I recently applied for a server position at a local restaurant and had what I thought was a promising interaction with the manager. After dropping off my resume, he quickly invited me for an interview, followed by a trial shift just a few days later. We had a lengthy and seemingly genuine conversation after the shift, where I inquired about my hiring status. He mentioned he was still interviewing other candidates and promised to get back to me by Wednesday or Thursday. Fast forward to Thursday night, and I hadn’t heard anything. I even sent a follow-up email, but no response came my way. It’s frustrating to feel like I wasted my time and effort, especially after driving to the restaurant and working a trial shift, only to be ghosted. To make matters worse, the trial shift was supposed to be paid, but the payment ended up being reversed by my bank. When I reached out to the manager about that, he responded by forwarding my issue to his accounting team, but he completely ignored my question about my hiring status. It feels really disappointing and unprofessional. Is this kind of ghosting common in the job search process? I've never done a trial shift before, and now I'm left wondering if it was worth it.