• Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to Mr Squid
    Mr Squid:
    The minimum wage guy almost certainly burned his bridge too soon. Companies do not stay in business for 20 years, particularly in a field where incompetent companies tend to crash fast, by treating their employees like dirt. The interviewer probably misused a term that he did not fully understand. By throwing a tantrum our hero probably lost out on a decent-paying job. The real WTF here is that he never confirmed his suspicion before acting on it. Not the sort of person I would want working for me.
    TFA:
    He looked at me funny and declared that he wasn't sure what the minimum wage was exactly but that his partner would handle that part of the deal. "Minimum wage?!" I asked, incredulous.

    He tried to reassure me. "Well, that would be a probation salary for 3 months. If your performance is satisfactory, we would review your salary at that point."

    Nope, the company really meant minimum wage.

  • (cs) in reply to lokey
    lokey:
    Just give me the cheat codes for unlimited life, endless ammo, etc.
    IDDQD

    IDKFA

  • Jason (unregistered) in reply to Satanicpuppy
    Satanicpuppy:
    I once decided I'd be a rebel and have a pint of beer with my pizza lunch. The instant it appeared on my table, in walks my bosses AA, and the AA for human resources.

    In Seattle those people would be buying beer for you. Move West!

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to Erzengel
    Erzengel:
    Anon:
    If ever asked the super power question, The save game idea is neat, but it makes you look like you make a lot of mistakes and don't want to be held responsible for them.

    I hadn't thought of it that way, but I would say that it would allow me to take more and bigger risks than I usually would. I only take risks when I know there's a fallback, a safety net. With save games, I would always have a safety net.

    Touché - good come back. See, these are the kind of answers such questions are looking for.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve)
    Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve):
    Anon:
    think it was due to agreeing with my new boss that being invisible would be the best superhero ability to possess.

    It's funny, that was exactly what I was thinking when I saw the super power question. Either great minds think alike, or we're all perverts.

    I guess maybe I'm strange but I've never wanted a super power and if asked in an interview, I think the interview would be over right then and there.

    You're right there. Since you clearly don't have a sense of humor, I wouldn't hire you.

  • SomeCoder (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark
    real_aardvark:
    It was either venomous sarcasm or else unjustifiable personal prejudice. Take your pick.

    Well, my sarcasm detector is really broken today (more caffeine is needed) so I'll pick that one :)

  • Dan (unregistered) in reply to Mr Squid
    Mr Squid:
    The minimum wage guy almost certainly burned his bridge too soon. Companies do not stay in business for 20 years, particularly in a field where incompetent companies tend to crash fast, by treating their employees like dirt. The interviewer probably misused a term that he did not fully understand. By throwing a tantrum our hero probably lost out on a decent-paying job. The real WTF here is that he never confirmed his suspicion before acting on it. Not the sort of person I would want working for me.

    Counterexample: I worked at a salvage yard in my pre-graduate days. It had been in business for a similar amount of time. It was a family owned business originally run by a father of about 6 kids. Now it was mainly run by the most responsible one, but the others still showed up for a couple of hours, did some stuff, and skimmed a good amount of money for it. Last I heard, the son who mostly ran the business got tired of the other siblings and started his own company. The original business since then has suffered major layoffs.

    Another company I once interviewed for (also while pre-graduate) was looking for a full-time Perl programmer. But $10,000/year was too steep for them. (This was in the mid '90's)

    Then there's a construction company I heard about through a friend who's a civil drafter, known for doing excellent work and had a preferred status as a contractor for their jobs. Then nepotism took over and they folded within a couple of years, due to bad management, cutting corners, etc.

    Moral: Don't assume that a company has it all together just because they've been in business for a while. And don't assume that everybody knows the value of technical jobs.

  • Wayne (unregistered)

    A wormhole generator.

    I can make it tiny to see anything anywhere without anyone noticing, or big enough to walk through.

    Money won't be a problem... I can find and grab precious metals or other valuables in places where conventional technology can't get at them profitably.

