Young woman brutally mocked over ‘time blindness’ question during interview

A young woman has gone viral after posting a tearful video claiming she was “yelled at” over a simple question she asked during an interview.

Young woman brutally mocked over ‘time blindness’ question in interview. Picture: @chaotic_philosopher/TikTok

A young woman has caused a major stir across social media after claiming she was branded “entitled” for asking a “very reasonable” question in an interview.

Sarah Trefren sparked a wild debate after she took to TikTok to tearfully claim she was “yelled at” for asking what accommodations there were for people with “time blindness” during a phone interview to apply for a trade school.

“I just got yelled at for asking a very reasonable question. I am applying to go somewhere and I just wanted to know are there accommodations for people who struggle with time blindness and being on time, you know,” she said.

“And then the person that I was with interrupted and acted like I was asking something else and then when we were done they actually started yelling at me and saying accommodations for time blindness don’t exist and if you struggle being on time you will never be able to get a job – you know, provided you are trying your absolute best to be there.”

The US woman later revealed the “person” who yelled at her was her mum who was sitting in on the phone call with her.

Ms Trefren said her mum claimed that her “stupid generation” wanted to “destroy the workplace”.

The young woman then claimed that any culture where “workers are just cut off people they struggle being on time” without looking at other solutions “needs to be dismantled”.

“I asked that person, ‘How can you feel good about yourself upholding this kind of system?” the young woman said.

“And then to think I am entitled? No, if people think it is OK to treat others like this, that’s entitlement.”

While time blindness is not a diagnosis in itself, it is a symptom often associated with ADHD and can see people struggle with losing track of time or being unable to accurately gauge how much time has passed.

Problems that can arise from this symptom include under or over-estimating how much time a task will take, chronically missing deadlines or arriving late and constantly “losing track of time”.

The TikToker claimed she was ‘yelled at’ for asking about accommodations for time blindness during an interview. Picture: @chaotic_philosopher/TikTok

The video has amassed more than 4 million views in a matter of days. Picture: @chaotic_philosopher/TikTok

The video quickly went viral, gaining more than 4.2 million views in a matter of days.

Thousands of people slammed Ms Trefren’s take as “absolutely ridiculous” and “idiotic”, with many questioning whether the video was a joke.

There were many commenters who claimed they also struggled with time management due to ADHD, but claimed it was not on an employer to accommodate for this issue.

“I have ADHD the accommodations are clocks and setting alarms and waking up earlier,” one person wrote.

“As someone with ADHD I always look at how long it will take to get to a destination and multiple alarms,” another said.

“Sure maybe time blindness is a thing, but it’s easy to combat/fix. You’re just being “lazy” or victimising yourself if you can’t do those simple solutions I mentioned above.”

Other commenters asked how the TikToker would feel if the scenario was reversed and they were negatively impacted by people being late due to “time blindness”.

“Would you accommodate your employer for paying you 5 days later due to their ‘time blindness’?” one person asked.

“Now imagine a surgeon, paramedic, pilot, not being on time,” another person commented.

One added: “Does ‘time blindness’ apply when going to a movie, concert, or anything else that starts at a certain time? Or is it just work?”

Australian Occupational Therapist, Selah Dimech, responded to Ms Trefren’s video explaining the reality behind time blindness and asking for workplace accommodations.

“I think what is tricky is she was talking about a situation about arriving somewhere on time and because of that, that is why people are enraged,” the Brisbane woman explained.

Brisbane occupational therapist, Selah Dimech, explained there were some strategies that could be used for people who struggle with keeping track of time. Picture: @selahdimech/TikTok

She said that if workplace accommodations negatively impact other employees, effectiveness of the organisation and work flow then that is not something a company can reasonably implement.

“Let’s say you are starting your shift at a cafe, yes you have to be there on time otherwise there is not going to be anyone there to make people coffees, you know?” Ms Dimech said.

“But, some examples of time blindness accommodations in certain workplace settings could be having a flexible working arrangement where if you work late on Monday you don’t have to work as much the following day, or whether it is meeting KPIs but it doesn’t matter what actual business hours you work to reach those KPIs.”

Other suggested strategies included letting employees have their phone on them to allow them to set alerts and reminders for certain things, such as an hourly alarm or vibration to help keep track of time.

“So yes, time blindness strategies are a thing, but coming to work on time, if you need to be there on time for the job, I am sorry, but that’s just something you gotta do,” Ms Dimech said.

However, Ms Trefren doubled down on her stance, saying the backlash she has received just proves that “political polarisation” has become “more of a threat than we could ever know”.

“Once upon a time I thought that political polarisation and social media algorithms radicalising us wasn’t as big of a deal,” she said in a follow up video.

“That was before I started trending online and became a target for mass amounts of hate on TikTok and Twitter. I have seen this hate and division first-hand in a way that I haven’t before. “Political polarisation needs to be one of the top issues in the United States.”

The young woman claimed that when society was stuck in “cognitive loops and bias that we don’t even know we are in” then there is no way to work to change things like “economic and environmental injustices”.

“This is the issue that needs to be addressed first, because without addressing it we will get nowhere,” she said.