tuscl

“Why are manhole covers round?”

What a dumb fucking interview question...which I have to answer as part of a class assignment on practicing for these things. I understand questions like “describe a time you...” scenarios or “why do you want to...” questions. But not this nonsense.

I much prefer strip club interviews. “Get topless and dance on stage for a song so we know you’re not fat.”

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Avatar for flagooner
flagooner

So they don't fall through

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Avatar for pawnrob69
pawnrob69

Because they cover a round hole.

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Avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo

LOL

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Avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo

b/c men like round things

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Avatar for Warrior15
Warrior15

" Because God made assholes round. " Then point at his stomach. But do this only if you don't care about your grade.

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Avatar for georgmicrodong
georgmicrodong

So Superman can play frisbee.

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Avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo

b/c the original design in the shape of a pair of boobs was rejected

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Avatar for jackslash
jackslash

Square covers could fall through if turned diagonally. A round cover can't fall through a round hole, protecting both workers and pedestrians.

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Avatar for Jascoi
Jascoi

maybe it was kind of easier ???

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Avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo

Good one jack - that was the funniest one so far

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Avatar for jackslash
jackslash

All my comments are funny.

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Avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo

:)

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Avatar for Muddy
Muddy

Nicespice you will not interview for any jobs until I drop a grand your ass. Period end of story.

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Avatar for Muddy
Muddy

*ON YOUR ASS my phone sucks

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Avatar for JamesSD
JamesSD

The point is to understand your thought process.

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Avatar for Liwet
Liwet

Manholes in any other common shape can fall through the hole they cover.

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Avatar for gawker
gawker

Why are they called manholes? In our newly enlightened use of language they should now be personhole covers.

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Avatar for Nidan111
Nidan111

How do we know that manholes identity as a man? They are round because the damn hole is round. A better question is “why are manholes round at the opening?” Don’t overthink it. Your professors are dicks. You can make a round hole with a square cover and the cover will not fall through if it is bigger than the hole it covers. It may not be Flush, but that is another question for the dick professors.

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Avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive

But can you put a square cover in a round hole ?

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Avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo

If a square manhole cover falls in a round manhole but no one is there to see it - did it really fall?

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Avatar for nicespice
nicespice

Ahahaha these answers...Smash all the like buttons! xD

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Avatar for JohnSmith69
JohnSmith69

In case the Jolly Green Giant wants to use them as a Flesh Light.

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Avatar for Uprightcitizen
Uprightcitizen

Hahaha I love Gawkers answer. You need be all offended and tell them the question is sexist.

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Avatar for Prim0
Prim0

They are round because the do cover a round tube. The tube is round because a circular cross section allows for the most area compared to the outside surface which allows the most flow of water in the sewers. They are also a stronger shape than squares for the pressure they are exposed to by the ground they are under and they are cheaper to manufacture.

Do I get the job?

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Avatar for MackTruck
MackTruck

Smash gawkers like button... haha

Going off of that...

Why are they not called butt plugs. They cover a sewer system

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Avatar for Harderlap
Harderlap

Also because a circle is the most efficient way to cover a given area. So, the material costs are at a minimum for manhole covers for a round cover. Are you taking a philosophy or calculus course?

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Avatar for Dolfan
Dolfan

I pretty much hate all interview questions. But I especially hate the courses that teach you how to answer them. It leads to a constant arms race where I've got to constantly find new ways to determine if a candidate truly has the qualities I'm seeking or if they've just been trained to interview well. I can sniff out the ones who've just been trained well with reasonable success and minimal effort, but my recruiters can't. So I end up doing 2nd interviews with 5x as many people as I should and wondering how many qualified candidates my recruiters turned away because the did poorly on those stupid questions. It wastes my time as well as the candidates time. Without that bullshit I could get the hires I need faster and jobseekers could get the jobs they need faster.

Its the same thing as the fuckwads in elementary school teaching kids how to pass the math test instead of teaching them the logical skills to understand the math they are performing. Turns into an arms race with poor 3rd graders getting ridiculous word problems to try and ask how much is 3 x 4; Half of the students taking differential analysis can't even understand what they're asking, much less the parents or kids. So the kids learn some keyword to focus on instead reading the question and understanding what is being asked.

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Avatar for FishHawk
FishHawk

The real reason that manhole covers are round is that they fit inside a lip. The actual hole is a bit smaller. The round cover can’t fall in the hole. Do you want to down into the sewer to retrieve a man hole cover/

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Avatar for kingcripple
kingcripple

Why exactly do you have to answer that question for an assignment? Is it a sewer job?

Also, I've seen fat strippers. They don't care if you're fat

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Avatar for -me
-me

The cover is MUCH easier to put back in place properly when round. Any other shape and you will be stuck lining it up to get the cover back in place.

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Avatar for Nidan111
Nidan111

^^^^ not if the cover was bigger than the hole. Fucking story of my life!

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Avatar for nicespice
nicespice

“So I end up doing 2nd interviews with 5x as many people as I should and wondering how many qualified candidates my recruiters turned away because the did poorly on those stupid questions.”

Possibly a dumb question, but is there a way to re-train the recruiters?

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Avatar for crazyjoe
crazyjoe

^ retrain them with this book. Lol. Wtf

Hiring for Attitude: A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude g.co

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Avatar for Dolfan
Dolfan

"Possibly a dumb question, but is there a way to re-train the recruiters?"

Yes and no. HR is a shared function, so the same people recruiting for my positions are also recruiting for a variety of other positions. It's not reasonable to expect them to have sufficient depth of knowledge in areas relevant to the positions I'm hiring for as well as all of the others in their portfolio. What we end up doing is using the recruiters to narrow down the right "types" of people. They'll pick which resumes get sent to me based on a list of criteria I give them, education/job history/location/etc. Then they'll do the first round of interviews mostly judging non-job specific criteria that can be shared within their portfolio. They'll try to throw a little stress at them to see how they react, try to get an idea of their mindset and reasoning skills, if they think their personality will fit with the team. But they know next to nothing about the job itself, at least not to the degree I expect the candidates to. That part they leave to the hiring managers to determine.

Could we blow up the whole process and find something more effective? Probably. Am I qualified and/or motivated to do that? Nope. I rely on my HR team to do that first round effectively because I don't have a more viable approach. That and it's kinda douchy for me to be running around to other departments telling them how to do their jobs.

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