    I can live anywhere I like and get to anywhere else quickly.

    If I need a new identity, the wormhole should make it easy to get passwords and learn security loopholes in DMV's and such, get new drivers licenses, and so forth.

    It makes a nifty birth control method... go through her reproductive system once a month and pull out the egg as it travels down.

    And it makes delivering babies a hell of a lot easier. Open the wormhole just inside the birth canal, and significantly larger, and she pushes a bit and the baby pops right out into your arms several feet away without any stretching.

    Want a nice dinner? Find a wild animal of your choice (I'm partial to rabbits myself) with your wormhole, open it wider, pull it through, kill it, skin it, and eat it. Wash it down with the freshest, purest water on Earth straight from its stream to your kitchen.

  • Anon (unregistered)

    The save game one seems the most useful as long as you get to keep your memories and so on intact (instead of say mostly intact). It also lets you do very interesting things although some of them would be very annoying to do depending on how things work. You’d be close to immortal, have infinite time to do figure anything out (if not actually do something) and also be capable of essentially time travel (actual time travel if you can alternate between two save points decades apart).

  • (cs) in reply to jbrecken
    jbrecken:
    Anon:
    think it was due to agreeing with my new boss that being invisible would be the best superhero ability to possess.

    It's funny, that was exactly what I was thinking when I saw the super power question. Either great minds think alike, or we're all perverts.

    Real perverts choose shape shifting. Not only can you use it to sneak into women's locker rooms, but you can also do freaky Zeus tricks like turning into a swan in the middle of coitus.
    My first (perverted) thought was Mr. Fantastic's power. Better than shape shifting, assuming the shape shifter has to stick to existing objects/creatures. But generally the same idea.

  • (cs) in reply to Bryan
    Bryan:
    I have to disagree with invisibility being the best super power. over a few weeks, some friends and I all did a study on what would be the best super power based on the following criteria.
    1. potential for profit.
    2. potential for helping mankind.
    3. probability of being caught, stuck in a lab and studied if exposed.

    The idea was to find the power with which you could achieve the most results with the least bit of detection.

    Flying would be fun but the first time you flew, the government would catch you and you would be hidden in area 51 for the remainder of your years.

    Invisibility sounds nice but doesn't imply that you have no mass. So you are invisible but still have to use doors, make zero noise, and mask your body heat and odor. You can still be hit by a car when you have forgotten that you are invisible as you are walking through a cross walk. It is just not good.

    Just a couple examples. at any rate, after analyzing every power we could think of from breathing under water to "My seamen cures cancer" (that one had potential)

    We deduced that mind control over others was the best. You can achieve any human action through no actions of your own.

    You can: make your boss give you a raise.

    Make the banker err in your favor for a few grand and make his boss not fire him for it.

    Make "the man" Lower the price of gas

    Sure w/ invisibility, you can go into the girl's locker room but with mind control, they come over to your house. :)

    Has nobody here watched "Heroes"? The best power, obviously, is absorbing other superhero powers.
  • (cs) in reply to Bryan
    Bryan:
    "My seamen cures cancer" (that one had potential)
    So...you want to be in the Navy?
  • (cs) in reply to real_aardvark
    real_aardvark:
    Mind you, "Meet the new boss, eats at the same restaurant as the old boss" would probably have been too tricky a rhythm even for Keith Moon to master.
    How about, "Meet the new boss: hide from the old boss"?
  • Mr.'; Drop Database -- (unregistered)

    The correct answer to the superpower question is "healing eye beams".

  • Nate (unregistered) in reply to Satanicpuppy
    Satanicpuppy:
    RandomDreamer:
    TRWTF is choosing a nearby restaurant where your boss/coworker normally would go.

    On the other hand that is hilarious setup for a comedy sitcom episode.

    I once decided I'd be a rebel and have a pint of beer with my pizza lunch. The instant it appeared on my table, in walks my bosses AA, and the AA for human resources.

    Not great, but I don't really care about them, and frankly one beer should be acceptable for anyone.

