Ribs + jobs

August 16, 2011 9:59 PM

Help me locate the source of this anecdote: something about a man who is nervous for a job interview and who goes to a diner and eats a plate of ribs. The moral was that if the guy was confident enough to eat a plate of ribs without spilling a drop on himself, he's confident enough to get that job.

I feel like this is probably from a book or magazine article, but it could be from a movie or something as well.

posted by UncleBoomee to Grab Bag (1 answer total)

I don't know about the ribs angle, but I personally heard Chief Justice John Roberts tell a story about interviewing potential judicial clerks.* He said that he had his secretary put out a box of powdered donuts in the waiting area and that the first interviewee who ate one automatically got the job. The theory is that anyone confident enough to risk the powdered messiness was the kind of person he wanted to work for him.

No one ate one.

*Supreme Court clerkships are just about the single most prestigious and competitive non-judge position a lawyer can hope for, so the pressure is unimaginable.
posted by valkyryn at 5:43 AM on September 21, 2011