The candidate lost the job before anyone asked him a question. He walked into the building, approached the front desk, and was dismissive to the woman sitting behind it. She greeted him. He barely made eye contact. She tried to make conversation and got nothing back. She was the hiring manager. A coworker who watched the whole thing unfold wrote about it on Reddit as u/sawta2112 in a post that went on to collect more than 46,000 upvotes. “Today, a candidate blew his interview in the first 5 minutes after he entered the building,” they wrote. The man hadn’t set foot in the conference room yet. He had, according to the post, treated the woman at the desk “like she was beneath him.” LPT: interview starts immediately byu/sawta2112 inLifeProTips Socially anxioys or just plain rude? She called him back to the conference room anyway, and told him why he wasn’t getting the job. Every person on the team, she explained, was valuable and worthy of respect. The role was client-facing, where being warm and approachable was most of the work. The obvious explanation for his rude behavior is nerves. Plenty of people go stiff and monosyllabic in a lobby because they’re running answers in their head, and that isn’t a character flaw. The poster had already considered that and rejected it. “It wasn’t just lack of eye contact,” they wrote. “He was openly rude and treated her like she was beneath him. When he thought he was talking to the decision-maker, his personality totally changed. Suddenly he was friendly, open, relaxed. So I don’t think this was a case of social anxiety.” A woman sits down for a job interview. Photo credit: Tim Gouw via Unsplash. The comments were filled with people who’d been on either side of this scenario. One person got chatty with a stranger in the elevator on the way up to an interview and found out later it was the company’s CEO, and got the job. Another described a system from the paper-resume era, where whoever accepted a walk-in resume at the front desk could draw a small horizontal line in the corner to flag that the person had been rude. Making an impression This story comes from one office and one account, and there’s no confirming the details. But the principle behind it—that how someone treats a person with no apparent power over them tells you more than a scheduled interview will—shows up in places where the names are attached. Luis von Ahn, the CEO of Duolingo, has described a CFO candidate who looked excellent on paper and interviewed well and still didn’t get an offer. “It turned out that they were pretty mean to their driver from the airport to the office, and that made us not hire them,” he said on The Burnouts podcast. “Our belief is if they’re going to be mean to the driver, they’re probably going to be mean to other people, particularly people under them.” View this post on Instagram Trent Innes, then former managing director of Xero Australia, described on The Venture Podcast with Lambros Photios walking candidates to the office kitchen for a drink at the start of an interview, then watching whether they carry the empty cup back at the end. He’s said he’d hire almost anyone who does. View this post on Instagram The advice that came out of the thread wasn’t really about interviews at all. As one commenter put it, the trick is to be a kind, mannerly person all the time, and then you never have to worry about faking it. The post A hiring manager pretended to be the receptionist. The candidate failed before he sat down. appeared first on Upworthy.

It really is quite simple: when it comes to luck, one way we can change it is by creating more variables for ourselves. The idea is that the more motion we create, the better our chance of potentially changing our lives and turning them around. In a recent Facebook post, Professor Sean Johnson discussed this idea, referencing the book Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty by clinical neurologist and researcher James Austin. In the book, Austin lays out the “four kinds of luck: blind luck, luck from motion, luck from awareness, and unique luck.” Johnson focuses on Austin’s second concept. Essentially, he reiterates that the more we “collide” with other ideas, people, and plans, the more chances we have for a positive outcome. The Kettering Principle pic.twitter.com/b37L2NPEvr— Christian Busch (@ChrisSerendip) November 16, 2020 Over a video clip with a chyron reading “How to create more luck,” Johnson shares, “You need to go outside and meet more strangers. It’s not me, this is science, actually. In 1978, James Austin proposed four types of luck. And the second was being called ‘The Kettering Principle,’ which basically says that ‘chance favors those in motion.’ In other words, curiosity, exploration, and movement create collisions that can create lucky breaks. This obviously applies to networks. When you’re stationary, your probability of luck is limited to people you already know. But when you increase your movement, your collision rate with people will increase.” Talk to strangers Next, Johnson references psychologist Richard Wiseman’s ten-year study that, he says, “tracked self-described lucky and unlucky people.” He points out the conclusion, which was that “lucky people talked to strangers more and were more willing to vary their routines and take invitations or give invitations. So if you want more opportunities, you just need to make more collisions.” He gives concrete examples. “Going to events. Sharing things on platforms like LinkedIn, or here (Facebook), or speaking on podcasts or in front of groups. Going to network events, hosting network events. Hosting events is amazing. Hosting a three-hour dinner for six to eight people, I get that it’s hard. It creates discomfort, but inertia is a real thing. And I think COVID, especially, turned us all into resting bodies. But you got to do it!” Whether you’re trying to build revenue or just change your luck, Johnson claims the same prescription is necessary. “Leave your house. Leave the comfort of your office. Have coffee. Go to that conference. Say ‘yes’ to that dinner. Share your point of view. Send a thoughtful email to someone who doesn’t know you yet. Shoot your shot, have more collisions.” View this post on Instagram You don’t stumble on things sitting down With regard to the Kettering Principle, both Johnson and Austin are referring to inventor and businessman Charles F. Kettering, who had incredibly profound insight. He was quoted as once saying, “You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.” Kettering was also reported to have said, “Keep on going, and chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.” His point was clear: movement creates chances and can therefore change your luck. The ‘Yes Man’ The 2008 Peyton Reed-directed film Yes Man, based on Danny Wallace’s memoir of the same name, tackles this concept comedically. In the movie, Jim Carrey’s character has chosen to answer “Yes” to absolutely anything presented to him. While this leads to some cinematic hijinks, the idea still remains: forward motion leads to possibilities. The comments under Johnson’s Facebook post are also quite thoughtful and supportive of the idea. One Facebooker writes in part, “I’ve learned that getting out, meeting people, and trying new experiences has led to connections, unexpected opportunities, and memories I never would’ve had otherwise.” A few introverts pushed back, with one sharing, “While Carl Jung says, ‘No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.'” And of course, “collisions” don’t always yield positive outcomes. One person contends, “Luck goes both ways. There is good luck and bad luck. Increased motion increases chances of both.” At the end of the day, it’s the possibilities that count. As this commenter put it, “This is true. We were born to live.” The post Professor shares why the key to improving your luck is having ‘more collisions’ appeared first on Upworthy.

No one wants to grow up to be like their parents. That’s why Millennials and Gen Xers took a hard turn away from the values and lifestyles of the people who raised them: the Baby Boomers. But the funny thing about pendulums is that they can only go so far in one direction before they come swinging back. It seems Gen Zers, today’s young adults between the ages of 14 and 29, actually have quite a bit in common with the Boomers—namely, how they like to spend their leisure time. Here are six Boomer-favorite hobbies that are making a strong comeback with young people, who are putting a fresh spin on them. 1. Birdwatching Most adults over the age of 30 would not recognize birdwatching as a popular hobby from when they were growing up, but thanks to Gen Z, it’s roaring back into style. A recent CNN article highlighted Gen Z’s affinity for birdwatching, with wildlife adviser Katie Nethercoat saying the activity’s accessibility and outdoorsiness are a big draw: “People have an idea that birdwatching is an expensive hobby. It’s not, you don’t need all the gear … it is often just going to your local park, sitting out on your balcony or in your garden, going for a walk along the river. Nature is always there.” Birdwatching among 16- to 29-year-olds in the United Kingdom, for example, has surged more than 1,000% since 2018, according to CNN. How Gen Z makes it their own: Birdwatching is now social—not to mention political. Young people share their finds online, while birdwatching apps allow them to compete to see who can spot the most birds or the rarest species. It’s like real-life Pokémon. Many even join mission-oriented birdwatching clubs, such as those organized around LGBTQ inclusion or feminist causes. 