Every time I get into a cab, I always hope that I will get a driver that will give me a peaceful and steady ride to my destination. I hope that the driver will sense my restlessness and not chatter away when I am just pretending to be interested. When I do get a driver who loves to chit chat, I normally just nod politely and say "yah" every 30 seconds.
Due to my poor time management, I take cabs a lot and coupled with my bad luck, I tend to get more bad drivers than good ones. I remember sometime last year, I was in a hurry to go to school. So I waited for quite awhile before a cab appeared. So I got into the cab and said, "Uncle, Dhoby Ghaut." The driver proceeded to drive for awhile and then stopped. He deliberated for a few moments and then drove again.
I did not really think much of it but a few minutes later, he finally said, "Dhoby Ghaut maybe not enough petrol." HUH. A taxi driver driving with little petrol? How lucky can I get? That is like a popiah seller who does not have enough popiah skin and asking me if she can just put the rest of the ingredients on a bowl for me to eat with a spoon! (Okay, maybe not, but you get the idea.)
I know I should have shouted to him, "Why are you still picking up passengers when you have low petrol?" However, I kept my cool and just gave and awkward smile followed by a, "erm, okay." Luckily, there was enough petrol to send me to school.
That was, sadly, not the worst encounter I have with a cab driver. So a few weeks ago, I was late for work and hailed a cab. Everything was fine, no chit chats, aircon was at a comfortable temperature, driver did not drive unsteadily. It was a good day. I think everything was going on too smoothly, that was why this next thing happened.
I reached my destination and the fare was $5. So I handed the driver a $10 note and waited for my change. After searching for awhile, the driver declared that he does not have enough change for $10. I started fuming again, it was only a $5 change, it wasn't like I was giving him a $100 bill. A driver driving with less than $5 with him? That is like a basketball practise session where the coach forgets the basketball and had no choice but to train with tennis balls! (Again, not really, but you get my drift.)
In the end, he asked me if I had small change. I said no but inside I was really thinking that if I had I would already have given it to him and not be sitting in here waiting for my change like an idiot. He searched high and low, digged everywhere. Finally, he gave me my change. One $2 bill and the rest in coins. (5-cent coins included!) I cursed silently. I slammed the door of the cab without checking the change and walked off.
But as luck would have it, I dropped some of the coins, when I picked it up and finally counted, it was short of 20 cents! I know, I know, it was only 20 cents. But that was not the issue for me, if he had told me he was short of 20 cents I would have accepted it and left. But cheating me? That was low.
I have a lot more stories about bad cab drivers but lets just end here by saying, cab drivers, love them or hate them, I still cannot live without them.
Due to my poor time management, I take cabs a lot and coupled with my bad luck, I tend to get more bad drivers than good ones. I remember sometime last year, I was in a hurry to go to school. So I waited for quite awhile before a cab appeared. So I got into the cab and said, "Uncle, Dhoby Ghaut." The driver proceeded to drive for awhile and then stopped. He deliberated for a few moments and then drove again.
I did not really think much of it but a few minutes later, he finally said, "Dhoby Ghaut maybe not enough petrol." HUH. A taxi driver driving with little petrol? How lucky can I get? That is like a popiah seller who does not have enough popiah skin and asking me if she can just put the rest of the ingredients on a bowl for me to eat with a spoon! (Okay, maybe not, but you get the idea.)
I know I should have shouted to him, "Why are you still picking up passengers when you have low petrol?" However, I kept my cool and just gave and awkward smile followed by a, "erm, okay." Luckily, there was enough petrol to send me to school.
That was, sadly, not the worst encounter I have with a cab driver. So a few weeks ago, I was late for work and hailed a cab. Everything was fine, no chit chats, aircon was at a comfortable temperature, driver did not drive unsteadily. It was a good day. I think everything was going on too smoothly, that was why this next thing happened.
I reached my destination and the fare was $5. So I handed the driver a $10 note and waited for my change. After searching for awhile, the driver declared that he does not have enough change for $10. I started fuming again, it was only a $5 change, it wasn't like I was giving him a $100 bill. A driver driving with less than $5 with him? That is like a basketball practise session where the coach forgets the basketball and had no choice but to train with tennis balls! (Again, not really, but you get my drift.)
In the end, he asked me if I had small change. I said no but inside I was really thinking that if I had I would already have given it to him and not be sitting in here waiting for my change like an idiot. He searched high and low, digged everywhere. Finally, he gave me my change. One $2 bill and the rest in coins. (5-cent coins included!) I cursed silently. I slammed the door of the cab without checking the change and walked off.
But as luck would have it, I dropped some of the coins, when I picked it up and finally counted, it was short of 20 cents! I know, I know, it was only 20 cents. But that was not the issue for me, if he had told me he was short of 20 cents I would have accepted it and left. But cheating me? That was low.
I have a lot more stories about bad cab drivers but lets just end here by saying, cab drivers, love them or hate them, I still cannot live without them.