Are some people just so quarrelsome? Or are they totally inflexible or just rigid? That they only know how to think straight and not able to adapt to situations accordingly, just because the situation is new to them?
After a rather frustating week and a tiring baking session, I just wanted to chill out and rest. Before that, I had to run a couple of errands, namely collecting tickets for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" for tomorrow and buying lunch.
Since I was carrying a cake box with me, I called for a cab. I was lucky enough to get the credit card which gives me priority booking for cabs, so I used that service. When the cab came, I asked the driver politely if he could bring me to a couple of places first before dropping me home.
I will be paying full service, including booking fee and waiting time, so by right, I believe my request is pretty reasonable since I am not going to short-change him in anyway. I was even prepared to pay extra for any trouble caused.
Besides, the places I was going to are all rather near my place, probably the most two train stations away. It was not as if I was asking him to bring me from one end of the island to the other end and back again.
Yet when I told him my request, he started shouting at me, saying why did I not just say I was going to more than one place? Did I think people have so much time to bring me everywhere? Couldn't I see he was in a hurry? (Erh, actually there was no indication anywhere that he was in a hurry, and besides if he was really in a hurry, he should have just gone off and not answer my booking, right?)
So if he was able to answer my booking and came to pick me up, not knowing where I was going (since priority booking is machine-operated, so only the pick-up venue will be stated and not the destination), with the possibility that I could be going to the other end of the island from where I was, I did not see any reason why it was he could not just help me out and bring me to finish my errands when the places are all nearby and I would only take about a few minutes or so, especially since he would be earning extra if he did that. If anything, he would be the one having the good deal instead of me!
He said he has never come across anyone like me, asking a cab to pick him up and yet go a few places. Granted, but as a cab driver, is he not expected to bring the passenger to wherever he wants to go, even if it is out of the way? I am not being all high and mighty here, but is that not what a service provider is supposed to do, ie to serve the customer to the fullest? Otherwise why do we need to pay them?
So does that mean just because I am the first passenger who requested him to go a little further before dropping me home, he should not do it because he had never had a request like this before? Why could he not adapt to situations then? Afterall, as a service provider, one should be prepared for all kinds of situations, is it not?
Besides, I do not think I am a very unreasonable customer or passenger. At least I am not those type of customers who always think I am right. I make sure I am polite in my requests, and even willing to pay extra if needed.
Yet I get pissed a lot of times by the attitudes of some of these service providers (in whatever line), thinking that they should not do certain things even if a customer asked them to just because it is not stated in their job scopes. Well, if everything is to be stated in black and white, then what is the use of being a human, with his / her own mind to think and instincts to adapt?
In the end, I had no choice but to ask him to drop me back home, then had my brother drive me to wherever I needed to go and did whatever I needed to do. Which took about an hour more than originally planned as I had to store the cakes and waited for my brother to be ready. If the cab driver had obliged, it would have saved us both (okay, perhaps only me) at least forty-five minutes.
After a rather frustating week and a tiring baking session, I just wanted to chill out and rest. Before that, I had to run a couple of errands, namely collecting tickets for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" for tomorrow and buying lunch.
Since I was carrying a cake box with me, I called for a cab. I was lucky enough to get the credit card which gives me priority booking for cabs, so I used that service. When the cab came, I asked the driver politely if he could bring me to a couple of places first before dropping me home.
I will be paying full service, including booking fee and waiting time, so by right, I believe my request is pretty reasonable since I am not going to short-change him in anyway. I was even prepared to pay extra for any trouble caused.
Besides, the places I was going to are all rather near my place, probably the most two train stations away. It was not as if I was asking him to bring me from one end of the island to the other end and back again.
Yet when I told him my request, he started shouting at me, saying why did I not just say I was going to more than one place? Did I think people have so much time to bring me everywhere? Couldn't I see he was in a hurry? (Erh, actually there was no indication anywhere that he was in a hurry, and besides if he was really in a hurry, he should have just gone off and not answer my booking, right?)
So if he was able to answer my booking and came to pick me up, not knowing where I was going (since priority booking is machine-operated, so only the pick-up venue will be stated and not the destination), with the possibility that I could be going to the other end of the island from where I was, I did not see any reason why it was he could not just help me out and bring me to finish my errands when the places are all nearby and I would only take about a few minutes or so, especially since he would be earning extra if he did that. If anything, he would be the one having the good deal instead of me!
He said he has never come across anyone like me, asking a cab to pick him up and yet go a few places. Granted, but as a cab driver, is he not expected to bring the passenger to wherever he wants to go, even if it is out of the way? I am not being all high and mighty here, but is that not what a service provider is supposed to do, ie to serve the customer to the fullest? Otherwise why do we need to pay them?
So does that mean just because I am the first passenger who requested him to go a little further before dropping me home, he should not do it because he had never had a request like this before? Why could he not adapt to situations then? Afterall, as a service provider, one should be prepared for all kinds of situations, is it not?
Besides, I do not think I am a very unreasonable customer or passenger. At least I am not those type of customers who always think I am right. I make sure I am polite in my requests, and even willing to pay extra if needed.
Yet I get pissed a lot of times by the attitudes of some of these service providers (in whatever line), thinking that they should not do certain things even if a customer asked them to just because it is not stated in their job scopes. Well, if everything is to be stated in black and white, then what is the use of being a human, with his / her own mind to think and instincts to adapt?
In the end, I had no choice but to ask him to drop me back home, then had my brother drive me to wherever I needed to go and did whatever I needed to do. Which took about an hour more than originally planned as I had to store the cakes and waited for my brother to be ready. If the cab driver had obliged, it would have saved us both (okay, perhaps only me) at least forty-five minutes.
3 comments:
How do cab drivers in Singapore get paid?
In Canada, they have a meter which charges you by distance and time. In Peru, you negotiate a price with the driver beforehand.
Maybe he really doesn't want to be a cab driver?
Cab drivers here get paid almost the same way - there's a meter with the starting fare, and the meter jumps according to distance and waiting time. So the longer distance and waiting time, the more the passenger pays.
Then he is just being silly.
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