In this photo illustration, a Dunkin' iced coffee is displayed at a Dunkin' Donuts store on March 4 in Burbank, California. gettyimagesbank-TNS

Is it acceptable to bring an iced coffee to a job interview?

This seemingly mundane question has somehow consumed various corners of the internet, taking over social media feeds and group chats. Bloomberg Opinion is not immune. Not since the great shorts-in-the-office firestorm of 2024 has a workplace debate lit up our team’s Slack channel quite like this one.

What started the so-called iced-coffee discourse was a viral TikTok from corporate recruiter Caitlin Wehniainen, who also posts advice for job seekers on social media. In her video, Wehniainen says that younger candidates are showing up at job interviews with iced coffee, which to her reads as treating the interview like a “stop on your list of errands for the day.” Her advice: “Don’t waltz into your interview all casual with an iced coffee.” She adds, “It just looks like you didn’t have time to finish your coffee beforehand.”

I’m not the first to say it, but the heated debate that has followed........

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