2. Mahjong Mahjong, the 200-year-old Chinese tile-based skill game, is certainly having a moment. Interest in mahjong clubs is up more than 4,000% since last year, with young people driving much of the surge. Outside of the Asian American community, mahjong was popular with Jewish American women and American housewives in the early 1900s. Now it’s back. And it’s not just mahjong. Board games of all kinds are seeing a resurgence as the video game monoculture begins to break apart. Video games are still huge, but they’re more niche and immersive, and many young people are finding they prefer playing games in real life with friends. How Gen Z makes it their own: Mahjong has always been highly social, but the younger generation is cranking it up to 11. Some Gen Zers throw mahjong parties where guests are encouraged to bring a friend and enjoy DJs, food, and more. Custom mahjong sets on Etsy let young people put their own spin on the classic game in a way 1930s housewives never could. 3. Knitting and crochet It’s not just for grandmas anymore: A staggering 73% of crocheters are now between 18 and 34, according to recent data. They’re not just borrowing this hobby; they’re straight-up taking over. It’s the slowest, most offline hobby ever, and Gen Z is eating it up. How Gen Z makes it their own: Three words: granny-core meetups. Gen Zers are combining several of their favorite Boomer pastimes and gathering with friends for quiet evenings of mahjong, knitting, and crochet. They’re also getting hyper-creative, no longer held back by what their mother or grandmother taught them or by the available lessons in books. Gen Z crocheters make stuffies, cardigans, and trendy bags—and some even turn their crafts into small businesses and side hustles. 4. Baking Gen Z gets a reputation as the “DoorDash generation,” but baking homemade goodies, especially sourdough bread, is really popular with this age group. It all peaked during the pandemic, but young people haven’t exactly cooled on making fresh bread at home. The Independent Press writes that many Millennials and Gen Zers got their first taste of homemade sourdough in 2020 and that it’s sticking around for reasons far bigger than just how delicious it can be: “This shift toward baking was not only about producing food but about engaging in a therapeutic and rewarding process during uncertain times.” How Gen Z makes it their own: Like so many things for younger generations, baking bread at home is becoming social. People share their bread-making journey and sourdough starter progress online, and they have access to incredibly diverse and creative recipes that Baby Boomers could never have imagined. 5. Antiquing and thrifting In the last five years, the secondhand clothing market has doubled, per NBC News. Gen Z is playing a huge role in the resurgence, as more and more of them are ditching traditional retail stores for Goodwill, thrift stores, and antique malls. How Gen Z makes it their own: It’s not just thrifty and practical to pick up secondhand clothes and household items. It’s nostalgic and novel. By shopping secondhand, young people are able to experience a time they never lived through, when things weren’t mass-produced or sold by scammy dropshippers on Amazon. “Some of the clothes you get at the mall are such terrible quality these days,” Julia Laracy, 18, told NBC News. “These clothes are cheaper and they’re older, but they have better quality.” 6. Jigsaw puzzles Jigsaw puzzles, like sourdough, took off during the pandemic, and people still haven’t gotten sick of them. About half of American adults do at least one puzzle per year, and one of the groups most likely to do a puzzle on a monthly basis is 18- to 34-year-olds—yes, even out-puzzling the Boomers. How Gen Z makes it their own: Puzzles can be social, too—if you want them to be. “Puzzle and chill” or “puzzle with me” streams and online content are huge, and not just for creators. They foster a sense of belonging and community even when people are isolated. One commenter on a recent YouTube video wrote, “This was so much fun. I put you up on the TV while working on [my own puzzle]. It was like puzzling in the same room with a friend.” Why the return of these old-school, offline hobbies? It’s simple, really. They all have a number of things in common: You have to use your hands. They take time, effort, and patience. And you can do them solo or with friends in real life, then choose to share them online afterward—or not. These analog hobbies force us to slow down, and they’re the perfect antidote to digital fatigue—not just nostalgic or “retro” for the sake of it. “For me, personally, our brains are fried. I think we’re just so done and exhausted with social media. It’s very toxic,” one young birdwatcher told CNN. “It’s weird because it doesn’t make us feel good. We feel almost addicted to being on our phones because we don’t know anything else … A lot of us are going back, seeking the slower life, seeking a real connection with nature and other people.” The post 6 old-school Boomer hobbies that Gen Z is reviving and reinventing appeared first on Upworthy.

