Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Die die die

CURRENT MUSIC: SUPERWOMAN by CAO GE

Just checked the SMU website and I saw this piece of news entitled 'SMU hits record 10,600 applications for Academic Year 2006/7'.

http://www.smu.edu.sg/news/2006/10_apr06.asp

Haiz...

That will mean my chance of getting a place in SMU will be significantly decreased. :(
Hmm...Shaun you gotta teach me your interview skills!! Looks like the interview will be the deciding factor as to whether I'm able to get the place man. Come on SMU why haven't you called me up for the interview?!??

Haiz..

Why didn't I take their bloody offer last year?

Haiz..

Monday, April 03, 2006

Into the world of taxi drivers

CURRENT MUSIC: WHERED YOU GO by FORT MINOR feat. Holly Brook, John Matranga

I'm really satisfied with myself. I've been hitting the gym on a consistent basis and I can feel that the gym workout is really paying dividends. So friends, if you need to slim down or whatsoever, don't wait, head to the gym now and I'm sure it will help your cause.

I shall discuss about taxi drivers in this entry. What inspired me to write about taxi drivers you might ask? It all started from a real cool conservation with this particular cab driver, who happened to be really outspoken and we talked about his experiences as a cab driver while driving me down to a certain destination. Have you ever wondered how hard it is to be a taxi driver? I bet some of you think that driving a cab is really easy money, but a cab driver's income is seriously unstable and anything can happen anytime while you are working on your shift. Some points I'd like to share about a taxi driver are listed below:

1. TAXI DRIVERS GET PISSED OFF WHEN THE PASSENGER WHO CALLED FOR A CAB DOESN'T TURN UP.

This is something that cab drivers face everyday and they cannot do anything about it. Put yourself in the driver's shoes. Someone calls for a cab, you are driving around and the on-call destination hapens to be in the vicinity, you accept the job and drive down to take that passenger. But when you reach the destination, no one's there. So it is either the person played a prank on you or he/she has taken another cab without informing the hotline to cancel the order.
Aren't you gonna get pissed with such a situation? I certainly will and I will curse that person to hell. What audacity to call for a cab and in the end become so irresponsible of your actions! Who suffers? The cab driver. He could have picked up some other passengers while waiting for nobody.

2. THERE ARE MANY INSTANCES WHEN THE PASSENGER CAN ESCAPE EASILY AND NOT PAY THE FARE.
Take for example during a traffic jam. You are driving a cab and stuck in the centre lane of the road. The traffic is so slow and the fare meter keeps on increasing. Your passenger gets fed up and decides to leave the cab without paying the fare. He/She opens the damn door and runs away. How? The fare is 15 bucks. Are you going to give chase and leave your cab unattended? Or are you goin to accept the fact that you are down on your luck? Think.

Another instance would be driving the passenger down to his/her desired destination. You ask for the fare but the person confesses that she/he does not have enough cash in hand. He/She gives you everything that he/she is left with in the wallet and tells you to take it or leave it. Are you still goin to demand for the exact fare? The person cannot pay, so are you going to drive him/her down to the police station and leave matters the the police? The person won't be dumb and allow you to do so rite, so he/she would have escaped long ago. So what do you do?

3. MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS ARISE RANDOMLY.
This point refers more to female passengers and how they can make use of...you know what..to distract or even threaten cab drivers. I'll give you an example. A sexy pretty hot(wadever) babe enters your taxi and she flirts with you. While you're concentrationg on driving (let's assume you really are, haha), she caresses the back of your neck and even your cheeks. In an attempt to stop her you brush her hand away from you. The woman accuses you of molestation. Ok you didn't but no one knows you are innocent. Thereafter, she blackmails you by demanding a free ride to her destination. Are you going to accept it or are you goin to blow the matter up and fight to the end, where in worst case scenario the law can come into action? If I were the driver, seriously I will just blame my luck and choose the former.

4. NOT KNOWING ROADS WELL CAUSES YOU A SCOLDING FROM MORE DEMANDING PASSENGERS.
So do you know where is Chiku Rd? Or Teck Guan Rd? Or wadever fucked up road name you can think of? Your passenger wants to get there and expects you to know the way. You dunno. And you gotta check the road directory. So some problem passengers will scold you so badly and hurl insults at you, claiming you are wasting their damn 'precious' time. In other cases, they accuse you of taking advantage of their lack of knowledge of roads to bring them in cricles before reaching the destination. Assuming you are an honest driver, you just gotta tolerate with their nonsense.

I'm sure there are many other interesting things that can happen to a cab driver while he is on shift. I hope that this insight on cab drivers will help you understand them better. The next time you call 65521111 (Damn it I'm not promoting Comfort), make sure you wait for the assigned cab and be responsible. Every occupation has its highs and lows, more often than not the latter more than the former. Haha.

Are you thinking twice about being a cab driver after you past your prime?