Everyone loves an ‘offer you can’t refuse,’ but what if you were told you really can’t refuse? An employee in Vermont applied for a position within his company, albeit in another state, and when things didn’t seem promising, they moved on to look at other opportunities. However, their company’s hiring manager, aka their coworker, suddenly contacted them out of the blue to extend the offer for the initial position. After some back and forth, the applicant decided to decline because the recruiter seemed too pushy. However, the hiring manager emailed back, this time saying they “wouldn’t be allowed to refuse the offer” because they “verbally agreed” to accept.
“I never did any such thing,” the Vermont applicant firmly stated on Reddit. They explained that the shady hiring manager was “adamant that no details of the offer were negotiable until I signed, which I refused.” Just on the recruiter’s aggressiveness alone was good reason they decided not to take the job. “Can this guy force me to take an offer I never signed?” they asked, confused by the whole situation.
“No reputable hiring process would ever impose this,” states a top commenter, referring to how the aggressive hiring manager argued that nothing was negotiable until the applicant signed. “Yeah, they’re trying to force OP to take a bad offer,” agreed another. Some believe that the reason for this sudden and forced job offer was that the hiring manager was in trouble for not finding someone to fill the empty position. In other words, the whole hire was a desperate attempt to meet his quota. “That’s an immediate trip to HR for me,” remarks a user.
“Reminds me of the shady car salesman who wants a deposit before they give you the final cost,” one user compares. “[It’s] 100% grounds to stop talking and walk away.” And it’s pretty obvious that anyone should do the same. After all, signing before negotiating details is the exact opposite of how a contract should be handled. “That would be slavery otherwise lol smh,” remarks another user.
Fortunately, the company’s hiring manager has no legal power or authority to take any action against their coworker for not accepting the position. That said, if you ever receive an offer you’re forced not to refuse, that’s a red flag alert. Even if you’re desperate for a certain job, that’s grounds enough to walk away.
