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Comment by 0xdada | Hacker News Reader

> Everyone that interacts with the candidate must offer a beverage or a trip to the bathroom as many times as possible throughout the day. Bladder manipulation is a powerful interrogation tactic.

I used to do this, I guess it's time to stop

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Don't stop this. It's essentially harmless and in the case of certain people, welcome. You want your interviewers to think have empathy for your candidates. Interviewing is already stressful and a full bladder or dry throat makes it worse.

I like the bathroom break.

I've been in a number of offices where the equipment on the desks is shiny, but the bathrooms look like they haven't been maintained or even received a coat of paint in a decade. Tells me a lot more about what goes on under the surface than people want to let on in an interview.

You can learn a lot about a company by the state of their bathrooms, and not just the ones out front for customers and visitors!

This was the one that stuck out to me, though my take based on the tone of the article is that it's an easy way to pretend that you care, even if you don't. If you do have a caring process, this fits in just fine ("you doing ok? need anything?"). But if it's the only kind words you hear in the process it's sure to be weird.

Put water bottles on the interview table and offer the bathroom at the end of a stage of the interview, not as a "how ya doin', need anything?" introduction.

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