    Within the next 5 minutes they were joined by (in order), my Boss, the head of HR, and the CEO.

    I ended up swiping a straw, and drinking the whole pint through it.

    Moral of the story; if you stay near work, you accept that you can run into anyone

    I used to work for one of the Virgin companies, and if this happened there, the likely next event would be them saying "my round, what you having?" :P

  • (cs) in reply to Lastchance
    Lastchance:
    Has nobody here watched "Heroes"? The best power, obviously, is absorbing other superhero powers.
    Especially when you don't leave a string of dead when you do it. But that assumes the existance of other super heroes.

    And yes, I actually thought of Rogue (not Silar or Peter), but decided I'd rather just have my one, save game ability.

  • Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve) (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve):
    Anon:
    think it was due to agreeing with my new boss that being invisible would be the best superhero ability to possess.

    It's funny, that was exactly what I was thinking when I saw the super power question. Either great minds think alike, or we're all perverts.

    I guess maybe I'm strange but I've never wanted a super power and if asked in an interview, I think the interview would be over right then and there.

    You're right there. Since you clearly don't have a sense of humor, I wouldn't hire you.

    Excellent. Because I wouldn't want to work somewhere that having the same sense of humor as the interviewer was a prerequisite. Especially one based upon a pastime which most adults have long left behind, that of reading comic books.

    I'd rather work for someone I'd respect.

  • Nate (unregistered)
    How do you feel about numbers?
    42

    Enough said.

  • (cs) in reply to Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve)
    Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve):
    Especially one based upon a pastime which most adults have long left behind, that of reading comic books.

    Now I'd be really glad if the interviewer didn't give you the job. "Most adults have left behind"? Who are you to speak for "most adults"? You sound like just another Suit-And-Tie Drone that I really, really loathe working for and with. Someone who blanketly shows disdain for comics, games, and other leisurely activity. "Only kids play video games." "Only kids read comic books." Etc. You would be the "unfun" sort of person, contrast to the "fun" sort of people mentioned in the article.

  • (cs) in reply to Lastchance
    Lastchance:
    Has nobody here watched "Heroes"? The best power, obviously, is absorbing other superhero powers.
    I haven't but I think Rogue has had that ability decades before Heroes began airing on TV.

    I'd go with Wolverine's regenerative ability. At least that's one power that is mildly achievable by current science... ;)

  • (cs) in reply to Lastchance
    Lastchance:
    Has nobody here watched "Heroes"? The best power, obviously, is absorbing other superhero powers.
    Only problem - no other superheroes in this world.
  • (cs)
    Has nobody here watched "Heroes"? The best power, obviously, is absorbing other superhero powers.

    Yeppo. The most critical power is to have power over power. (You watched 'The 4400' out there?)

    Rewind (though it's buggy in actual implementations in emulators because part of the state gets out of sync) beats quick save every time.

    Other, lesser critical powers are those over everything else. Time's pretty much the best of these as everything's wrapped up in time.

    Time Sweepers rock the kasbah, of course.

  • Justin Wielly (unregistered)

    Dude with that many years in the business, I am surprised you just dont start your own business and work for yourself.

    JT www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com

  • Steve (unregistered) in reply to pig_vomit

    The real WTF is that in the US, a man cannot have a beer with his meal. In parts of Europe it is culturally the custom to have, well a glass of wine but beer is not ruled out - with a meal.

    My European clients ruled that I had to have a beer with them (and they could say that as they were paying for my services) despite what my US parent company said.

  • Steve (unregistered) in reply to Mr Squid
    Mr Squid:
    The minimum wage guy almost certainly burned his bridge too soon. Companies do not stay in business for 20 years, particularly in a field where incompetent companies tend to crash fast, by treating their employees like dirt. The interviewer probably misused a term that he did not fully understand. By throwing a tantrum our hero probably lost out on a decent-paying job. The real WTF here is that he never confirmed his suspicion before acting on it. Not the sort of person I would want working for me.

    It might be that the minimum band for a SysAdmin would pay more than a designer and that therefore the interviewer was stating his pitch knowing full well that the interviwee might pitch higher accordingly....

  • Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve) (unregistered) in reply to Erzengel
    Erzengel:
    Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve):
    Especially one based upon a pastime which most adults have long left behind, that of reading comic books.

    Now I'd be really glad if the interviewer didn't give you the job. "Most adults have left behind"? Who are you to speak for "most adults"? You sound like just another Suit-And-Tie Drone that I really, really loathe working for and with. Someone who blanketly shows disdain for comics, games, and other leisurely activity. "Only kids play video games." "Only kids read comic books." Etc. You would be the "unfun" sort of person, contrast to the "fun" sort of people mentioned in the article.

    Nope. Haven't worn a suit or tie on the job ever, not here, not anywhere in the past thirty years. In fact, I've turned down jobs where I'd have to wear one -- canceled interviews, as a matter of fact. Hell, I rarely wear shoes (and I have some colleagues whom I've never seen in long pants -- I suspect at least one doesn't even own any).

    If your idea of "fun" is imagining that you have super powers, then by all means, imagine away. Far be it from me to stop you.

    But the notion of asking an interviewee what super power he'd want just struck me as completely absurd and a waste of time -- not to mention a clear indication of lack of intellectual depth. Certainly not someone for whom I'd have much respect.

    I guess we just have a different idea of what's "fun". Personally, I like working with some of the best scientists in the world, learning new things, and, sometimes, experiencing the excitement of true discovery. I occasionally still get the giggles when I arrive on campus in the morning and realize that I get to work here and do the things I get to do with the people I get to do them with. Sometimes I just stop at the door and say "Wow! They let me work here."

    And, except at Site Review time, there ain't a suit or a tie to be found.

    But, hey, up, up, and away.

  • JAlexoid (unregistered) in reply to Satanicpuppy

    Moral of the story; if you stay near work, you accept that you can run into anyone

    Man, you're "up tight". If I am sitting down on wednesday during lunch with a glass of wine, our CEO will probably ask me if I am enjoying my wine and would probably join me and order some wine also. Why? Because we are confident at our workplace! And our bosses are confident that we can reason on what to do and when to do it.

  • (cs) in reply to Erzengel
    Erzengel:
    For me, what I want is the ability to Save Game.
    Wouldn't that superpower likely turn into a curse, like the Midas touch?

    On the first day, you realize that you made some mistakes and start over. On the second time through you do better, but there's still room for improvement so you start again. After several tries you think you got the day close to perfect and move on to day two.

    But on day two you learn that you should have done something different on day one. Back you go, reoptimizing day one and then starting to reoptimize day two.

    Eventually, after an enormous amount of effort, you get several years into your life and realize that you missed an opportunity in the early days. Do you go back and correct that decision? Or do you just live with it and build upon the history already laid?

    It seems like your life would become filled with fretting over the past, boredom from reliving days ad nauseum, and nostalgia for futures that you lost when you went back and made a change.

  • AC (unregistered) in reply to Satanicpuppy

    "Within the next 5 minutes they were joined by (in order), my Boss, the head of HR, and the CEO."

    I feel better about my jobs now: I don't know about my head of HR, but my boss and my CEO would likely have paid for my beer and bought me another.

  • Grrr (unregistered) in reply to BentFranklin
    BentFranklin:
    Some special powers I'd consider:

    The ability to make any woman love me AND to make her stop loving me

    The second part happens naturally, might just take some time.

  • (cs)

    I find it slightly disturbing that so many people would choose/use superpowers to get away with ethically unacceptable behaviour.

    This implies that the only thing holding you guys back from reverting to this kind of behaviour, is the fact that you might get cought.

    So I go another route; I want the ability control whether my actions have any moral repercussions or not. It's not even really a superpower, I want a star trek 'holodeck' and then all those earlier mentioned superpowers.

    :D

  • Mad Morf (unregistered) in reply to BentFranklin
    BentFranklin:
    The ability to shunt excess heat energy from earth to outer space without having to rely on radiation

    Brillant!

