Stupid Interview Questions -- The Ghost of Elisha Gray Lives

You don't know who Elisha Gray is. But that's what makes the Hollywood Temp Diaries so great -- it's fun and educational. The aforementioned (and regrettably named) Mr. Gray is part of the Great Harmonic Telegraph Controversy. Or simpler put, "Who really invented the telephone?"

You see Gray and Alexander Graham Bell were in a race to develop the most important invention of the century. Records show specs for Bell's phone concept arrived at the U.S. Patent Office February 14, 1876, a scant two hours before Gray's. But this is where it gets fishy. Gray's documents offered the detailed specifics that Bell's did not have. Enter Patent Office employee (and also regrettably named) Zenas Wilber. For some paltry amount, Wilber sold details of Gray's documents to Bell, and also inserted this information into Bell's patent application.

And the rest is history. Bell ended up with everything. Elisha Gray ended up being part of my blog posting.

This all brings us to today's stupid interview question, courtesy of one of my loyal readers...

"Have you ever answered a telephone?"

(Stunned silence)

And don't get me started about Antonio Meucci.

If you have a stupid interview question to share, please send it to TempX@tempdiaries.com or put it in the "Have I Got News" box to the left. All submissions will remain anonymous.