Posted on 09/12/2014 9:13:16 PM PDT by Steelfish
Taxi Drivers Object To Body Odor Test by San Diego Airport Authority Inspectors check 52 criteria to evaluate taxis but drivers protest that some checks spring from prejudice and discrimination
12 September 2014 Cab driver Daniel Afeweki looks out from his Toyota Prius cab as he waits in line for his turn to pick up fares at the San Diego airport. Photograph: Gregory Bull/AP Body odor is among 52 criteria that officials at San Diego International Airport use to judge taxi drivers. Taxi drivers say that smacks of prejudice and discrimination.
For years, inspectors with the San Diego regional airport authority run down their checklist for each cabbie proof of insurance, functioning windshield wipers, adequate tire treads, good brakes. Drivers are graded pass, fail or needs fixing.
Anyone who flunks the smell test is told to change before picking up another customer.
Leaders of the United Taxi Workers of San Diego union say the litmus perpetuates a stereotype that predominantly foreign-born taxi drivers smell bad.
A 2013 survey of 331 drivers by San Diego State University and Center on Policy Initiatives found 94% were immigrants and 65% were from East Africa.
Drivers wonder how inspectors determine who reeks. Driver Abel Seifu, 36, from Ethiopia, suspects they sniff inconspicuously during friendly conversations in the staging area. Airport authority spokeswoman Rebecca Bloomfield said there is “no standard process” to testing.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
“standard process” to testing.”
need an App for that
In the 1980s, my father managed the engineering department for a MNC... He had to have “a converstation” with one of the H-1 visa engineers from the middle east or India about bathing.
These days it would be a lawsuit.
I’m not sure this passes the smell test, Steelfish.
There is a lingering odor: pungent, like stepping in something awful on a hot summer day.
Tangy, like a seven chili curry and extra garlic; musky, like an old male goat.
I guess they'll have to Sikh another solution.
I'll go hide now.
Didn’t Manchelle say even her spawn disliked BenghaziBarrySoebarkah’s smell in the a.m.?
HAHAHAHA! I love it.
Who is to say who's smell it was that was disgusting to the kids?
I could see either one being the offending party. Suspect the Wookie is not especially fresh smelling, nor of course is the denizen of bathhouses after a night of Reggie and ciggarettes.
“If it smells like ass, the cab will not pass”
“If it smells like fresh soap, for the cab there is hope”
Copywright, 2014, CC
“the 52 criteria” (used by the smell police)
29. Do you clean your backside with your bare hand?
LOL, then it ain't a legal test, Becky.
It works for me, and I hope the situation will eventually improve with this “regulation”, but I doubt much will change, and I will continue my personal “discriminatory” behavior as I see fit.
Dear cabbies: If your fares’ faces are melting like Major Toht’s at the end of “Raiders Of The Lost Ark”, maybe it’s time for you to hit the showers.
My nose is a racist.
Folks, this is a matter of public health.
Customers should not be subjected to filthy cab drivers, any more than restaurant goers should be subjected to unsanitary conditions. Disease & pestilence is not limited to food service.
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