Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Variety of people
I'm again taking about a cabbie, not coz I have a fixation with cab drivers or something, just that they're the only people I think I'm interacting with on the daily basis, other than my work colleagues.
Took a cab back from Damansara Uptown to my house, and this cabbie was with a friend of his, and agreed to go to my destination. We reached in about 10 minutes time, and I couldn't clearly see the meter reading, from the back seat. Asked him how much was that, and he mentioned 4 RM. In my attempts to see the meter, all I could see was something after decimal point, which was .10, so I gave him 4 RM and said, I'd give you 10 sents change. He said, "its Ok", 4 RM only. That brought a smile on my face, not coz I saved 10 sents, but coz I met a nice person, who understood "customer service". Guess I'm overdoing it, but yes, that's what it says.
Now, involuntarily, this experience got compared with another one I had couple of days back, coming back from the same route around same time. The meter reading read RM 5.20, when the cab stopped, and I glanced over the meter reading. This time I was sitting at the front seat. The meter was on, and was not turned off. While I was taking out the moeny with the change, the meter turned up to RM 5.30. When I gave him RM 5.20 for the charge, he looked at me, pointed at the meter and said RM 5.30, 10 sents more please. I had a disgusted look at my face, and wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but he didn't know my language and vice versa, and he pissed me off to the point of no argument. Gave him his 10 sents, which he did not earn, and walked out of his cab.
Two different people, similar situations. Just a thought, that no two people are alike. By coming across bad people, we shouldn't think that the rest of the people are bad, and vice versa. Taking everyone for who they are, as they come, is what I believe the right thing to do. But yes, at the same time, respecting our own experience in certain situations, would definitely save us from the hassles that we might get into.
Took a cab back from Damansara Uptown to my house, and this cabbie was with a friend of his, and agreed to go to my destination. We reached in about 10 minutes time, and I couldn't clearly see the meter reading, from the back seat. Asked him how much was that, and he mentioned 4 RM. In my attempts to see the meter, all I could see was something after decimal point, which was .10, so I gave him 4 RM and said, I'd give you 10 sents change. He said, "its Ok", 4 RM only. That brought a smile on my face, not coz I saved 10 sents, but coz I met a nice person, who understood "customer service". Guess I'm overdoing it, but yes, that's what it says.
Now, involuntarily, this experience got compared with another one I had couple of days back, coming back from the same route around same time. The meter reading read RM 5.20, when the cab stopped, and I glanced over the meter reading. This time I was sitting at the front seat. The meter was on, and was not turned off. While I was taking out the moeny with the change, the meter turned up to RM 5.30. When I gave him RM 5.20 for the charge, he looked at me, pointed at the meter and said RM 5.30, 10 sents more please. I had a disgusted look at my face, and wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but he didn't know my language and vice versa, and he pissed me off to the point of no argument. Gave him his 10 sents, which he did not earn, and walked out of his cab.
Two different people, similar situations. Just a thought, that no two people are alike. By coming across bad people, we shouldn't think that the rest of the people are bad, and vice versa. Taking everyone for who they are, as they come, is what I believe the right thing to do. But yes, at the same time, respecting our own experience in certain situations, would definitely save us from the hassles that we might get into.
