A marketing company in Singapore has apologised to a jobseeker after he was asked by an employee to pay for his share of the coffee after he turned down a role with the company.

The coffee cost SGD 6.50 (USD 4.83).

The jobseeker told Mothership that he was first approached by the unnamed company on LinkedIn. The company arranged for the jobseeker, Sriram Suresh, to meet at the employee’s office and after the meeting the employee invited Suresh to one of the coffee places nearby. The employee ordered coffee for both of them and after the interview, the employee stayed at the coffee place as she had more work to do. They parted ways then.

According to Suresh, the topic of paying was never addressed.

AsiaOne reports the employee had texted Sriram after the interview and Sriram said he would pass on the opportunity because he was looking for a stable job.

While the employee had wished him all the best, she also texted him that his part of the coffee was SGD 6.50 and requested for him to pay.

Suresh said he was baffled by the message and returned the money she had paid for his drink. He then sent the employee a message and said, “Had I known, I would've paid [for my coffee] on the day itself, now it just seems unprofessional," adding that this was the first time he had been asked to pay for a coffee after an interview. "Leaves a bad taste done like this. Guess I dodged a bullet here, thanks for your time." 

According to Suresh, a manager from the company called him to apologise for their employee's actions. "I'm extremely sorry that you had to go through such an experience and I'm thankful that you flagged this out so as to stop this in its tracks," the manager told him, adding that the employee will be ‘dealt with’.

The money was also refunded to Suresh.