I recently took a polygraph examination for a job I'm applying for.  Before adminstering the examination, the polygraph examiner began to ask me some questions regarding my past and any deviant behavior that exists.  When asked whether I've paid for sex, I told him "no".  

Well prior to taking the examination, I became really nervous thinking this machine will detect me lying about paying for sex.  One of the questions he asked was "Other than what we talked about, have you ever engaged in any sexual criminal activity?"  I answer "No".

Well, after going through the questions several times, the examiner came back and told me I failed the exam.  I thought to myself, it caught me.  But, to my surprise, according to the examiner, the question I had to most problems with was not the sex question, but instead drug use.  I'll be honest with you all, I've never done drugs in my life and could not figure out why it would come up as a red flag.  

What do you guys think about this?

Reon't know how you got past the sex part

I'm a terrible lier and never would get past the sex part.  Not knocking you -- I'm also a terrible poker player for the same reason.  Bet you're terrific at the tables.

Reon't know how you got past the sex part

Well, poly is not that accurrate...that's why they are not usable in court.

Took one myself many years ago for a job....passed with flying colors...lied about my finacials....

Reon't know how you got past the sex part

How'd you do that?

I'll bet the concept of drug use bothers you more than the concept of sex for money. Therefore, when the questions about drug use came up, you had a measurable reaction.

If you answere "no" to all drug use, maybe you "failed" because they believe anyone who answers no categorically is lying, or worse categorically a LIAR. As a baby boomer, I'd been "coached" to answer "I'm not and have nbever been a user but on a few ocassions, i've experimented with it. (I've heard gen-x's "almost" parrot  this as "Ive experienced with it."

Might be a policy decision than the power of the machine. Unless you're a teetotaler, you might consider answering yes to the drug question because alcohol is a drug, aqnd an illicit one at that if you EVER drank underage. Or you might ala Clinton answer I drank but I spit it out!

But seriously, as one of the comments before noted, you might have had an emotional reaction that the polygraph techy interpreted as lying, or at least as a red flag. You might consider polygraph in the same way you think about initial HIV testing. You'll get rhaps as many as 5 false positives for every true, but if youy're screening out, as say a blood bank would be, that's good enough. Your prospective employer was more interested in getting rid of the potentially problem employees rather than insuring that each indication of drug use is correct.

Reon't know how you got past the sex part

The problem could just as well have been the person
administering the exam.  My guess is that drugs in the
workplace was on his mind, or is an issue that comes
up as a flag often.  Paying for sex is likely just
a 'kitchen sink' question to cover other illegal activity
besides what might be work related.

It's one thing to light up a joint on your break, but
I doubt many have a job in which being serviced by a
provider would be possible without noticeable attention.

thats my 2 cents...,

I've taken 3 polygraph tests in the past and have mis-stated the truth (sounds better than lying I think---LOL!) on all 3 but passed.  But these were, IMHO, little white lies that meant nothing to me insofar as telling them.  These tests are inadmissable in court for good reason.

I was told this by a friend who retired as a provider before I met her - not sure if she learned this in the context of providing, but she inferred that she had personally used the technique successfully.  I share this information to help people here avoid being successfully interrogated about sex as the original poster apparently was, although I realize there is some risk that someone who has actually done something wrong might use the information for the wrong reason.

The person who administers the test will ask you some questions at the beginning of the test which they and you both know you will answer truthfully.  They do this to establish a baseline for comparison with your physiological responses to future questions.  The key is to make yourself feel that you are lying when you answer the baseline questions, perhaps by imagining that you are answering a different question.  Get stressed, as people do when they lie.  Then, when you answer the later questions, the comparison with the baseline results will reflect this.  It seems to me, though, that to make this technique work, you would have to be able to get even more stressed when answering a question that both you and they know you are lying about, so the looked-for difference would appear.

Semms tough to actually be able to do this successfully.

If you know in advance that you're going on "the box", there is a tried-and-true way to make the results unusable.

