A Woman's Interview Was Cancelled Because She Asked How Much The Job Paid

And outraged Twitter users are calling for a boycott of the company

It’s been so drilled into all of us throughout our lives that it’s “uncouth” to talk about money. Discussing payment is the most awkward part of a job interview because of it. But that doesn’t mean talking compensation isn’t a seriously important part of the interview process. At the end of the day it’s a job — which is something you do for money so you can live.

Taylor Byrnes was past her initial phone interview for a menu development job at SkipTheDishes, a food delivery service based in Winnipeg, when she sent an email to an HR person at the company to ask what kind of salary and benefits came with the position. The HR person’s response was that asking that question made Byrnes a poor fit for the company, and her second interview was cancelled.

“Your questions are valid ones and we would like to clarify where we may have not communicated our position clearly,” the response began. “As a startup company, we seek out those who go out of their way to seek out challenges and new opportunities. We believe in hard work and perseverance in pursuit of company goals as opposed to focusing on compensation. Our corporate culture may be unique in this way, but it is paramount that staff display intrinsic motivation and are proven self-starters. For these reasons, questions about compensation and benefits at such an early stage is a concern related to organizational fit.”

Just to clarify, this “early stage” was after Byrnes had already completed one interview and been asked back for another. But anyway.

A follow-up email from SkipTheDishes read, “Your questions reveal that your priorities are not in sync with those of SkipTheDishes. At this time we will not be following through with our meeting this Thursday.”

Byrnes tweeted screencaps of the entire exchange.

And Twitter’s outrage at this was totally on point.

Since Byrnes’ tweet has gone viral, though, SkipTheDishes has taken note.

“The email sent to Taylor was wrong and does not represent our team’s approach or values,” co-founder Joshua Simair wrote in an email to Buzzfeed. “We are very disappointed in how it was handled. We do share a compensation package prior to hiring. As soon as we became aware of it on Monday, we reached out to Taylor to apologize for the email and reschedule her interview.”

No word on whether Byrnes would even be interested in a do-over interview. We have a feeling she might not be.