Bad cabbies

[joiedevivre]

hi milo,

i think cab drivers can be more professional, you're right. but you realise that they r not the TS and friend's personal chauffeur service. like sm said, sometimes we may encounter bad service, but the attitude of the customer counts too.

cabbies have a hard time making ends meet. and i imagine if u were trying to make money to feed your family, and every passenger counts, u wouldn't want to waste your time waiting for a late passenger too.

i agree with you that the timing that the driver plans shouldn't be so exact and precise until he has no buffer time in between. but how much should the buffer time be?

if i were him, 5 minutes is the max i will wait. any time beyond that is too much already. but as you can see fr TS' first post, after 5 minutes, the friend was still not at the pick up point.

from TS: "When we reached ave 3 my friend was not down yet and then cabby started to grumble. he told me that he had already taken a taxi booking call and he will be late if he needs to wait.
5mins later, he said he cannot wait and wanted me to alight..."

since the cabbie didn't know how long more he would have to wait, and the passenger did not offer to pay him extra for his time, i think it is fair that he asked her to alight.

it is not efficient to have a long buffer time, e.g. of 15 minutes and so on btw bookings. what if he is too early? then what will he do? go for a kopi or waste petrol and cruise along the road with an empty car until the booking time?

 

[miloice]

hi,
everyone should really have more respect and EQ. Both customer and cabbies.

Such buffers should be variable. If he cannot make it, he should call to alert the waiting customer that he is held up and would be late. And its not the customer fault that he squeeze his own timing this tight while knowing he needs to go to 2 destinations.

No really fixed answers. Everyone should cut some slack for each other. So what if its tough making ends meet? That's no excuse to be rude. This is the kind of Singaporean mentality to excuse themselves for not being graceful because they had to make a living. Everyone has to make a living too. What is so special about cabbies that make them king of the road or something?? What about the other kind cab drivers that took their own time to return things passengers left behind? They don't have their lives easier. They are just more professional and graceful. Likewise, its not some entitlement to request the driver to wait. So what if he refused despite TS being polite about it. Just align and scold the friend for being late.

All the bad reactions are really uncalled for. Both had responsibilities over how the situation turned out. Bad driver and customer. Period.

 

[thommy]

joie: early by 10-15mins is still ok lah, I ever called for taxis before and some of them arrived at my doorstep abt 10-15mins early, I also just hopped in. No issues and no need for them to cruise around wasting petrol until hit that timing then turn in again. I think its more like give and take situation btw customer and cabby.

 

[joiedevivre]

thomas,

then u r a good customer cos you got to the pick up point early. =)

to clarify, milo, i am not saying that having to work hard gives the cabbies an excuse for being rude, but just that it is understandable if he feels frustrated. anyway the TS said he grumbled throughout the journey. if the TS can grumble on this forum, why can't the cabbie grumble? =)

is it the cab driver's problem that the friend is late? milo is right in the sense that we should be more gracious and live and let live. but i think we have to look at the context. there was an agreement btw cabbie and passenger, but passenger broke it by being late. so why is it the cabbie's prob that he took on another booking?

it's not as though bookings are easily available. there are so many cabs in sg now. if he doesn't pick up that booking, he may not have another until much later.

 

[miloice]

Hi joiedevire, grumble here and in front of the customer is completely different leh!

Do you like it to be grumbled at as a customer? But, I'm sure many service people do bitch about their customers. Just as long as its not done at the customer's face. no?

 

[blingbride]

Well, if we were to say talk in the context of 'doesnt mean you are the customer and you pay, you are 'big', your money isnt great, etc', then anywhere in the world, people in the customer service line would never respect their customers.

Why do we say, when you serve the customers, they are ALWAYS RIGHT? That's what trainees are always taught rite.. A cabbie is in the service industry, he oughts to give good service. Imagine getting up and rushing to work and getting into the car of a rude cabbie, grumbling and stuck up and irritating.. Your start of the day is gonna be ruined and it completely changes your mood rite.. It's a matter of professionalism. It's an unwritten rule that The Customer is Always Right.

Some customers reciprocate the friendliness and niceties of the CSO, some take it for a right. It has to be a give and take thingy.

 

[simiwakokuey]

Me Low EQ? Maybe. I gt really pissed off when he nagged at me throughout the whole journey and tell me: THIS IS LAW, THIS IS LAW, CAB DON'T WAIT FOR CUSTOMER. I think he's crazy and at the same time very funny. He even stepped out of cab and walk to that left side of the cab where there's a taxi regulation sticker and ask me to read, it says cab don't wait for people.

I felt that he thinks I'm a lady and I'm stupid cause apparently there's no such regulations. I mean come on, I'm asking him politely if he can wait awhile and there he is grumble and grumble at me.

I take cab almost everyday, some cabbies's face is like you owe them 10thousands but nevermind, I know everyone have a bad day but at least they don't went berserk and nag at you with bad attitude/tone.

My friend - I know she is the root of the problem but I did not screw her for causing the problems because we haven't meet up for awhile and we are going to celebrate my birthday. A best friend of 20yrs is so eagerly wanted to celebrate your birthday for you, I just couldn't bring myself to scold her.

The cabbie - I did grumble here cause I'm unhappy about the incident but I did not complain him to the company.

 

[miloice]

yes, u r pissed off. But, he has every right to decline your request to wait.

He behaved badly, so did u by insisting to make him wait and refusing to leave the cab. Both of you reacted badly.

I repeat : "So what if he refused despite TS being polite about it. Just align and scold the friend for being late."

Many Singaporeans insist on fighting over what they personally think is right regardless if it really benefits them or not. That isn't very wise in the name of 'principle'. No one else needs to agree with our personal principles really. Its one thing to come here to share about it, its another thing to be trying to argue with a cab driver over the right to make him wait for you. No one wins in such ugly incidents.

 

[wjchiang]

simiwako,

let's forget about right and wrong for a moment, let's see if it even makes any sense to u before u think someone else is crazy.

QUOTE I mean come on, I'm asking him politely if he can wait awhile and there he is grumble and grumble at me. UNQUOTE

so basically, u asked IF HE CAN wait, and the "stupid" cabby indirectly gave u a no for an answer, which u refused to accept. Would u have accepted better if he gave u a straight single-word "no" instead of grumbling? wud u then have gotten out of the cab before your friend appeared? If no, then perhaps u shud start to realize (as many here are trying to point out to u) that u're basically just unhappy about getting an answer u didn't want to your question.

So, to answer your question "I want to know is it wrong of me to ask cabby to wait awhile to pick up my friend?" in your first post - no, it's not wrong, but there's really no point asking a question when u can't take "no" for an answer

 

[vios]

and there were several contributory factors that led the cabbie to turn you down blatantly using some silly regulations.

go think abt it.