Stuart Todd, a Senior SWE | PHP, Laravel, JS, TS, Vue., recently shared something that made me stop scrolling: "I missed my interview at the sweet shop the other day. There was a mix-up." It is a tiny post, but it captures a very real experience in job search and hiring: miscommunication is common, and it can be costly, awkward, and sometimes unintentionally hilarious.

I want to expand on Stuart's point because behind the joke is a useful lesson for candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers. Mix-ups happen even when everyone has good intentions. The best job search processes are not just about talent, they are about clarity.

Why a small mix-up feels so big

Missing an interview is disproportionately stressful. Even if the reason is mundane (a calendar invite never arrived, a time zone got flipped, the location was unclear), the candidate often worries it looks like irresponsibility. On the hiring side, interviewers may interpret a no-show as lack of interest.

Stuart's sweet shop setup makes the moment memorable because it is ordinary and absurd at the same time. That contrast is what makes the humor work, and it is also why the underlying issue resonates: most interview failures are not dramatic, they are procedural.

Key insight: a "no-show" is frequently a "no-shared-context."

The most common interview miscommunications (and how they happen)

When Stuart says "There was a mix-up," I immediately think of the predictable failure points that show up in both tech and non-tech hiring.

1) Time zones and daylight savings

A calendar invite that says 10:00 AM is only useful if everyone agrees on which 10:00 AM. This gets worse around daylight savings changes, and worse again when someone manually types a time into a message instead of using a scheduling link.

Fix: Always include the time zone in plain text ("10:00 AM GMT"), and use calendar invites that auto-convert.

2) Location confusion (physical or virtual)

"Sweet shop" is the funny part of Stuart's post, but location mix-ups are extremely real. Even for remote roles, the "location" can be ambiguous: which video link, which platform, which meeting room, which account.

Fix: Put the location in three places: the calendar invite, a reminder email, and a message the day-of. For in-person, include an address, a name to ask for, and a "what to do when you arrive" line.

3) The invite never arrives (or gets filtered)

Corporate spam filters and security tooling are not known for nuance. Candidates often assume silence means they did something wrong, when in reality the invitation is stuck somewhere.

Fix: Confirm receipt. A simple "Reply YES if you received the calendar invite" closes the loop.

4) Last-minute changes that do not propagate

An interviewer gets pulled into an incident. A recruiter reschedules. The candidate checks the original invite. Everyone is acting on a different version of the truth.

Fix: When rescheduling, cancel the old event, send a new one, and state clearly: "This replaces the previous time." Avoid "let's just move it" without an updated invite.

What candidates can do to prevent a missed interview

Stuart's post is a reminder that candidates should treat coordination as part of the job search skill set. That does not mean being anxious. It means being explicit.

Send a confirmation message that removes ambiguity

After you get the interview details, send one short note that restates the agreement:

Date
Time with time zone
Platform or address
Who you are meeting

This is not pushy. It is professional. It also creates a paper trail you can reference if something goes sideways.

Create a personal checklist

A lightweight checklist prevents the classic problems:

Calendar invite accepted
Correct time zone displayed
Link tested (if virtual)
Route planned (if in-person)
Recruiter contact available for emergencies
Buffer time (arrive 10 minutes early)

If you think something is wrong, escalate early

If you are 24 hours out and still unsure, ask. If it is 15 minutes before and the link is broken, call or message. The biggest mistake is waiting quietly.

If there is a mix-up, speed beats perfection. Clear, early communication protects your reputation.

What hiring teams can do (that candidates will remember)

Hiring teams often focus on evaluation rubrics and interview questions, but the candidate experience starts earlier. A smooth scheduling process signals competence and respect.

Provide one source of truth

Use a single scheduling system and make the calendar invite authoritative. If you also send details via email or LinkedIn messages, copy and paste exactly, and avoid informal paraphrasing that introduces differences.

Include "what if" instructions

Add a line like: "If you cannot access the meeting, reply to this email or text [number]." That single sentence prevents 80 percent of the panic.

Assume miscommunication is a system problem

It is tempting to label a missed interview as a character flaw. But Stuart's joke works because we all know mix-ups happen. Treat it like an operations issue: identify the failure mode, add a safeguard, and move on.

The content lesson: why Stuart Todd's post worked

Even though the post is short, it has the ingredients of a viral moment:

A micro-story: one setup, one twist.
Relatability: many people have dealt with interview logistics.
Humor without cruelty: no one is attacked, so people feel safe engaging.
Open loop: "There was a mix-up" invites readers to imagine the details and share their own stories.

This is worth noting if you care about LinkedIn content, viral posts, and content strategy. You do not need a long thread to spark conversation. You need a clear human moment that others can map onto their experience.

Turning the mix-up into momentum

If you ever miss an interview due to confusion, the recovery matters more than the mistake. Here is a simple approach:

Apologize briefly (no long justification).
State the cause plainly ("I had the wrong link" or "I was in the wrong time zone").
Offer two new times.
Confirm the corrected details in writing.

Most reasonable teams will reschedule if they believe it was a genuine error and you handled it professionally.

Closing thought

Stuart Todd's "sweet shop" line is funny because it is simple, but it also points to something practical: the hiring process is a coordination problem as much as it is a competence problem. If we tighten the basics, we reduce stress, avoid false negatives, and make room for what interviews are supposed to measure.

This blog post expands on a viral LinkedIn post by Stuart Todd, Senior SWE | PHP, Laravel, JS, TS, Vue.. View the original LinkedIn post →