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Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by bsder on Sunday December 13, 2015 @03:02PM (#10727673)
> You're filtering out people who don't drink alcohol.

I might consider that valuable information. I also might consider whether you can drink a responsible amount of alcohol useful information.

Especially at single-digit employee stage, just about anybody might wind up doing marketing or sales calls.

Not drinking alcohol can be a large handicap in that instance.

Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by DanBC on Sunday December 13, 2015 @03:04PM (#10727679)
It's indirect discrimination against people with a religion that forbids drinking alcohol or people with a disability that prevents them drinking alcohol.

You can try to rationalise it, but you should be aware that you're just justifying your cognitive biases.

Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by bsder on Sunday December 13, 2015 @03:25PM (#10727765)
> you're just justifying your cognitive biases.

Or acknowledging the biases in my industry.

Try sending a woman to close a deal with a Japanese company. You're gonna get a veiled request to send the actual man in charge, if they don't consider themselves insulted and simply torch the deal. (In this instance, it was the woman herself who warned us not to do this. It was very funny, because we always brought her along as a "secretary", "assistant", etc. She was actually CTO and extremely fluent in Japanese. We got quite a bit of information because somebody said something stupid in Japanese right in front of her "secretary" act. Only one company recognized her and called us on it--we all had a good laugh making fun of the stupid old guard and wound up with the contract, but I digress ...)

Try closing a deal for defense contracting. I can't tell you the number of contracts where the signature occurred in or near a strip club. This has gotten better--it was WAY worse even 10 years ago--20 years ago it was ridiculous.

As much as it pains me, as a startup founder, I'm really not an equal opportunity employer. I'm looking for people who can fill roles that I know I need filled. If someone can't fill some important role because of religious belief, moral stance, health status, need to telecommute, inability to fly regularly, etc. I'm simply not going to hire them until I get bigger.

Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by DanBC on Sunday December 13, 2015 @04:11PM (#10727963)
> I'm really not an equal opportunity employer.

I'm always surprised when people open themselves up for legal liability like this.

Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by cldellow on Sunday December 13, 2015 @06:16PM (#10728406)
IANAL, but if a US company has fewer than 15 employees, they are exempt from many of the equal employment laws.
Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by paulddraper on Sunday December 13, 2015 @03:42PM (#10727842)
You forgot gender from your list, as per your story.
Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by RogerL on Sunday December 13, 2015 @04:27PM (#10728025)
You don't sound "pained", you sound complicit.
Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by bsder on Monday December 14, 2015 @02:18AM (#10729797)
Feel free to start your own startup and outcompete me with the people that I choose not to hire.

Otherwise, you basically prove me correct.

Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by pzone on Monday December 14, 2015 @05:45AM (#10730350)
You're the one in a position of power with the ability to change things, you coward.
Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by dang on Monday December 14, 2015 @03:15PM (#10733491)
> you coward

Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News, even if you find a comment reprehensible.

Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by fwn on Monday December 14, 2015 @06:29AM (#10730464)
..not to take any side here, but to bully other people for having other opinions is more a reddit than a hn thing.
Re:Bullshit Startup Experiences by pjlegato on Sunday December 13, 2015 @06:22PM (#10728420)
Cognitive bias (and dissonance) is heavily involved in the maintenance of religious belief.