Gotcha Question!

You know, I wish I could get away with saying, "That was a gotcha question. So while I failed to answer it with anything remotely resembling intelligence, and while it contradicts points I have made in the past, it shouldn't count against me because I wasn't expecting the question."

Imagine sitting in an interview:

Interviewer: Mr. Fleming, do you seriously believe that the poor should be boiled down into fossil fuels to combat the growing energy crisis?

Mr. Fleming: No. That's absurd.

Interviewer: But Mr. Fleming, it's what you said. I asked, "What do you do in your spare time, and how has it made you a better person for the job which you are applying?" and you answered, "You know, Bob, this fuel crisis has everyone hurting. Especially the poor. Let's boil them down and use them for gasoline. Two birds - one stone."

Mr. Fleming: My answer was taken out of context.

Interviewer: No it wasn't.

Mr. Fleming: It was a gotcha question, so it doesn't count.

Interviewer: Oh, my bad. it appears that it was a gotcha question. Damn. We can't count it. I guess then you are hired.


Or how about sitting in an interrogation room with a couple of detectives:

Detective 1: Mr. Fleming, we need you to write up your confession for us.

Mr. Fleming: Confession? I didn't confess to anything.

Detective 2: Sir, we have you on tape confessing to the entire thing.

Mr. Fleming: No way.

Detective 1: Yes way. I asked, "Did you kill Joe?" and you said, "Yeah. I broke into his house last night because I needed some coffee and I was out. Joe tried to stop me so I stabbed him 430 billion times and buried him in his own back yard by the oak tree."

Detective 2: When we searched by the oak tree we did indeed find a body that had been stabbed 430 billion times.

Mr. Fleming: Yeah, but I wasn't expecting that question. It was a gotcha question.

Detective 1: Dammit. Detective 2, is this true? Is that a gotcha question?

Detective 2: I'm afraid it is, Detective 1. We'll have to let him go.

Mr. Fleming: Can I have Joe's knife back?