Would you hire a night watchman who fell asleep during the interview? How about a delivery driver who got lost on the way to work? Well, along those lines …

… You may want to reject Seiji Hori if he shows up answering your ad for a firefighter, since Hori has admitted to being responsible for burning down the fire station where he worked.

Hori, a Tokyo city firefighter, was cooking dinner at the firehouse when an emergency call came in. In his haste to answer the call, he left the stove on. You probably know the rest.

Despite the efforts of several other city fire companies, the station was engulfed in flames — and dinner didn’t turn out so good, either.

Hori has publicly apologized for causing the blaze, and word out of Tokyo is that he’ll get to keep his job. The fire chief noted that the mishap gave fire officials a chance to educate the public about how to avoid cooking fires. (Order take-out?)

And for that we nominate the chief for this week’s  Silk Purse/Sow’s Ear Award.

Tags: hire, interview, Tokyo