Arielle Jackson
The Bar Test for Parent Friends
Inspired by Arielle Jackson episode
Arielle Jackson's bar test for hiring—would you want to grab a beer with them?—works for choosing your parent friends too.
The bar test for hiring: would I want to grab a beer with them? Not be besties. More like—will they drain my will to live, or will they crack a joke and make everyone think "yeah, I like coming here"?
I once hired someone with a resume that made angels weep. Straight A's, MIT, published papers. First week? They complained about the coffee. Second week? They sighed audibly at meetings. They didn't lower the energy—they sucked it into a black hole. Out the door.
Then there's playdate scenarios. You meet parents whose kid scored 99th percentile on some test nobody cares about. Their house is pristine. Conversation? Like watching paint dry. You're counting minutes until you can leave. They fail the bar test HARD.
But sometimes you stumble into this chaotic group—someone's bringing store-brand cookies, someone's kid is wrestling the other kid, nobody's pretending, everyone's laughing. That's it. That's the test. Energy doesn't lie. Trust it."
