow-ups to this would be like, Yes, how desperate on what day would you debate eating me?
SPEAKER_00:Right, right. Because that's step one, right? Are you in the room with me?
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh. Uh valid question, though. This is a typical product management interview. Like you never just jump to a solution, you ask defining questions so you can prepare a better solution. So your question is a valid question, and I applaud you for it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, there's it's so funny because there's a really easy way to answer this question, right? It's like maybe six hours.
SPEAKER_02:Why is that the obvious answer? Well, because I'm gonna leave after that.
SPEAKER_00:You're gonna stay here for six hours? Yeah, well, I'm gonna stay in the conference room for six hours and I'm gonna get hungry and I'm gonna leave. That's how long I can survive in here.
SPEAKER_01:What if you say uh this interview is over at 12? So I'm gonna leave. I could last in here without snacks maybe an hour.
unknown:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, like I that's a valid answer, right?
SPEAKER_00:Sets you up to think like I'd be out of the box. I've got to stay in here and eat the cushions and like collect the dew from the condensation. No, bro, just leave. Just like I'd probably last around six hours and I'd get really hungry and have to use the bathroom, so I'd walk out.
SPEAKER_01:The scheduled interview time was only from 11 to 12:30. So I think I would want to dismiss myself out of respect for this company. That is the answer. That's the right answer, right there. Good answer. I love good answer. My my brain went to what you did is like I started in, I would start inventory the room and asking those questions. Are you gonna be in here with me?
SPEAKER_00:How much paint can I lick off the wall before it becomes toxic?
SPEAKER_01:Just curious. Did you guys use lead paint? I just need to factor that into my cancer calculation.
SPEAKER_00:Water run through those pipes through on the above the ceiling tile? Is it consistent?
SPEAKER_01:Is it do you mind is it intake water or outflow water? Do you mind if I get on the table and just take a peek up there really quick just to see what we're doing? Yeah, just you know, see a little sneak peek. What constitutes this room? If I exit out the top and not through a door, does that count?
SPEAKER_00:Doing like uh what was it, oxycotton bandit situation at the local drugstore?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Right. Do you have snacks in the tile boards? Because that's not technically in the conference room.
SPEAKER_00:You know, tile boards always reminded me of a big cheese it. So, you know, it's just like a big white cheddar cheese it. I feel like you could chomp through that and probably it's assist. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Is this what you thought about in high school when you're really bored just looking up? Oh my gosh. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay. Let's go to another one here. Lay it on me. All right. If you had to fight one animal for your job, which one would give you the biggest challenge?
SPEAKER_00:Ooh, again, but it's the it's the it's the way these questions are phrased that I really like. Because it's not just like they're not just pulling crap out of the sky. Like anyone could be like, oh, if you were uh if you were a car, what would you beat? Right? Like, eh, like that doesn't give you, but read that one again. Read that one again.
SPEAKER_01:If you had to fight one animal, it says for your job, but I like it better. Like if I'm interviewing you, I would say if you had to fight one animal for this job, which would give you the biggest challenge, right?
SPEAKER_00:Because again, it's not what animal can you beat, it's not which animal uh, you know, is the is the most dangerous, it's for this job that would give you the biggest challenge. So you gotta like equipate yourself to an animal. I love this. This is great.
SPEAKER_01:These are not like I stand by it, they are not stupid questions. Maybe that's what we're getting to. Maybe this is the maybe this is the cheat sheet for how to have a productive interview and test someone's mentality. I kind of do, I'm kind of vibing with what you're saying right now because I'm kind of thinking of like depending on the job, it's like, okay, this is a software engineer job. So what animal would be the right animal that would do that job the best? And they would be maybe my biggest challenge because I'd have to outperform them. That could be really thoughtful, that could be really insightful.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I mean, if the candidate answer is with a lion, too basic. Okay, no critical thinking. I mean, a lion's gonna kill you. One, and two, like, did you even think about this? Are you not taking this seriously? Like, do you think because the question's slightly outside the box? That means you can just give it a pass. Like, I feel like you can find out a lot about a person the way they they kind of chew through this and answer it. Yeah, if you're in marketing and you got this question, I would expect like some deep thought and creativity put into this. Oh show.
