There must be something in the water

As an essential provider of services, my company continues to recruit during the pandemic. That, of course, means continued crazy applicant stories. I truly believe that there must be something in the water right now, because we've had some extra doozies lately. Here are 4 in no particular order:

#1
We send notifications to applicants when positions are filled. This is something every company should do so people aren't wondering what happened with the position. One recent applicant replied to this notice with an e-mail cussing me out. I forwarded this message to my coworker and manager, both of whom were horrified. This candidate has been flagged as "do not hire" in our system.

#2
A candidate turned down our offer over pay. The pay was clearly listed in the job posting. It was union position, so no negotiation. He wasted his time testing & interviewing, and he wasted the time of myself and the 2 other interview team members.

#3
After accepting our offer of employment, the candidate was scheduled for his physical and drug test. This is something required for every position, and it's something this candidate knew to expect. Upon arriving, the candidate exhibited questionable behavior. After finally submitting his sample for a drug test, he told them he refused to do the physical until the drug test results were received. His offer was revoked for not following the procedure we outlined, and he's also been marked as "do not hire" in our system.

#4
The most egregious came to light yesterday. The person had tested for a position the previous day and done terribly, as in one of the lowest scores I've ever seen for this test. Due to the type of test, this test is given in person (with appropriate distancing of course). He e-mailed my coworker yesterday, saying he was feeling poorly with a fever the day of the test and asked to retest. My coworker was livid as was I. First, we are in the middle of a pandemic, and fever is one of the indicators for the disease. The signage on our buildings says not to enter if you have a fever in cased you missed the whole pandemic thing. He knowingly exposed the test administrator to whatever he had. My coworker referred this situation immediately to our HR Director. She had our HR Manager call the candidate. He apologized and said he thought the sweating was caused by drinking coffee (unlikely), then mentioned he had a cough in December that lasted for weeks. He also coughed during the phone call with the HR Manager. The HR Manager also contacted the test administrator to alert him of the situation. He said the candidate didn't appear unwell, and he thinks the guy just wants a chance to retest. To quote my coworker "What is wrong with people?".

Moral of the story: even during a pandemic, candidates will still act crazy.