I don't go to the movies that often but there is always some asshole in there that never turns their phone off even AFTER the theater runs their "Please turn off your phone" feature for five minutes.

We all forget at some point to turn our phones off. But during a job interview is one of the most important times, if you forget for that you are out of luck. The problem isn't that he owns a phone, or had a phone on him, it's that he didn't have the common sense to turn his phone off before his job interview.

You don't read the news much, do you? Some people have been unemployed so long they've maxed out their benefits. An ex-colleague of mine just lost her house after being out of work six months. The interviewer isn't always who you work for; it's often the person whose sole responsibility is finding the best person for the job. If you don't turn off your phone, it can be inferred that you are careless, forgetful, unprofessional, uncommitted, or easily distracted. Why should anyone risk his job hiring that man when there are so many others who demonstrated an ability to plan ahead and turn off the phone?

That's a stupid question. He didn't need his phone during the interview, but maybe he had it on him because he needed it after the interview. Even leaving your phone in your car is generally a bad idea, and it may be that he took the bus. Also it's good to bring it because sometimes things change, if he took the bus to his interview and left his phone at home, maybe they would have called him and he missed it, or there could be any of a million reasons why he'd need his phone. I know lots of people who drive hours to go to their job interviews. I'm sure there are people who bus to different cities for interviews too. Would you bus to another city and leave your phone at home? There is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing your phone, so long as you turn it off (or on silent).