"Trying to scare me": recruiter threatens candidate over withdrawal

After accepting a competing offer, a candidate informed a recruiter at a large IT staffing firm that they would be withdrawing from the process. What followed was a flurry of hostile messages accusing the candidate of "burning bridges with the largest IT staffing company in the world" and warning that word travels fast in the industry. The candidate posted the text exchange to r/recruitinghell under the title "Trying to scare me," where it collected over 12,000 upvotes. The top comment captured the mood: "Burning a bridge implies you ever want to cross it again. You don't."