[Personality Test]

INQUIRE WITHIN

From an employee exam administered by Rent-A-Center, a Texas-based appliance-rental company with 2100 stores nationwide. The test was submitted as evidence in a 1200-person class-action lawsuit that was settled for $2 million last July. The test consists of 502 true-false statements; twelve "deviations" constitute a failing grade. After barely passing the exam, Scott Hadley, a former manager overseeing nine stores, was forced to read and submit chapter reports on the self-help book I Ain't Much Baby—But I'm All I've Got.

I like mechanics magazines.

My hands and feet are usually warm enough.

I have diarrhea once a month or more.

I am very seldom troubled by constipation.

My sex life is satisfactory.

I would like to be a singer.

Evil spirits possess me at times.

I have had very peculiar and strange experiences.

I have a cough most of the time.

It would be better if almost all laws were thrown away.

My soul sometimes leaves my body.

Everything is turning out just like the prophets of the Bible said it would.

I have had no difficulty in starting or holding my bowel movements.

I am very strongly attracted to members of my own sex.

I have often wished I were a girl. Or, if you are a girl: I have never been sorry that I am a girl.

I like poetry.

Sometimes I am strongly attracted by the personal articles of others such as shoes, gloves, etc., so that I want to handle or steal them though I have no use for them.

I would like to be a florist.

I believe in the Second Coming of Christ.

I like to go to parties and other affairs where there is lots of loud fun.

My table manners are not quite as good at home as when I am out in company.

I have never vomited blood or coughed up blood.

I have never indulged in any unusual sex practices.

I would like to be a soldier.

Someone has been trying to poison me.

I am neither gaining nor losing weight.

I cry easily.

The top of my head sometimes feels tender.

There is something wrong with my mind.

I do not have a great fear of snakes.

At times I feel like smashing things.

My mother was a good woman.

If I were a reporter I would very much like to report news of the theater.

I believe my sins are unpardonable.

Everything tastes the same.

I like science.

I very much like hunting.

I should like to belong to several clubs or lodges.

I have been disappointed in love.

I believe there is a Devil and a Hell in the afterlife.

Sometimes in elections I vote for men about whom I know very little.

If I were an artist I would like to draw flowers.

Once a week or more I become very excited.

I drink an unusually large amount of water every day.

I liked Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.

There was never a time in my life when I liked to play with dolls.

Peculiar odors come to me at times.

At times I hear so well it bothers me.

I do not like to see women smoke.

I have no trouble swallowing.

I like or have liked fishing very much.

I would like to be an auto racer.

I like tall women.

I used to like hopscotch.

I am fascinated by fire.

I am a special agent from God.

—Excerpted from HARPER'S MAGAZINE, December 2000