I got a job at a start up once - it lasted 3 days - I still dont understand what happened. I had been laid off from my job, decided to take a stab at relocating to the bay area, took me a couple weeks, landed a job at a storage startup - I was a contractor, but it was contract to hire - the interview was kinda odd - normal technical questions, then a very strange interview with the manager which mostly consisted of "when can you start?"

I'd like to point out - this was not some fly-by-night sort of deal - they we're clearly not on a shoestring budget, well funded by major industry players, offering a unique solution, and it was the true startup environment - replete with: engineers who looked as if they rolled out of bed, and into work - friday night beer, free lunch, well stocked soda, nap and gaming rooms, and of course the obligatory fooseball table.

My title was to be "Senior Technical Support Engineer" - on my first day I was handed an HP laptop - with nothing but Windows on it, and a manual for their product, which I read in about 2 hours (I read fast, and it was only about an inch/inch and a half thick) - my training consisted mostly of watching the guy next to me do calls - most of which have to do with license entitlement issues and anything beyond that or simple config issues, required come cli-fu to fix.

The next day, was really just a repeat of the first - I still don't have an ID badge or a phone at my desk - so I keep watching and listening to these calls, I also took a note on hoe the majority of the office was dressed - pretty casual - Asking my peers about Putty and other apps, I asked, and was told I have local admin on the box, for office, go thru IT - anything else, just install yourself - so I then installed putty and winscp, and went thru the rigmarole to get office installed.

The next day I showed up in toe shoes, jeans and a button up shirt - as I don't really have much in the way of dressy working clothes (plus they advertise not having a dress code on their website) - but my toe shoes are brown leather - so I figure it cant be that bad, I get a sneery look from the manager and an aside comment - later that day, I was called in - and told that this would be my last day - she said I spent the whole day on Facebook (at that time I didnt even have one), dressed unprofessionally and installed "advanced software" on my laptop - I of course protested, and indicated what I saw for dress - and then told her what I was told about tools - she told me I didn't need putty, that was too advanced.

That was that - and of course the consulting house that sent me in basically looked at me as mud - I got fired on the third day; who gets fired on the third day? - eventually 2 other people had a similar experience and I was in good graces again.

The moral of this is - its not enough to worry about HR - HR is one problem, you also need to make sure you have a sane way of onboarding people, no matter if your giant or not.