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The problem is that you're thinking in absolutes. That's not how life works. The driver doean't need to be a formal part of the hiring process that everyone rig

The problem is that you're thinking in absolutes. That's not how life works. The driver doean't need to be a formal part of the hiring process that everyone rigorously goes through. There's variation and difference for every candidate. That's just because hiring is a human process. In this case just knowing the driver well enough to ask them "Was that person nice to you?" when they drop a candidate off gets you another very useful signal when the response isn't neutral. A lot of the time it'll be "they were OK", but occasionally you'll get a positive "they treated me like a human being" or a negative "no, they were rude". If you just get an "OK" then you're back to hiring as normal, without the extra data. If you get a positive or negative signal that can amplify what you see in the rest of the hiring process. For me, a tick in the "nice to people you don't have to be nice to" box is a good thing. I like to work with people who have that trait. If I can find a signal that indicates a person has it then I'm going to use it when I'm hiring.

reificator 5y ago
> a positive "they treated me like a human being" or a negative "no, they were rude" That's the whole range eh?
- Wires77 5y ago
  > A lot of the time it'll be "they were OK", but occasionally you'll get[...] Missed this first half of the sentence.
  - reificator 5y ago
    So our range is somewhere around: - They were OK - They treated me like a human being - They were rude There's no room for "We had an interesting conversation" or "They gave me some good advice" or "I think I made a new friend"? Not even "They seemed like a good person"? The maximum is "They treated me like a human being" which is somehow above "They were OK"?
    - yukinon 5y ago
      I can't speak for the Parent commenter, but I get the feeling you are taking what he said a little too literally. Those were simply examples of what could be said during the process. Their reply was not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the responses.
      - reificator 5y ago
        My previous comment, perhaps. My original point, however, was to highlight the fact that "They treated me like a human being" was given as the example of a positive interaction. Which is absolutely absurd. And I don't think I'm taking that too literally.
        yukinon 5y ago
        Again, can't speak for OP, but I doubt it was intended as an example of a positive interaction - rather it's meant to be an indication that there was NOT a negative interaction. Again, those words are just examples of what could be said. They weren't saying "This is absolutely the words we used and built an entire decision of someone off of" or even anything close to "This is the range we specifically had". I get the impression everything was relatively informal in the process they described. In forums like these, it's about looking at the spirit of what they were trying to say and get across.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - bibinou 5y ago
      You must be fun in taxis.
      - Shocka1 5y ago
        I was thinking the same. I get the whole Hacker News "being a contrarian just to be a contrarian" thing, but this specific thread has gone much further than I thought it would.
- onion2k 5y ago
  Yes. Anything else wouls go against the sworn secret oath that every taxi driver lives by.
  - reificator 5y ago
    No I'm just sad that treating someone like a human being is considered a positive and not... you know... the absolute bare minimum someone could do.
    - onion2k 5y ago
      I'm just sad that treating someone like a human being is considered a positive Sure. Everyone should be sad about that. There are plenty of people out there who don't have any willingness to treat people in service jobs like driving a taxi with any sort of humanity. Too many people will just ignore the fact that these people are living, breathing human beings with feelings of their own, and treat them as if either they don't exist, or that they exist to serve them. It's quite appalling. Treating someone like a human being means having kindness, respect, and empathy for them. It means not expecting them to demean themselves just because you're paying them to do something. It's treating them well even without knowing them. It's quite a high bar apparently, and a lot of people out there don't manage it.
      - reificator 5y ago
        > It's quite a high bar apparently, and a lot of people out there don't manage it. It's not a high bar. There's just a surprising number of people that are really good at playing limbo.

reificator 5y ago

> a positive "they treated me like a human being" or a negative "no, they were rude" That's the whole range eh?

Wires77 5y ago
> A lot of the time it'll be "they were OK", but occasionally you'll get[...] Missed this first half of the sentence.
- reificator 5y ago
  So our range is somewhere around: - They were OK - They treated me like a human being - They were rude There's no room for "We had an interesting conversation" or "They gave me some good advice" or "I think I made a new friend"? Not even "They seemed like a good person"? The maximum is "They treated me like a human being" which is somehow above "They were OK"?
  - yukinon 5y ago
    I can't speak for the Parent commenter, but I get the feeling you are taking what he said a little too literally. Those were simply examples of what could be said during the process. Their reply was not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the responses.
    - reificator 5y ago
      My previous comment, perhaps. My original point, however, was to highlight the fact that "They treated me like a human being" was given as the example of a positive interaction. Which is absolutely absurd. And I don't think I'm taking that too literally.
      - yukinon 5y ago
        Again, can't speak for OP, but I doubt it was intended as an example of a positive interaction - rather it's meant to be an indication that there was NOT a negative interaction. Again, those words are just examples of what could be said. They weren't saying "This is absolutely the words we used and built an entire decision of someone off of" or even anything close to "This is the range we specifically had". I get the impression everything was relatively informal in the process they described. In forums like these, it's about looking at the spirit of what they were trying to say and get across.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
  - bibinou 5y ago
    You must be fun in taxis.
    - Shocka1 5y ago
      I was thinking the same. I get the whole Hacker News "being a contrarian just to be a contrarian" thing, but this specific thread has gone much further than I thought it would.
onion2k 5y ago
Yes. Anything else wouls go against the sworn secret oath that every taxi driver lives by.
- reificator 5y ago
  No I'm just sad that treating someone like a human being is considered a positive and not... you know... the absolute bare minimum someone could do.
  - onion2k 5y ago
    I'm just sad that treating someone like a human being is considered a positive Sure. Everyone should be sad about that. There are plenty of people out there who don't have any willingness to treat people in service jobs like driving a taxi with any sort of humanity. Too many people will just ignore the fact that these people are living, breathing human beings with feelings of their own, and treat them as if either they don't exist, or that they exist to serve them. It's quite appalling. Treating someone like a human being means having kindness, respect, and empathy for them. It means not expecting them to demean themselves just because you're paying them to do something. It's treating them well even without knowing them. It's quite a high bar apparently, and a lot of people out there don't manage it.
    - reificator 5y ago
      > It's quite a high bar apparently, and a lot of people out there don't manage it. It's not a high bar. There's just a surprising number of people that are really good at playing limbo.