I remember this one time I really botched a job interview.
I was young, in my early twenties, and I applied to do surveillance at a casino.
You know, the eye in the sky watch 20 monitor screens at once and try to find someone cheating or stealing things in the casino and then call the security guards on them.
Well, I got an interview with the head of casino security and things were going well.
We hit it off and he liked my resume.
But then he asked me one last question.
If you saw me stealing in the casino, would you turn me in now?
I was dumbfounded by this question.
What is this, some kind of ethics test?
I mean, he's the head of security.
If I saw him stealing, who would I even report it to?
I was baffled on how to answer this, but I wanted this job bad, and so I did a whole bunch of mental gymnastics to try to read his face and see what answer he wanted.
I mean, the first thing that popped into my mind was that quote from the cottonfather here.
Listen, you're my older brother and I love you, but don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again.
Don't take sides against the family.
Who do you think started the whole casino business?
It was mobsters.
So what did this head of security cherish more, family or the law?
Its an impossible thing to answer.
I felt as if I was on the poker table going head to head with him, trying to read what cards he was holding, and my job was what was on the line.