What would you do?today

[james_m246]

This question was used in a real jod interview.

You are driving down a street in a two seat car and come to a bus stop, at the bus stop stands an old friend that you havn't seen for ages that saved your life once, an old lady thats having a heart attack that needs to get to hospital and the women/man of your dreams.

What would you do?

[james_m246]

I'll post what one applicant that got the job sais tomorrow morning.

I'm going to bed now, night night.

[jno]

get the old friend to drive the sick woman to hospital while you walk off with the person of your dreams?

[james_m246]

pooper!

[SteveD]

Give the old friend your mobile phone (so you can call them later and arrange to meet).

Drive the old lady to the hospital.

The woman/man of you dreams may be at the bus stop again tomorrow.

[Quizmonster]

Presumably the question was asked in order to discover applicants' ability to - what is nowadays called - 'prioritise'. (What's wrong with 'organise' or 'arrange'?)
On that basis, it seems pretty obvious which answer the employer would want.
The person of your dreams may well tell you to pee off...the old friend and you clearly haven't made much of an effort to keep in touch up until now, so a quick message is all he/she requires. The thing that needs to be dealt with now is clearly the sick old woman.
Dealing with her is immediate and selfless, dealing with the friend is of secondary importance and dealing with the dream-boat is of little or any importance.

[SaxyJag]

The woman/man of your dreams may only ever be that and is still a stranger, so they're the least of your worries.

You get your friend to call an ambulance whilst you attend to the old lady. You can catch up later when the ambulance has been and gone.

[Loosehead]

jno is correct, Yawn, that's one of the oldest in the book, probably pre dates the book!

[jno]

Quizmonster, I frequently organise/arrange my desk (or strictly speaking, the things on my desk) - but that's generally an attempt, seldom successful, to put everything in a place where I can see it and to make the desk look neater. I think 'prioritise' goes a bit further, implying that things are arranged in order of importance or urgency. An ugly word, but I don't think there's an exact synonym.

[ugly_bob]

jno - stop tidying your desk. There's another old saying - Tidy desk, empty mind.

That's my excuse anyway.

[Quizmonster]

J, "to co-ordinate parts or elements so as to form a systematic whole; to give a definite and orderly structure to; to arrange"...that's what TOED says about 'organise'. Both 'ordinate' and 'orderly' suggest the thing is 'in order' which implies 'sequence' in my view when one is dealing with three specific matters to be dealt with in a time-frame, as here.
Still, if you don't like 'organise' or 'arrange' what about 'sequence' itself? That's been around as a verb for longer than 'prioritise' has in British English usage.
I just don't like 'prioritise', a recent interloper. But what the hey...each to his own!

[nickmo]

HOWEVER...., the correct answer is to run the old lady over and put her out of her misery, have sex with the perfect partner on the hood of the car, then drive off with the old friend for a few beers.

Or is that non PC?

[n00dles]

Is there a passenger in the car with you?