    That's the answer..An atmospheric heat sink!

    Use Space Elevator technology to attach a giant heatsink to the Earth on one end and let the other hang out in space...

  • Eddi (unregistered) in reply to Satanicpuppy
    Satanicpuppy:
    and frankly one beer should be acceptable for anyone.
    if you were working in bavaria, one beer is actually mandatory to every meal ;)
  • (cs) in reply to Eddi
    Eddi:
    Satanicpuppy:
    and frankly one beer should be acceptable for anyone.
    if you were working in bavaria, one beer is actually mandatory to every meal ;)

    If you are brewery worker (emphasis on worker) - yes. Otherwise, alcohol on your breath will get fired right quick anywhere in Germany (especially in an office job). It's of one the few instances where the law of the land, the court verdicts and current workplace practices come together. If you very lucky you'll get away with a formal written admonishment.

    Note: I am not an english native speaker and this post is showing it. I hope you get the idea. Feel free to correct me.

  • FrankNorman (unregistered)

    Most of those wished-for "superpowers" sound like a Faustian bargain; something you happen to want but can't otherwise get, in exchange for your soul. A lot of short-term fun, but with a heavy long-term cost.

    In many cases, the "damnation" would be inherent in the use of the power itself. The Mind-Control guy would never have normal relationships, friends, or anything. Ditto the Invisible Man - once people found out he could do it! Most of the others would soon end up either in a government lab, or as fugitives.

  • (cs)

    Invisibility? Weird, I would've gone with mind control, if influenced by the situation. In most other cases, teleportation's the way to go. Job far away? PLOT! Want some chinese but it's raining? PLOT! Bean counters giving you hard time? PLOT! PLOT!

    The last interview also reminds me of my last review meeting with my boss, where we spent the last 30 minutes or so exchanging histories and minutiae from NetHack. I wonder if that counts as a perk...

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve)
    Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve):
    Erzengel:
    Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve):
    Especially one based upon a pastime which most adults have long left behind, that of reading comic books.

    Now I'd be really glad if the interviewer didn't give you the job. "Most adults have left behind"? Who are you to speak for "most adults"? You sound like just another Suit-And-Tie Drone that I really, really loathe working for and with. Someone who blanketly shows disdain for comics, games, and other leisurely activity. "Only kids play video games." "Only kids read comic books." Etc. You would be the "unfun" sort of person, contrast to the "fun" sort of people mentioned in the article.

    Nope. Haven't worn a suit or tie on the job ever, not here, not anywhere in the past thirty years. In fact, I've turned down jobs where I'd have to wear one -- canceled interviews, as a matter of fact. Hell, I rarely wear shoes (and I have some colleagues whom I've never seen in long pants -- I suspect at least one doesn't even own any).

    If your idea of "fun" is imagining that you have super powers, then by all means, imagine away. Far be it from me to stop you.

    But the notion of asking an interviewee what super power he'd want just struck me as completely absurd and a waste of time -- not to mention a clear indication of lack of intellectual depth. Certainly not someone for whom I'd have much respect.

    I guess we just have a different idea of what's "fun". Personally, I like working with some of the best scientists in the world, learning new things, and, sometimes, experiencing the excitement of true discovery. I occasionally still get the giggles when I arrive on campus in the morning and realize that I get to work here and do the things I get to do with the people I get to do them with. Sometimes I just stop at the door and say "Wow! They let me work here."

    And, except at Site Review time, there ain't a suit or a tie to be found.

    But, hey, up, up, and away.

    Wow! You really do miss the point don't you? I don't read comic books and have never been that much into superheros, but I can ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION. If you're going to get so bent out of shape about a question in an interview, I don't want to work anywhere near you. The question probes your creativity, and tells us something about you and your motivations. Clearly if you can't think of a superpower you'd like to have and an interesting justification for why you'd pick it and what you'd do with it, then you're not very creative. It's a useful exercise in business to brainstorm along the lines of "what if we could do anything?". It can generate a lot of great ideas (even if a lot of them are impossible), but clearly you would refuse to participate. I suggest you remove the stick from your ass.

