I said it's pathetic—not unexpected.

Yeah, props to her for building an entire career without ever learning how to sing.

Even the most mediocre Broadway actors can sing and dance competently on stage at the same time. It's pathetic that a pop star can't even manage as much without sounding like bad karaoke.

It doesn't matter if there was a clock. The inconsistency is still there. There's a difference between being able to check a clock at regular intervals and being able to set an alarm to remind you at the exact moment that time is up. Two candidates could each have realized that you were testing them, but the phone…

A) How many people can do skilled trades? How many people do we need to do them? Is there any evidence of a labor shortage in these trades? If not, more people joining these fields will only cause average wages to decline.

A) No, but a kid who does not have enough markers of superb achievement is thought to be doomed. That's the point. Parents and kids are fighting for every last gold star they can get because they believe (incorrectly or not) that if they don't have enough, the child will be branded mediocre and shut out from earning…

You didn't really answer the question. Are you saying that Finnish people are homogeneous because they are all raised to view the same things as important? Do you have any evidence of that?

"We need to let kids know that it's okay to suck."

Bingo.

In what ways are they homogeneous, and why does it matter?

Of course not. I just prefer my abuse and work related suicide be kept indoors where it can't be photographed. PR 101.

Because they abuse their workers?

It's none of your business when or whether someone has opened your email. If you'd like to know, you can contact the person in question and ask.

Genius! I'm saving that Iraq story for the next time I get stuck on a hiring committee.

Too bad this test doesn't actually screen for any one of those qualities.

Your heart was in the right place, but this sounds like a poor test for several reasons.

That doesn't make it better. You're making elaborate inferences about people's moral character based on nothing more than a single, inconsequential act that doesn't even rise to the level of a faux-pas. Imagine if you applied this logic to the rest of your life. Would you fire someone for leaving a cup behind at a…

You can make just as many negative inferences about the applicant who does pick up their cup. "Why is this person wasting time picking up trash when I'm trying to get them out the door before the next candidate gets here? Inconsiderate! Why are they fumbling with a cup when they should be shaking my hand? …

And again, they'd have no real evidence to demonstrate that there's anything more than an illusory correlation between assertiveness and picking up someone else's trash. None.

They'd argue that, but they'd be wrong.