I raised my arm in hope for him to see me standing by the sidewalk. I knew my chances were not high as he was on the second lane. To my surprise (and relief, after standing there in vain for over 10 minutes), he made a left filter and came to a stop short distance further down the road.
I ran up quickly and got into the cab, announced my destination, sat back and heaved a relieved sigh.
I noticed a soft whirring sound from behind me. I turned around and saw that there was a little air purifier placed on the dashbboard at the back of the passenger's seat. It was empty. The whirring sound was loud enough to be heard, though soft enough not to annoy. I thought to myself, "can he hear it? Why doesn't he pull out the plug to stop it from churning or simply fill some water in?" Maybe he's just the relief driver for this cab. The owner should be the one filling in the water in that purifier.
As we drove along the road, I noticed that he seemed to be driving rather impatiently. He would have his foot ready on the accelerator at the traffic light and his eyes would be fixed on the blinking green man, anticipating him to stop blinking, signalling that he could charge ahead. As I took out my wallet to prepare the fare, I peered over the front passenger seat to check on the current fare on the meter.
He had forgotten to turn it on.
I indicated it to him immediately. There was a suppressed sigh of self-annoyance and then a pregnant pause. I expected him to turn the meter on immediately but he did not do so. Not knowing waht to say, I sat back on the seat and looked out the window.
I noticed that he was fidgetting. He seemed uncertain of what to do. I suppose he had a few options on his mind. He could quickly turn the meter on and charge me the remaining fare, leave it off and charge me a token fare, or leave it off and give me a free ride. I was sure he was annoyed at himself for being forgetful. His hesitance in the appropriate action to take made me wonder if he was new on the job. After all, no experienced cabby would drive an empty cab on the second lane.
I was also pretty sure that he was wondering what sort of passenger I was. Would I expect a free ride? Would I argue tooth and nail on the fare to be paid? Was I going to bring up the obvious - that it was HIS mistake for having forgotten to turn the meter on? How would we agree on the fare? What sort of person was I? If he was new on the job, I suppose he would be rather nervous as to the ways to handle The Difficult Passenger.
When we arrived at my destination, I took out a $5 note.
"Uncle, can I pay you $5?"
*takes the $5 note from me*
"No need lah" he smiles (and looks relieved)
"It's ok you know, I'm not sure how much the fare should actually be. Would $5 be enough?"
*he hands me a $1 coin in return*
"It's ok. No need lah.."
"Thank you very much, Uncle"I got off the cab feeling happy. I'm sure he left feeling happy too.
The world will be a better place if we are treat each other in a nicest way possible.
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"You, even you, can light up a small light in a dark room"
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Speaking of cabbies, I took a cab to West Mall sometime last week (or was it this?). It was the peak hour, which means that I had to pay a $2.00 surcharge. A normal cab-fare to West Mall would cost me around $2.60. As it was the peak hour, there were several cars on the road and the traffic lights seemed to drag on too. As we went along the way, I could sense the cabby's impatience at the traffic lights. He was cursing and complaining away at the cars who took their own sweet time to clear the traffic lights, causing inconvenience and longer waiting time for those of us at the back of the queue. I thought to myself "what a grumpy man".
When we were almost there, we still had to be in the queue to make a right turn to the lane at the taxi stand of west mall. He turned off the meter and said he would not charge me anymore. He said it was just too much that I had to pay more than $5 for such a short distance. I told him it was ok and that the meter shows the correct fare anyway, for the time spent on the road. When I paid him with 3 $2 notes, he insisted on returning me $1.
I thought it was such a kind gesture. The delays at the traffic lights were not his fault at all. He had no need to "compensate" the expensive fare for me. Though the discount was a mere $1, which may not seem alot to many, it has so many good intentions in it. I was touched by his sincerity.
The world is a better place when we are nice to each other. When we treat each other with respect and treat them the way we would like to be treated ourselves.
