I suppose, next time I am late for an interview I can claim my wife called from Afganistan - or that I helped a little old man who fell in the street, helped deliver a baby in the cab on the way there, apprehended public enemy number one, talked a distressed teen out of jumping off a building or any one of a hundred other notable, personally important, or socially valuable deeds. But the outcome for the potential employer will still be that I was late for the interview.
It may not be fair, and it may imply that the employer - the entity that pays employees to show up and make money for the company - is more concerned about the business than your personal life, but that is the way it is.
From the perspective of a caring supervisor, the reality is also that there are proabably 50 equally qualified applicants and 49 of them will be dissappointed when they don't get the job. When you can screen one out due to reasons under that person's control or for easily measureable and generally agreed upon criteria (the interview is at 8:00am, be there at 7:55am not 8:05am) it is a no brainer and one of the easier decisions a manger will make. In other words, how fair is it to consider you as a serious applicant when the other 49 showed up on time. I could be nice and waste your time interviewing you, but if I have no intent to hire you, it's more honest to just be up front with you and tell you why. It won't feel good, but it won;t fosterfalse hope and learning may occur.
It is true that the timing of the call sucked and if my spuse called in that situaiont I'd probably take it too. It's a matter of priorities and choice is involved but a grown up realizes there are potential consequneces even when you make the *right* choice.
Once an employee is on board, it can and should be different. I'd certainly allow flexibility for a proven and capable employee to step out for an insta break if a spouse called from Afganistan even if it were the peak of the rush, but it would be asking a lot for me to automatically honor that *claim* when I don't even know them and our first meeting (an interview no less) is 5 minutes late.
I allowed an interpreter in my division to leave 30 minutes early each day to make daycare arrangements work out. She was very good at her job, very committed and I trusted her to make up the time as the needs of the job required and I was never disappointed. But had she shown up 5 minutes late for an interview for a job where being on time is critical, no way would I have ever hired her ass. I would have missed out on hiring an excellent employee, but it would have still been the right decision to make at the time.
So your spouse missed a possible job at Starbucks because she took a call that mattered. Get on with life and get over it. It won't matter a year from now and unless it is one of those things that does matter a year down the road, then don't sweat it, as it is just little stuff.