Stay up a couple of days without sleep and you'll certainly give different physiological responses when posed questions, especially if you are practicing something frustrating during your awake time (like a golf swing LoL).

As an alternative, the is George Costanza's advice:  "It's not a lie if you believe it".  He advises Jerry though, that getting him to teach Jerry how to pass a polygraph is like asking Pavorotti, "teach me to sing like you".  LoL

an individual is not required to comply. If an employer requests any of the staff to take a lie detector exam, they are fully entitled to say no and do not need to provide any reason. However, an employee does have an actionable cause against the employer if any retalitory actions are taken towards the individual for refusing to submit to the lie detector test. Job applicants are also well within their right to say no, but they are not within any protected class, so as a result, they may never receive an offer of employment.

-- Modified on 5/20/2003 7:24:00 PM

See jackvance's response below on how to get through the test...

If anyone is taking a polygraph in the future and want to ensure they pass then I would highly recommend the manual "How to Sting the Polygraph" by Doug Williams. You can only purchase it through his website www.polygraph.com. I have taken three polygraphs in my life and passed them all (the last one I used his manual as a source of information). Remember these points by Doug...(1) the polygraph has a built in bias against a truthful person, (2) it is certainly not capable of determining truth or deception, (3) anyone can learn to control the test results as to ALWAYS produce a "truthful" chart.

I was subjected to a polygraph test many years ago for a job.  Though I have never been arrested, the guy administering the test kept badgering to confess to having been arrested since the machine was indicating that I was lying about that.  I thought it was wierd since if I had been arrested, it would be a matter of record right?  Anyway, I'm a very anxious person so I think believe it may not provide reliable indications for certain people.

Actually, it depends on the job or type of job you are applying for. To the best of my knowledge, those questions are perfectly legal. I recently took a psych exam and did terrible. I still got the job, but it said was prone to so many things I don't do. Like steal and do drugs. Go figure

My ex-husband and I each had to take one of those psych exams during a child custody fight a couple of years ago. My result came out showing I was emotionally stable and would be a fine parent but had a strong tendency for secrecy/deception.

At the time I disagreed with the evaluation, since I felt I was very honest (would never steal, etc). I felt it showed I was good at keeping other people's secrets (which has been the case all my life) since I had no secrets of my own.

Now, a few years later, I am leading this double life of being a succesful high class call girl by day, and then a mommy at night. I have a great cover story, no one suspects, and I don't think twice about it.

Hmmm, so maybe for me that psych exam did have an inkling of truth about my psych make-up after all.

Was it a job that required a Security Clearance by the US Government?  If it was than they can ask these type of questions.  The government is exempt from their own laws!  I once had to take such an interveiw for a company working on a government contract.  Same thing thr polygraph operator told me I showed a positive for drug use.  I think its a trick to see how you react.  I had to travel to another city for this.  Alone in the hotel the night before, I had an escort visit me for a little fun!  They did not say anything about the sex questions!  Most brought fond memories of the night before!

A few years ago I had to take a polygraph for a job and I was really nervous about some of the questions.  A friend who actually worked in the private information gathering industry suggested a strategy for taking the test.  He recommended that I create abnornmal breathing patterns throughout the testing session.....taking really deep breaths at times and quick short breaths at other times.  Sure it isn't necessarily normal behavior and I felt weird for doing it - the person administering the test even commented on it a few times and stopped the test.  I simply responded that the whole process made me nervous.  One of the main ways these tests are evaluated is to correlate breathing rhythms with electrical impulses - which is why the person being tested has sensors on the fingers and a device around the chest that reads the breathing pattern.  The electrical impulses are hard to control, but you can certainly control the pattern of your breathing.  The end result was that the tester had to make a determination that the test was invalid.  According to my friend that gave the advice in the first place, a higher percentage than you might guess of these tests are deemed invalid and normally will not cause an employer to retract a job offer.