Recruiter on TikTok Warns People Not to Answer Unknown Callers After Bad Experience With Job Applicant

A recruiter has taken to TikTok to give people a valuable lesson in phone etiquette when answering calls. Reilly Duke, who goes by the handle @reillyduke on TikTok, recounted a moment where she called a man back to schedule a job interview, only to be met with a very rude response from the other end of the phone. Duke was contacting the man after he had applied to a job online, and she was responsible for setting up a time for him to interview for the position.

When she dialed the man’s number, she politely asked if she was speaking to the right person. “Hi, is this Ignacio?” she asked, before the man quickly fired back, “Yes it is and I’m very busy. What do you want?” Taken aback by his ill-mannered reply, Duke said, “Excuse me?” to gain some clarity on what the man said. Without missing a beat, he hastily said again, “I’m very busy. What do you want?”

Duke told viewers that Ignacio was “triggering her anger issues” but she remained professional for the duration of the call. Duke informed the man of her name and the company she works for as she explained that she was simply calling to schedule an interview for a job he applied for. After asking Ignacio if he was still interested in the job, Duke said the phone call went silent for “at least 15 seconds” before he realized his mistake. “Oh…yeah…yes I do, please yes,” he told her. The man clearly had realized how inappropriate his behavior was and told Duke, “I’m so sorry about that. I didn’t know who you were. I was just kidding.”

She told him it was “not a problem” and reminded him of the date of his interview before ending the call. In her TikTok video, Duke warned people to be cautious about how they answer calls from phone numbers they don’t recognize. While many of those calls are spam or telemarketers, there’s always the chance that it could be an important call. “Please be kinder to the people that you don’t know who are on the other side of the phone,” she said. “Because if I were a worse person, I would not have scheduled this person.”

Duke’s viral video has amassed more than 50,000 views and the comment section is seemingly divided on how the situation unfolded. Some people sided with Duke, with one commenter saying, “When I know I’m applying for jobs I answer every phone call with ‘Hello?’” Another person commented, “If I know I’m applying for multiple positions I am expecting multiple phone calls. So I am answering nicely.”

Other commenters were firmly on Ignacio’s side, saying that his attitude was likely due to the abundance of spam calls he receives. “I think it’s the sheer amount of scam calls that everyone is getting lately. My husband gets a minimum of five a day,” said one commenter. But perhaps the most interesting comments were from people claiming to be recruiters themselves. “Yeah no, that anger issue can easily spill over into the job and coworkers,” said one user who would not have given Ignacio the interview. Another commenter said they were a manager who regularly experienced similar instances where people were unnecessarily rude. “I’ve had this happen plenty of times with applicants,” they said“ I’ve actually NOT scheduled [people] who reacted rudely like this.”