  • (cs) in reply to mathew
    mathew:
    Maybe it's me, but I don't see what's so wrong about the "Can you be more specific?" questions.

    Then you shouldn't be doing interviews, any more than that interviewer should have.

    mathew:
    If I were asked the question about numbers, I'd assume it was a lead-in to the interviewer wanting me to talk about the importance of accurate BCD-based fixed point arithmetic in banking applications, rather than inaccurate binary floating point.

    Except that isn't what the interviewer asked now, is it? You know what they say about "assume", right? What if the interviewer was looking to find out if you were familiar with hex numbers instead? You've answered wrong.

    And if you can't talk about your preferred methodology for testing, you shouldn't be developing software.

    Except again, that isn't what the interviewer asked him. What if the interviewer had meant "How do you feel about our policy of mandatory drug testing?" instead. You'd sound pretty stupid about talking about TDD and unit tests then, wouldn't you?

    The bottom line is that, if the interviewer wanted to know something specific, the interviewer should ask a specific question. If he was too stupid to do that, he should find someone else to do it for him.

    And if you're nerdy enough to go into an interview and go into a spiel about "accurate BCD-based fixed point arithmetic in banking applications" when asked such an open-ended generic question as "How do you feel about numbers?", you're a totally-unfit-for-the-company-of-real-people type basement dwelling geek who shouldn't be allowed in the company of humans other than his mother.

  • (cs) in reply to fruey
    fruey:
    Otis P Criblecoblis:
    Team lead: How do you feel about numbers?

    I like most numbers. Except threes. Threes are evil. Threes cause most of the problems in the world. Death to threes!!!

    Two's company, three's are evil

    Except 3.1415926535897932384626433832795. I like pi.

  • (cs) in reply to pig_vomit
    pig_vomit:
    This website is ridiculous. He meant smoke pot. He doesn't have to specify that. Everyone here thinks they are so smart and end up making themselves look stupid.

    Like you? This isn't a website. It's a blog. Saying it's a website makes you look stupid, like pig vomit.

  • (cs) in reply to James
    James:
    TRWTF for the last one is sneaking around to get a new job. Grow some damn stones -- you're not looking for a new job for no reason, so tell your boss what the reason is. You want more money? You don't like what you're working on? Worst case (e.g. you hate your boss), make something up, but you really shouldn't have to do it behind your boss's back.

    Great! I love it when you kiddies join in the adult conversations!

    Do me a favor though... The grownups are being serious now, so go back to your sandbox and play for a while with the other toddlers, 'kay? You can talk to us later.

  • comicbookgeek (unregistered) in reply to Lastchance

    [quote user="Lastchance"][quote user="Bryan"] Has nobody here watched "Heroes"? The best power, obviously, is absorbing other superhero powers.[/quote] As other people have mentioned, Rogue has that power and has been around well before Heroes and the recent X-men movie trilogy. (To paraphrase Handy), "Read a comic book!")

    The problem with absorbing other people's powers is that a) if you can't control your power, you'll likely kill everyone you touch and b) typically, you only have their powers for a limited time and you tend to lose them at the most plot-critical times.

    I would prefer one, consistent power versus having to find someone with a power and temporarily using theirs.

  • Steve (A different one from The Starting Salary Steve) (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    Wow! You really do miss the point don't you? I don't read comic books and have never been that much into superheros, but I can ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION. If you're going to get so bent out of shape about a question in an interview, I don't want to work anywhere near you. The question probes your creativity, and tells us something about you and your motivations. Clearly if you can't think of a superpower you'd like to have and an interesting justification for why you'd pick it and what you'd do with it, then you're not very creative. It's a useful exercise in business to brainstorm along the lines of "what if we could do anything?". It can generate a lot of great ideas (even if a lot of them are impossible), but clearly you would refuse to participate. I suggest you remove the stick from your ass.
    I guess we have different ideas of what constitutes creativity (as do my employers, who have been more than satisfied with my work for the past eighteen years).

