Some behaviors may be seen as inappropriate to some people and the exact same behavior may be seen as appropriate to others.  Right from the beginning, Carl Ferragot made Joyce Simpson, the applicant, uncomfortable by not conducting a formal interview; he did this by commenting on her looks and saying that she “looks good today” and by asking her to call him Carl opposed to Mr. Ferragot.  It is evident from Joyce’s reaction that she did not think it was appropriate for him to comment on her looks, which is something that Carl may not have done if it were a male applicant he was interviewing and she was persistent on calling him Mr. Ferragot in order for it to remain a professional interview.  From Carl’s perspective, this was completely appropriate, as it is not unusual for him to make small talk, and chat informally, as evidenced by the end of his phone conversation in his personal introduction.  As a member of top management, he may believe in a ‘first name basis’ organizational culture.  From Joyce’s perspective, this was an inappropriate approach since she may have felt his informality translated into not taking her seriously.  It is clear from the start that Carl and Joyce are not seeing eye to eye and although the appropriateness of the initial informal banter is debatable, as the interview progresses the level of Carl’s inappropriateness becomes more apparent as Joyce continues to challenge him.    

Carl’s inappropriateness reveals itself in the tone of voice he uses. Although the words spoken were not overtly discriminatory, how he said certain comments throughout the interview displayed an underlying sentiment of dismissiveness and escalated to combativeness.  From “whatever makes you happy” inferring he’s placating her, to “you think quite a lot of yourself” demeaning her hard work and qualifications, to “real-ly?” spoken incredulously when Joyce presents her documentation of credentials and references.  This attitude is further displayed in his body language, particularly in how he doesn’t look at Joyce or at the folder of documentation she hands him as he quickly casts it off to the side of his desk.  This response shows complete disregard and would hardly be considered professional to any candidate, male or female.  

The interview takes a turn and becomes more of an attack on Joyce.  Carl questions Joyce’s capabilities for the position and talks at her instead of having a conversation with her.  While highlighting that the Vice President position would mean a lot of time away from her husband and children, Carl denies Joyce a voice as she tries to respond to this legitimate concern by aggressively cutting her off with “Do you know?  Do you really know?” argued with an emphatically raised voice.  Not surprisingly, Joyce at this point sighs with visible resignation.

Joyce Simpson went into the interview with a feeling of discontent towards the company. She stated, pre-interview, that she felt like she has always been passed up for male applicants in the past and that the company thought she was a better candidate when she was single, opposed to being married with children. Also, the other candidates for the position were three males, so she may have thought right from the beginning that she would be passed up again. Because of this, Joyce was quick to intervene in the interview when she felt she was being passed over, such as when Carl described the position requiring an applicant to “commit himself to 8 or more hours a day”. Joyce corrected Carl by saying “or herself”, but although Carl’s misuse of words may have been unintentional, it is still glass ceiling discrimination. For example, maybe all of the prior Vice President’s had been males, so it was a habit to refer to the position as male.  Regardless, Joyce is technically right and his unintentional use of “himself” is even more reason for challenging Carl to think of the new Vice President as female.  Carl responds unprofessionally with an immaturely exaggerated “Excuse me” and a patronizing “I guess I wasn’t being politically correct.”  If he was truly open to the idea of her being Vice President and it was simply an oversight, he wouldn’t have reacted so inappropriately to her reminder.  It was also evident through Joyce’s body language that she was reacting defensively to what Carl said, most likely as a result of feeling the discriminatory glass ceiling attitude in his responses. 