You know that half-joking pact you made with your best friend? The one where, if you’re both still single at 40, you’ll just buy a house together and call it a day? Turns out a lot of people aren’t joking anymore. Platonic co-buying, or friends teaming up to buy a home together, is on the rise with Gen Z women—and it’s one of our favorite housing trends in a long time. Oh, and the trend’s most famous cheerleader? Barbie.  Photo credit: Rightmove, Mattel. – Barbie's 2026 DreamHouse. Barbie’s moving—and her new spot is on Rightmove  This summer, Barbie partnered with Rightmove, the UK’s largest property platform, to list her brand-new DreamHouse as an actual (well, “actual”) property listing.  The listing leans all the way into the bit. It’s marked “SOLD STC,” priced at £274.99, and is described as “perfectly proportioned for residents 11.5 inches tall.” Her fuchsia-pink Malibu abode features an “external lift, because options matter” and a walk-in closet “because… Barbie,” plus, it’s only “a short walk to the coast”—the ideal dwelling “for anyone whose job is beach.” @rightmove You’ve heard it here first… Rightmove @barbie @ASH ♬ original sound – Rightmove An important detail to note: Barbie’s 2026 DreamHouse was designed with a bridge connecting it to a second house, so friends can live side by side. That’s not a random flourish. This time, Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse was deliberately designed to reflect the real shift in how young people think about home ownership.  So what exactly is “platonic co-buying”?  Platonic co-buying is when two or more people who aren’t married or romantically involved—typically friends, family members, or acquaintances—pool their finances to purchase a home together. Young people ask themselves, “Why should I wait when I have people I love right now?”  As their dreams of homeownership seem to slip further and further away, Millennial and Gen Z home buyers are taking matters into their own hands. The core motivation here is money: mortgage rates have nearly doubled since the pandemic, while wages haven’t kept pace. In 2025, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that the typical age of first-time buyers reached 40-years-old—an all-time high.  Photo credit: Canva – Young people are taking control of their own futures. Platonic co-buying emerged as young people’s way out of this mess. Combining income, they discovered, gets you more purchasing power. It’s easier to qualify for loans, and is a much faster route to ownership than going at it alone.  According to research Barbie and Rightmove commissioned, nearly half (48%) of the Gen Z and Millennial women surveyed said they’d consider buying a place with a friend. And it wasn’t just about their bank accounts: 56% said co-owning with a friend would boost their happiness, and 62% said it would give them a stronger sense of community. Real friends are already doing it  The BBC profiled four friends—Francesca, Graeme, Sonja, and Kieran, all 34—who bought a £650,000 flat in London together in 2022. “It didn’t feel like such a big step,” said Francesca. “If anything, moving in just the two of us felt like a bigger step.” Little did they know, more flat mates were on the way. In the years since, the two couples—friends for as long as they can remember—have each welcomed a little one, and they’re raising their growing families together under a single shared roof. “Whoever I tell about it, they always think it’s a great idea and they like it,” Kieran said. “But I do have to preface it with: ‘It’s not like a commune or anything. It’s communal living.’” @bbcnews Would you buy a house with your mates to get on the property ladder? #London #Housing #Houses #BuyingAHouse #Property #BuyingHomes #FirstTimeBuyer #FirstTimeHomeBuyer #HousingMarket #Home #UKHousing #News #BBCNews ♬ original sound – BBC News – BBC News Then there’s Ayesha and Jasmin. They’d been friends for more than 15 years when life decided to hand them the same plot twist simultaneously. In 2025, both women found themselves newly divorced in Washington D.C., and were on the hunt for a place to land. Why not with each other? They decided to explore buying a home together in D.C., eventually settling on a five-bedroom, four-bathroom house for $905,000. “It’s untraditional, but you take much bigger risks when you’re falling in love and getting married to someone who you’ve known for maybe three or four years,” says Ayesha. “We are raising our kids together. We’re partners in that and we are taking care of all five of these kids. We’re in it together.” What’s on the ultimate DreamHouse wish list?  If you were designing your dream home—Barbie-style; no limits; pink as a non-negotiable—what would you put in it? Rightmove and Barbie decided to find out, and commissioned a survey of 2,000 women between the ages of 18 and 45. Their answers are below.  Who doesn't want to live in the DreamHouse? The Ultimate Top 10 DreamHouse Features:  Large garden (44%) Walk-in wardrobe (39%) Swimming pool (34%) Open-plan kitchen/living space (31%) Spa or hot tub (25%) Home gym (24%) Library / reading room (20%) Home cinema (19%) Games room (16.5%) Joy room (a dedicated space for relaxation, hobbies, or self-care) (16%) Look at the top of the list. A garden, an open-plan living space, and a spa, followed by a games room, a reading room, and a whole room for joy. Picture it: friends spilling out of the kitchen, snacks in hand, and heading straight to the garden on a lovely summer evening. Kids play nearby, someone is losing badly at Mario Kart inside. The thing about these features is that none of them are really for being alone. They’re built for sharing, for the nights when the house is full of people you love. And that says a lot about what young women actually want. It’s not just square footage. It’s space to gather, connect, and room for the people who make a house feel alive. Why living with your people is good for you  Psychologists have spent decades opining on the power of friendship. Science keeps finding the same thing: people with strong friendships tend to have lower blood pressure, healthier cholesterol, and a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. They also report being happier with their lives and feeling better about themselves. There’s no secret here. Healthy friendships give us something we all need: belonging and purpose. As one licensed counselor recently put it: “We often think of friendship as a social luxury, but clinically it’s much closer to a protective health behavior.”  