    Perhaps my employment situation has been unusual in that most of the interviews I've had have been by the invitation of the employer because they already knew my work and what I can do, thus the game playing and probing for compatibility wasn't necessary. In my present job, I knew most of the players -- some of them quite well as either former colleagues or through previous collaboration.

    We have plenty of creative discussion here -- this is science, after all, and a lot of what we do here has not ever been done before. Anywhere. By anyone. And I'm both proud and delighted to engage in creative discourse to the best of my ability.

    As for the specific question, in the unlikely event someone asked me something like that, I suppose I'd come up with some answer, but, frankly, the sort of interview I've had would be more likely to touch upon, say, the applications of the Radon transform or the Central Slice Theorem than the exploits of the Caped Crusaders. As a matter of fact, I think I got into an argument with one of the people with whom I interviewed about the proper weighting function in a backprojection algorithm.

    No one said anything about "getting bent out of shape about a question in an interview". I endeavor to be polite and respectful (and, by the way, not vulgar in my discourse). I'd certainly try to answer any question as intelligently and completely as possible but given the level of game playing indicated by that specific question and similar ones I've seen described elsewhere in this forum, it would be pretty clear to me that the fit would not be a good one and, mentally, at least, the interview would be effectively over. Fortunately, for all concerned, I've never had to deal with such a situation.

    May I suggest you remove the chip from your shoulder?

    Best wishes

  • (cs)

    There's a fun short story by Michael Marshall Smith about a 'save game' taken out as an insurance policy; it's available in the compendium 'What You Make It'. Hint: make sure your save files don't get corrupted.

    Oh, and I'll take telekinesis.

  • (cs) in reply to comicbookgeek
    Has nobody here watched "Heroes"? The best power, obviously, is absorbing other superhero powers.
    As other people have mentioned, Rogue has that power and has been around well before Heroes and the recent X-men movie trilogy. (To paraphrase Handy), "Read a comic book!")

    The problem with absorbing other people's powers is that a) if you can't control your power, you'll likely kill everyone you touch and b) typically, you only have their powers for a limited time and you tend to lose them at the most plot-critical times.

    I would prefer one, consistent power versus having to find someone with a power and temporarily using theirs.

    Not to mention if you happened to be the only one with superpowers, that absorbing ability wouldn't be worth zilch.

    Also, much fail for bringing out Rogue as the absorber. She was downgraded horribly for the "we-love-wolvie" movies, and yes, she doesn't KEEP those powers.

  • Glsai (unregistered)

    I think the real WTF is this has gone 3 pages and no one has suggested the force as a superpower. You could fly, cloak yourself, save people, move things with your mind, heal and all that stuff. Plus you'd get to make a sweet lightsaber. Granted it's not a traditional power but it's the one I'd pick... that or the 'game save' one.

  • Lawtonfogle (unregistered) in reply to Satanicpuppy

    I think I would go for being able to violate the Second Law of thermodynamics. Don't know exactly how though, but it would be nice.

  • Bob (unregistered)

    Meh. 1. All-knowing, 2. Ageless, 3. Shape/size/substance changing.

    It's a complicated thing, the all-knowing. If I ever got it, the first thing I would figure out is how to temporally forget it all.

  • Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to Glsai
    Glsai:
    I think the real WTF is this has gone 3 pages and no one has suggested the force as a superpower. You could fly, cloak yourself, save people, move things with your mind, heal and all that stuff. Plus you'd get to make a sweet lightsaber. Granted it's not a traditional power but it's the one I'd pick... that or the 'game save' one.

    That's because Lucas has sold his soul, so it just isn't fun anymore.

  • will (unregistered) in reply to Erzengel

    [quote] For me, what I want is the ability to Save Game. Seriously, I could Save, try to rob a bank, get killed, Load Game, and try again using knowledge from my first attempt. [quote]

    Forget robbing bank, time for a trip to Las Vegas and using the saved positions to make sport and roulette bets.

    If you are looking for a quick win a game of Keno

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