Valuable Lessons...

you're a very good listener, good commenter, someone who is aware of the latest happening news; local and international, always brighten my days (most times), you're funny, friendly but can be rude at times, talkative (but can be real quiet some times), someone whom i can talk to about anything; be it working life, personal life, or even about life in general..grateful to be able to talk to you, coz it had somehow made an impact in my life over the course of time....You're my.......Mr CABBIE...

;) hehhe did i made u guys wonder who im talking about actually? well, did we ever wonder, who are the people who has the most interaction with ppl every single day? and im not talking about only business transactions alone...what i meant was business transaction with a personal touch...they are none other than cab drivers..u see, ppl who are in the service industries, who deal with customers each day, yes there are loads of customers that they meet and interact. but how much do we, as consumers talk to them in the few minutes of the transaction? do we talk to them about our personal lives? do we discuss the most juiciest issues in the news? we dont. well for some, yes, like maybe regular customers, insurance agents etc...but how about first encounter?

ok some of u might be thinking that i've run out of ideas for my blog and came up with this lame topic..hehe well, i'm gona put it up anyways....hmm i do admit that i'm an avid fan of TAXIs and being a regular passenger of taxi drivers, i've got the priviledge to learn alot of things and be aware of whats happening around me that i didnt know previously, (thats a comfort, though its burning holes in my pocket :P) so that inspired me to share my experiences during my short encounters with taxi drivers, which had some kind of impact in my life...

i suppose many of us take taxi quite regularly, but how many of us really remember what we chat with the 'taxi uncle/auntie' the moment we hop of the cab? as for me, i personally love to talk to taxi drivers...it can be a short trip of 5 minutes, but we could actually make a story out of it ;) i actually ever thought of compiling my encounters into a book (hahaha wishful thinking) but seriously, its really interesting to talk to them..some can be real talkative and got carried away that i had to cut them and say, "Uncle, pls stop after that hump" hhahaha....i had cabbie drivers talking about how many hotels keep changing their names that they also dunno which is which, about the latest news, which shares are going up and down, their eerie experiences in the middle of the night, their families and stories of their younger days, how they ended up being taxi drivers etc2...but the worst and the most disgusting stories i heard are about our UGLY Singaporean passengers..its really sad to know, that our own local ppl are truly deprived of moral values and basic courtesy..i usually like to ask taxi drivers about the ppl that take their cab, and many times, most of them say the same thing....about the younger, more educated generation, being very STUCK UP and RUDE. they treat the Mr Cabbies like their own personal drivers, scolded them when they refuse to speed just because they were already running late, or worse, left the driver waiting for them while they 'go and take something for a while' and never came back to pay the cab fare...and they were supposed to be the younger, well-dressed, highly educated group of ppl...i really feel ashamed and pity these drivers who are earning their daily salary driving these jerks around...

well i dont deny that there are super rude taxi drivers around too, i try not to be rude to them but if they had gone overboard, i would give them a piece of my mind :P. there was once i wanted to get off in a traffic jam at the side of the road, and this driver scolded me saying "Cannot! Cannot! later behind got motorcycle and hit my door how? who want to pay?!" i was like, gosh this uncle is sooooo gonna get it from me..i said there are no motorcycles behind and i even turned around to take a look and for God's sake its in a traffic jam! but i didnt want to argue anyway so i just sat in there stupidly waiting for the cars to move and for him to turn into the drop off lobby of my destination...when he was about to turn, his tyres hit the curb at the bend and the taxi jerked and that was when i said, "drive also cannot drive properly" kwang kwang kwang....

but the ultimate ride was this one morning, i was on the way to work and this driver was driving as though the road was zig zagged and he was driving super slowly that i was afraid to even blink my eyes...we were on the expressway when he was suddenly driving towards the side of the bend and that was when i shouted, "Uncle! what are you doing???!!!" guess what, he was actually dozzing off! oh my god, i said a little prayer thanking God that im still alive when i could have gotten into an accident..phew!

well that actually was an effective wake up call for me though, thanks uncle cabbie, you could have gotten me killed??! ahahaha ok so, thats some of the stories i wanted to share with y'all..bottom line, i just wanted to say that, taxi drivers, as much as they get on our nerves at times, they can be real nice ppl i must say..some gave good advices, they are intelligent too, some had unpleasant experiences like failed marriages, businesses that lead them to become a taxi driver, some can be abit cheeky lah hehe there even was this uncle who said if he were younger, he would go after me ;) whatever it is, i hope to convey the message that we should be appreciative towards them, driving us safely (most times) to our destination and treat them with respect as well, after all, they are earning money just like all of us....

I've learnt valuable lessons from ppl that we never thought we could learn from, and its something that i will always remember and appreciate whenever i flag a CAB.....