Stupid Questions

I can't think of any specific question but the

"How did you feel" when X died, when you won a million, when your house burned down
Always makes me cringe

It's not a news question but the old favourite job interview question, "Why do you want to work for this company?"

The obvious and usually true answer is, "Because I need a job" but of course you can't say that so you have to waffle about wanting to work for a company that is ethical/go getting/prestigious/modern/traditional/etc.

nina that always makes me annoyed too! I did once see an Australian interviewer talking to a man who had been sent to Australia as a child having been told his mother was dead. It was only as an adult he had learned this was a lie and by then she had died. He broke down and started crying, instead of the cameraman zooming in to catch every tear the interviewer stretched out his hand and put it on the man's shoulder and the cameraman lowered the camera. The most sensitive piece of interviewing I have seen.

Agree ninathenana,
I always shout,how the bleddy hell do you think they feel twits.

There is a very famous radio interview that was recorded many years ago. A hapless young girl was sent to interview an ancient inhabitant of Tunbridge Wells on his birthday. To say his answers were monosyllabic hardly begins to describe it. She asked him how he was enjoying his birthday and he said "It's just a birthday" she asked him what he knew about Tunbridge Wells and he said "I don't know nothing about Tunbridge Wells, I just live here" and it was all down hill from there really

I remember a clip on the radio, when Clem Attlee was asked if he had a message for the public about the (1951 I think) election, he said "no"
How times change!

Oh, ninathenana, couldn't agree with you more. I get incandescent with rage for the poor intervewee and would love one of them to ask back "How would you feel?"

Yes, that is one of the more inane interview questions, but the other ia "Where would you see yourself 10 years from now?" For jobs I didin't want, I tended to say something along the lines of "Well, to quote the most fatuous, common and obvious answer to that, 'in your place', but seriously ... in a position where my skills are best utilised for the benefit of the company for which I'm working at the time". Thank goodness I'm never likely to be asked any more stupid questions ever again!

In a job when you have your yearly/six month assessment and you are asked "what is the best part of your job". My answer was always the same...being paid. Never made the higher ranks and was glad to retire.

My Dad was conducting an interview just after the sex discrimination act came into force and found himself asking some hapless young female candidate "What do you think of the sex act?" - red faces all round!

Ha ha lucky girl!!

We heard a local radio reporter soeak about a road delay due to a 'stabbing' as if he were talking about a bit of litter in the road. Well, I suppose there are neighbourhoods - and neighbourhoods...

The night of the zeebrugge ferry disaster Kay Burley asked a rescuer if they had found any babies bodies.

The daftest interview question I was ever asked was "what do you think your friends say about you when you're not there?".

Luckygirl. That did make me laugh!

My GP surgery is a training practice nad I frequently go as a guinea pig to help the medical students by telling them about my osteoarthritis.

They see me walk into the room, with or without my walking stick and afterwards I am frequently asked if I have a carer and if I can wash and dress myself! One of these days I will say I need a lot of help and arrived by a 2 man ambulance, instead of driving myself there.

I dislike that point in celeb interviews where it turns into a shameless plug for their film, show, book, exercise video, etc. I know it's the reason they're there at all, but questions like "What are you up to next?" "Tell us about your new ....." open the 'luvvie' floodgates of self-promotion. Their latest project is always their best ever!

I often wonder why anyone would want to listen to the boring details of some z-list 'celebrity's' boring life, or indeed why anyone would read magazines like 'Hello' etc.

The funniest one I heard was when an American actress was visiting New Zealand. Her male interviewer was getting on really well with her, then he slipped in the question 'So what's your favourite position? She gaped at him in horror and shock until she realised it was simply an innocent 'quistion', as they would pronounce it in NZ.

Interviewers not only ask inane questions but often supply their own inane answers. Many years ago we were interviewed by the local paper when our DD! (aged8) had been chosen from over 300 applicants to take the part of one of the 'Babes in the Wood' in the professional pantomime at the local theatre. I remember quite clearly that DD said that she 'thought it would be great fun' and I said that 'It will be a great opportunity for her'. However, according to the local paper report, we were'over the moon' and 'bursting with pride' and she was 'going to be an actress when she grew up'.

'Never let the truth get on the way of a good story' eh Granny23 ??

Luckygirl you made me laugh at loud. Hubby asked what I was laughing at... he's laughing out loud too.

Many years ago, a TV crew did some footage of what pupils at two very different Edinburgh schools thought of their education. One was a prestigious fee-paying one, the other was in a relatively deprived part of the city but had a good reputation - it was well-kept, the pupils did well and it was completely free of graffiti.

A friend's son was one of the senior pupils there and was interviewed against a clean blank outside wall. The film crew decided to liven it up with a mass of spray-paint graffiti "to look more authentic", and edited the interview so that the boy's praise of his teachers was almost entirely lost. So that school was immortalised as scruffy and its reputation lessened. Prejudged prejudice?

Oops - have just seen on another post that using the word 'hubby' isn't acceptable. Better make that DH. Don't think I'll ever get the hang of GN - apologies to anyone who's offended.