The Iced Coffee Isn’t the Problem. The Interview Is.
“But I can see the coffee.”
The moment
An online argument asked whether bringing an iced coffee to a job interview is unprofessional. After years of hiring, I had seen polished interviews lead to poor hires and awkward ones lead to exceptional employees.
What it reveals
The cup is immediately visible. Judgment under pressure is not. I wanted managers to ask whether a behavior predicts the work or simply violates an unwritten rule, then look for better evidence in how someone handles mistakes, hard shifts, and coworkers when the script runs out.