Here’s to the power of friendship. Credit: Canva The idea of a “chosen family” comes up repeatedly in conversations about platonic co-buying. Humans select one another, deliberately choosing to play significant roles in each other’s lives in a partnership built on shared values, mutual respect, and care. Research increasingly shows that these support systems are central to belonging, especially for young adults building lives far away from where they grew up. This is how platonic co-buying goes from a risky financial gamble into a viable path to ownership: partnerships built on trust, commitment, and the deliberate mutual choice to show up for one another.  There’s even a documented “happiness spillover” effect: having a happy friend who lives within one mile of you raises your odds of being happy by 25%. Can you imagine what that number would be with them even closer?  A girl can Dream(House) At the end of the day, the dream was never just the house (we’ll leave Barbie to enjoy her multi-level mansion). It was getting to choose who’s in it with you, and finding the people who make these four, very pink walls feel like home. Turns out, this wisdom has been Barbie’s since 1962, the year the DreamHouse premiered. At the time, women in the U.S. couldn’t even reliably get a mortgage in their own name, and it would take another 12 years before the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed, which made it illegal to deny credit based on sex.  Now, Barbie and young people across the globe opt for platonic co-buying, and, in the process, are choosing themselves, their friends, and their financial futures. The post Gen Z women are co-buying homes with friends. Here’s their ‘dream house’ wish list. appeared first on Upworthy.

At times, life can throw us all some curveballs. For four-year-old Roman Butzlaff, it’s tossed him a couple of hard pitches early on. Following his parents’ divorce, his father moved away to Florida. This meant he was living alone with his mother in North Carolina without any extended family nearby. According to CBS Sunday Morning, Roman felt pretty lonely.  Suburban neighborhoods appear friendly, but it’s not uncommon for people to retreat behind closed doors after work and school. A young, only child like Roman could have easily stayed isolated. Instead, he decided to do something radically simple: he started waving.  Every single day, Roman would step outside his Concord, North Carolina home and offer a cheerful “hey” and a wave to anyone passing by. What began with one child’s friendly greeting turned into a beautiful bond between strangers.  One little wave created a community of ‘found family’ Roman’s daily act of kindness began to shake his neighborhood out of its routine. A group of senior citizens with no connection beyond their mutual zip code suddenly found themselves drawn into Roman’s orbit. As a result, they began to learn more about each other, too. @peopleworthcaringabout_ Kids + Seniors: Watch What Happens Every time they come here… something real just clicks. Season 3 Episode 5 #PeopleWorthCaringAbout #documentary #humanconnection #intergenerational #eldercare #EmotionalMoment #nursinghome #emotionalstory #RealStories ♬ original sound – People Worth Caring About Before long, this little boy in search of kinship found a village of friends. At Roman’s swimming lessons, he suddenly had a cheering section. Neighbors began to include him while they did their chores. They even showed up at his game days so someone would be in the stands. Ordinary Tuesday afternoons became heartwarming community events.  Roman’s mother, Anna, tells CBS, “They’ve made such an impact on him. They are really special people.” These neighbors, who started as mere acquaintances, soon became a steadfast surrogate family for Roman. Eventually, they became valued friends to one another. The distance between them was never big, but uniting behind young Roman brought them closer together, creating a tight-knit community they could all count on. Why bonds that transcend age are magic Science tells us that this type of connection can be healing. According to recent insights from Harvard Health, multiple studies demonstrate the emotional power of intergenerational friendships. By building platonic bonds across vast age gaps, researchers report profound psychological and physical rewards. But why? When fellowship crosses social divides, it shatters rigid thinking. As a result, people gain new perspectives that expand their worldview. But the benefits are also physical: research shows that maintaining diverse social ties can help lower stress and regulate blood pressure. For older adults, interacting with younger people provides a renewed sense of youth and vitality.  @dannynew.tv This preschool in Minnesota shares a building with a senior living facility – and it’s incredibly heartwarming to watch the students and residents bond over singing, water gun fights, and playing with Plato #preschool #preschoolteacher #toddlersoftiktok #toddler #senior #golden #kidsoftiktok ♬ original sound – Danny New Roman’s story reminds us that loneliness is curable and that making new friends, no matter our age, can be as simple as waving hello. You never know who you might meet or how they could change your life for the better. All it takes is a single step outside of your comfort zone to reap the rewards. The post Lonely North Carolina 4-year-old brings neighborhood of strangers together with his friendly wave appeared first on Upworthy.