Cardboard

I had to turn down this junior Web developer today.

The reason why may surprise you.

He came to apply for a position. He was prepared. He had a great portfolio. He had a superb résumé. He had an incredible score on coding tests.

He knew so much for a junior dev. He knew frontend, backend, devops. He could have practically done anything!

But the reason I turned him down, I told him…

“Wow, your work and expertise look incredible! But what’s also far from credible is us having open positions. We don’t have any. We never posted any. You just came into this room and applied for some job that doesn’t exist,” I said.

He was all confused. He mentioned the title of the position he thought he was applying for again, to confirm with me.

I continued. “You see. This company is fake. I’m just someone sitting at a desk.” I stood up and walked to the wall behind me. In a slow movement of my arm, I pushed the wall down, revealing a river behind it and the sun shining through. “The walls aren’t even real. This room is basically just cardboard.”

“What?,” he exclaimed in disbelief.

I walked up to him, and set my hand on his shoulder. Looking at his distraught face, I told him in a quiet voice, “Go touch grass, buddy. It’s waiting for you.”

He turned to me. A tear rolled down his cheek while he smiled. He nodded and walked out towards the river while I stayed behind, eating a bento I had under my desk.

I admit my little hobby of setting up cardboard offices near riverbanks is a little bit quirky. But in any case, walking into one may fail to meet your expectations. Please don’t walk into one.

Originally posted on LinkedIn on 24th May 2026.