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LJ,

Thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry, but not surprised, to read of your experience. False positives are quite common in pre-employment polygraph screening, and by far the most common accusation is undisclosed drug use. Countless well-qualified, honest applicants for positions of public trust have been--and continue to be--wrongly branded as liars and barred from employment based on the divinations of polygraph chartgazers.

By telling your story, you've helped to document the ongoing harm that misplaced official reliance on polygraphy is causing to individuals and society (which is denied the services of qualified individuals).

Regarding the alleged 90% fail rate for the position for which you applied, that is indeed peculiar. Failure rates of 50% are more common. I would be interested to know what department you applied with and the name of the polygraph operator, if you don't mind sharing this information. Feel free to contact me privately if you'd rather not publicly post such details.

This was the first time I've taken a polygraph.  By all means, I've had a pretty mundane life.  I've never, other than giving pot a try in college (and that was disclosed prior to the poly) used illegal drugs.  Heck, even my driving record is clean.  I guess my story here really mimics that of many I've read.

The guy doing the polygraph alternated between sickenly sweet and accusatory.  After all of it, he decided that I had "lied" on the drug question and starts to accuse me of doing meth and cocaine.  I get comments like "someone like you with a college education has tried more than just some pot.  When was the last time you did meth?  Crack? "  (Ummm... what?  I have never done those nor would ever consider it!)

I didn't give in and didn't try to appease him by coming up with some story about trying something.    He began to alternate being accusatory with the "I'm here to help you" sweet attitude.  I still didn't give in.  At that point I was informed that I failed.  Apparently I'm a major user of all sorts of hard drugs.
  
I'm sorry, but drugs are a sensitive spot with me, I lost a close friend to them. By the end of it all, I was even starting to doubt myself.  This is nothing more than a witchhunt/inquisition.  I desperately needed the job (correctional officer), but that's not an option now.  Jobs are so incredibly scarce around here, even low paying ones.  How am I going to keep the house?

I never thought I was going to fail- I've never done anything!  I feel like a complete failure.  Degreed, but unable to find a job, and can't even pass a poly.

ETA- I was told that the fail rate for this polygraph for this position was over 90%.  Something isn't right there.