TIFU, went in for a job interview and asked to eat lunch in the office instead of going out. Was told that was why they weren’t going to hire me.

Going to try to keep this short. Looking for a job had a recruiter hit me up about a good fit. Zoom interviewed with a company once for two hours. They liked me so much they flew me to their HQ to meet the team. (Essentially I was as good as hired) The flight in was rough as hell with the person in front having their seat down and my knees getting grinded by metal while we bounced around in the air. After 4 hours we landed and I went right to the hotel room to sleep. Woke up the next morning went into the office and started meeting with the team. The CEO says they had a schedule laid out with me to meet the entire team and asked if there was anything they could do to accommodate me. I saw on the schedule that it said go out for lunch. My knees still hurting from the flight I spoke up and said, is there any way we can do a meet and eat here in the office? He said “I guess” with a confused look on his face then excused himself and exited. The CFO followed suit and left while I remained behind with a revolving door of team members coming in to talk with me. Closer to lunch the CEO stops back in and says, “I really think you need to take the team out to lunch, it will be good for you to bond.” I instantly replied, “Ok that works for me!”. Went to lunch came back kept doing interviews. CFO comes in at the end and says “We appreciate your time and thank you for coming in, but we are going to pass on you and look at other candidates. We already called you an Uber which is here follow me”. Traveled back home after spending the rest of that day at the airport. (Thank God for Delta Sky Lounge) Red eye back, got home at 6am went to bed. Recruiter calls at 10am and says I have feedback on the interview. Apparently there was some issue about lunch and they felt offended? I explained what happened and said to the recruiter you were great to work with please call me if another position comes up.

TL;DR: Went to a job interview asked if we could eat lunch in the office not go out. CEO took offense to the accommodation request and the recruiter said that was why I didn’t get the job.

I’ve read all the comments so far. Best comment: I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.