Loaded Question

I recently filled out an employment application that included a True-False questionnaire. The instructions said to go with your gut and assign a T or F to each statement based on your first reaction. How unrealistic! When you're aware that someone is going to evaluate you, and your prospects for employment, based on these answers, you're going to give each one a moment of careful thought!

Well, careful as my moments of thought were, some of those questions really had me stumped. Several of them left me shaking my head, wondering what the questionnaire was getting at. For example, "True or False: I've gotten into my share of trouble in the past."

Is that a loaded question, or what? How are you supposed to make a good impression either way? If you say "True," then you've admitted being a troublemaker. How much trouble, and what kind of trouble, are up to your prospective employer's imagination. Did you TP a few houses? Did you get a girl pregnant? Did you get caught cheating on an exam? Did you knock over a convenience store and do a stint in juvie? Were drugs and alcohol involved? How many people did you kill?

On the other hand, suppose you answer "False." What does that tell the examiner? Maybe you think you're still entitled to a bit more hellraising? You expect to wreak more havoc and mayhem? Or maybe you're saying you've never been in trouble in your life? Yeah, right...