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Comment by DocTomoe | Hacker News Reader

Even if he was (and he'd be a ridiculous taxi driver if the first thing he did was sharing his political opinions [though that's not unheard of, I've been riding with that kind of service provider]), not immediately going ballistic would be a quality I expect hires to have. No-one needs angry activist mob person joining the team.

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Sharing political opinions? He could just be rude to someone who was gay. And then project his own rudeness onto his victim.

And how would he know someone who was sitting in his taxi on their way to a job interview was gay?

We gay people do as a population have cultural "tells" which reveal our sexuality. To a random passerby probably not, but it doesnt take long for shibboleths to come out in a casual conversation.

This actually happened in my workplace, I recognised a coworker as gay long before he told me, just from his vocabulary.

Sure - but are these clue tells likely to come up in what the interviewee considers a chance encounter - riding in a taxi - to a job interview (thus probably dressed in an uniform way), when their mind is likely on other things?

Also, wouldn't the taxi driver also have to know about these clues?

With all respect, I think the scenario "Taxi driver planted/used as an interview prescreen is openly anti-gay and sniffs them out." is a bit contrived.

The "homophobic taxi driver" idea is meant as a representative suggestion of the possibility that the taxi driver may be making judgments in a way that the company doesn't want. That's not to say homophobia is the only or most likely way this could manifest, it's just an illustration.

+1000XP for the use of "shibboleth"

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