SPEAKER_01:That's like that's like the key to all this is like the basic answer is not the right question. Not the right answer. Right. Like they're expecting you, if you do get asked this, they're expecting critical thought put into this and questions to be asked. Yeah. So given that, what's the animal? Oh, I don't know. For if I were to say for like my job, the biggest challenge. I honestly think maybe a cat. Yeah, it'd be hard to get, right? Maybe a cat, because cats cats are smart, they're sneaky. They I'm speaking on behalf of my cat who woke me up at 4 45 this morning. They decide when they want to do things and they try to get you up in different creative ways every day. Like, hey, I'm gonna solve this problem of me being hungry at 4 45 in the morning. By first, I'm gonna test just a simple meow. I'm just gonna meow and see if you get up from the bed. Didn't work. I build, test, learn, I fail fast. Okay, now I'm gonna jump on the dresser. I'm gonna knock something off. Didn't work. Let me go to step three. I'm gonna hit the blinds over and over and over again until you decide to get up out of bed and feed me. Great problem solver. It works. I got out of bed.
SPEAKER_00:I'm thinking along the same lines, right? Like I like that answer because it it does, it fits right into you and who you are and the kind of job you're going for. Like for me, it'd be probably a feral hog, right? Because it's a common problem that exists and it's something that needs to be addressed, right? Like they're out of control in certain areas, but so too is is most marketing problems, right? Like, how do you stand out from the crowd? So I would have to fight the feral hog in a very creative and nuanced way, maybe even think about a way to deal with the larger feral hog crisis uh and come up with a solution that one is not only effective, but also compelling and gets other people interested in taking on my solution to do it with alongside them.
SPEAKER_01:That was a great answer. Great answer.
SPEAKER_00:I you know, I'm I'm I'm just here to please. I'm here to please.
SPEAKER_01:All right, let's go to the next one. Let's do without using numbers. Tell me your phone number.
SPEAKER_00:Without using numbers, telling you my phone number. Okay, that one's that one is legit. Like this, okay, this is the it's not stupid. No, but this one, I think you can only ask this question if you're interviewing for like a theoretical physicist or you know, some some like I work at Paradox Corp. Our whole entire reason for being is to not be, you know, like right. You gotta be working on a different level there, unless you've got an answer. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I've got an answer. Okay. Roman Roman numerals. That's not a number.
SPEAKER_02:It represents numbers though.
SPEAKER_01:It represents a number, it's not a number. I could use Roman numerals to to write out IV if the beginning is four. And I can map all that out without using a single number. You could do it in like binary code if it's a software engineering job. Binary you can't do. I agree. Maybe hex hexadecimal. No, you couldn't get away with numbers. Hmm. You could do it with like objects representing the number. I have four pens.
SPEAKER_02:I then have two balls of paper. Those are just objects, they're not numbers. You could.
SPEAKER_00:You could do it based on sequential release order of James Bond movies. Assuming you know them, which I don't, but if you did, you could be like, oh yeah, it's uh I'm Dr. No from Russia with love, Goldfinger, Dr. No. You only live twice.
SPEAKER_01:You could do it with any type of movie series as long as there's any kind of sequence, as long as there's not a number in it, right? As long as it's zero to nine, you could do it. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That would work. Or whatever we're on now. You can't do that because it's the number, though. So you'd have to be movies that don't have numbers in the scene. Yep, yep, yep. Star Wars.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Harry Potter books. Yep.
unknown:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Like you could you could use that. That is your new sequence for numbering your phone. I like how we just solved this one. Like we had this one down.
SPEAKER_01:This would be a fun interview. I wouldn't even want the job. I'd just be like, thanks for a good time. I enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for making me think today. It's been a long time, so I use this organ. Really glad to put it to work.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. You ready for another one? Yeah. If aliens landed right now, what role would you assign them on your team? Am I allowed to ask more questions? Can I talk? Can we I don't see why not? Do they look like me? So many questions, right? Maybe. What if they what if they just hit you with maybe? Maybe. What do you think?
SPEAKER_00:Maybe they look like me. Well, the first thing I want to do is interview the alien. I want to find out what their right fit is. I mean, I'm not. We're in a trap. This is a trap. This is a trap.
SPEAKER_01:It's a trap because the alien is AI and it's showing up, and we're being asked how to replace our own jobs. Because the alien is AI. And we're being asked how to creatively add them to your team.
SPEAKER_00:You're absolutely right. This is a trap question. No, I think I think you're on to something, actually. That that's a really good point, right? Because they're actively asking you to think about how you fit things in that are not within the normal scope of work into work. I think this is a run. If you heard this question, you run.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I agree. This is a sneaky one where it's like we're trying to either reduce staff or think about I'm forcing you to think about ways to replace people on your team. Right. It's a trap.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's a trap.
SPEAKER_02:I don't like that.
SPEAKER_00:No. To quote to quote my favorite alien, Admiral Akbar. Or John Trap. I love it. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Anytime. Anytime he can come in. Why not?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um I got another one for you.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I got two more for you. You're gonna love the last one, but this one's gonna be funny. Okay. How many pancakes could you stack before it becomes a safety hazard? This is a trick question. Oh, because it's the safety hazard. Yeah, it's a how many could you stack? So this is like a test of your own abilities. How many? I want to know how many could Bruce stack, but then before it becomes a safety hazard to others. So are you confident enough that it could become a safety hazard?
SPEAKER_00:See, my problem with this is, and I have to answer this question honestly, I don't think I could Bruce Bangers stack enough pancakes that it would be a safety hazard. I think you'd have to get into like 13, 14 stories of pancakes before it could actually hurt somebody when it falls. Because just the the way that pancakes collapse, right? They're they're squishy flat things, right? So you would need a pancake to basically fall from high enough. I think 13 stories is enough to hit terminal velocity with gravity. So I don't know if that's right or not. I would need at least 13 stories of pancake, and I would need to make sure that if it was like the the top pancake needs to fall fast enough, basically, that it can hurt somebody. And now it's a safety hazard. The penny thing where you throw it off top of the building right now. Exactly. Exactly. The pancake needs to be able to reach that speed, or alternatively, I need I need an insurmountable amount of pancakes that would suffocate a human being if it fell on them. Um, but again, I can't do either of those things myself. So I unfortunately can't answer this question for you because I'm not capable of stacking that amount of pancakes.
SPEAKER_01:You failed. You failed. I know. I feel like you could have thought another way. You could have said enough pancakes to cover the manhole cover I just took off so someone could fall down into it. Oh, well, that's really cruel, horrible, Clark.
SPEAKER_00:Why would you it became wrong with you?
SPEAKER_02:What's wrong with you?
SPEAKER_01:You know? This is how our brain works. A little into us. You're learning a lot.
SPEAKER_00:It would only take me one pancake because I would cover the uh I would cover the fire alarm at my local workplace. And now it's an OSHA violation.
SPEAKER_01:It would only take me one to shove it down your throat and choke you to death. Uh is it good that I say that and then my wife walks in? Is that a good thing? I think that's a great sign. It's a great sign. Well, I got one more interview question for you on this surprise episode. Okay. What motivates you to show up to work even though email exists?
SPEAKER_00:I love this one because it implies that you're working in an office. So, you know, for me, that's a hard question to answer just because I've been remote for so long. But you, a human being who still goes to an office, how do you answer that question? It's a great question. I love that question.
SPEAKER_01:They're acknowledging email sucks. It's a culture. How do you yeah? So, like, how do you still stay motivated, even though you know you're gonna have to deal with it? It's kind of revealing maybe some cards about the job, about the role, to say there's gonna be a lot of email in this job, and you've got to find a way to stay motivated. That's a that's a good tricky question.
SPEAKER_00:It is, it definitely tells you a little bit about the company, but I think how you answer it also tells them a lot about you, right? And now you've got me thinking, like back when we worked in an office, how many times I would email people that I literally could have walked down the hallway and talked to. 100%. Yeah, I kind of hate that question, actually. I hate that that question just opens you up to realize how silly all of this actually is. Not the questions, just work.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I feel like um I feel like the main question I want to ask somebody if I was doing ridiculous questions is I would say, do you think you could defeat me? If I was hiring somebody from my team, just start with that. Look them in the eyes and say, Do you think you could defeat me? And if they say yes, then get out the door now.
SPEAKER_00:I want you to size me up as a human being and tell me, if it was you and me in a dark alley and only our fists, who would walk out of there alive? Who would exit alive?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I would want to work that immediately. 100% I'd be like, I'm in. Like, whatever I gotta do to get this job, I am in.
SPEAKER_00:I just I just want them to answer the question in a way that I die. Like, that's you get the job.
SPEAKER_01:Uh you're my successor. The prophecy has come to fruition. Congratulations, you're hired.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's that's when you um you reach your hand across the table and you you've before before you've done this, you've smeared it with like fake blood, and you shake their hand, you're like, congratulations, you get the job. Welcome.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome, happy to have you. Well, that was really fun. Uh yeah, it was a good time. I thought I I enjoyed the questions. Thanks, A.
SPEAKER_00:They're much better than I expected them to be. I expected just like slop, and you brought not slop. So thank you as always, Clark, for your ability to source interesting and provocative content. Like good questions. Um, I know we got to run, but I do want to throw it out to our Discord. If you heard any of those questions and had better answers than we do, post them in the corporate strategy channel of our corporate strategy discord. You can get there by checking your show notes and clicking the link tree that has all of the things. If you want to support the show, if you want to share the show, you want to check out our website, join the Discord, you can do all of it there. We thank you for your listenership. And as always, I am Bruce.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm Clark, and I owe everyone an answer on the Is It AI channel, so I will do that right now. Thank you. Thank you, Clark.
SPEAKER_00:And for the rest of you in the Is It AI channel, you're on mute, and we'll see you next week.
