Kindness Makes The World Go Round
July 13th, 2009
the O.S.I.M meme is a new topic posted every Monday here on quaintly.net to kickstart the week with some story-sharing. this is my puny attempt at massaging my brain into action every working/academic week, and also to hear stories from other people that i otherwise would not get the opportunity to. O.S.I.M stands for Oh Shit It’s Monday.
this week’s Monday Meme topic is about service in Malaysia, inspired by the horrible customer experience i received from an Air Asia sales staff at the LCCT airport on saturday prior to my departure to Kuching. i’ve never had problems with Air Asia up till lately (not even a delayed flight actually), so i was a little taken aback when i got attitude from the sales staff. so much for service with a smile. i suppose the nastiness comes with working in such cramped and bustling environments.
but instead of talking about rudeness or inefficiency, which we all know already plagues our country’s service industry, i want to share stories of good and kind service where people went the extra mile for their customers even when they didn’t have to. these stories are rare, but so heart warming when found.
reminding myself to keep it brief, my latest story of good and kind service:
some nights ago, i was waiting for a cab from mid valley to go back home. it usually costs me about RM 12, and definitely no more than RM 14. when my turn in the line came, this Waja (slightly spiffier than the 1.6 though i’m not sure which model it is exactly) pulled up. remembering that wajas charge the same metered rates as the sagas do, i got in, but not before the guard at mid valley assured me that it was the same rates as other cabs.
when i got in the cab, the cabbie began informing me that his cab was a special airport taxi that would go by a special rate, but he couched it in very confusing terms which led me to believe that airport taxis could use two rates — one for trips to and fro the airports, and another for the city. by the time we reached jalan istana, the fare was about RM 25, and usually at this point the fare would only be about RM 5-6. shocked, i asked him how much the entire trip was going to cost me. his answer: between RM 50 to RM 60.
upset but still extremely confused, i told him that i wanted to get out as soon as possible, so he dropped me somewhere in san peng. we covered a short distance between my insistence on getting out and the point at which he dropped me off — miraculously, his meter only jumped about 40 cents in that distance, as opposed to the RM 2 it would have cost before i made it clear i wanted to get out. that pretty much cemented the fact that he was conning me with a rigged meter. really, why was i surprised?
it took me about 30 minutes to get another cab out of san peng. no cabbie wanted to send me back because of the traffic congestion; the ones that conceded asked for an extra charge between RM 10 and 15 -_-
finally, one cabbie agreed to take my trip, albeit reluctantly. he sheepishly asked if i would give him an extra dollar above the meter, which was such a relatively cute request, so i laughed and said sure. during the trip home, i told him what had happened to me and he confirmed once again that the “airport cab” should have charged the usual rates. he told me about the various ways that cabbies can rig their meters, and asserted over and over again that i should start driving so that i don’t have to rely on cabs.
at the end of the trip, the meter was about RM 8. as i turned to get my wallet, the cabbie then told me that i didn’t have to pay him, as long as i promised to take care of myself a little better in the future.
O__O
i insisted on paying him (and the one ringgit he initially requested, and then a tip), but i was very touched by his gesture. with cab rent being as high as it is, and malaysian cab meter rates being so low, RM 8 is a substantial amount of money for a cabbie to give up. i thanked him over and over again — he was a timely reminder for me that not all cabbies are mean and crooked.
as an aside, but still related to the topic, i also think it’s really cool how some salespeople in shopping malls — especially sungei wang — rush off to their faraway stock rooms without complaining whenever a customer wants to try on something. i know it’s part of their job, but it’s such a tedious and tiring process to keep running back and forth each time a size is not right. their speed and readiness always fills me with admiration. such service is a far cry from the blunt “no stock” grunt that we often get from salespeople who just couldnt be bothered.
i’ve got many more good service stories, but i think one (un)brief one will do for today. i’m completely exhausted and i have a feeling i’m about to lose my wifi connection very soon. please do share your tales, if any! :)
on another note, the haze today is positively putrid. when is this going to stop? O.S.I.M!
Entry Filed under: General
50 Comments Add your own
1. suanie | July 13th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
heh i’ve had really awesome and really terrible taxi experiences as well. don’t we all ;)
the most recent one was trying to hail a taxi from changkat bkt bintang to bandar utama. he wanted some exorbitant amount, then me and fireangel kept hilariously bargaining with him and he finally relented. all through the journey we kept chatting, and when we reached, he waived all the after midnight extra charges. so nice.
2. Mellissa | July 13th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
My Mom and sister got a nice cabbie once, in the end they talked so much over that whole trip that they forgot to pay him, and he forgot that they didn’t pay him either (!!!) but luckily my Mom kept his business card and when she called him, he laughed it off saying he enjoyed the company :) So sweet!
3. ronin | July 13th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
You really shouldn’t be using taxis alone. I never allowed my wife to do so, so all the time I ended up fetching her regardless of location or timing. Just to be safe.
Story of kindness, don’t think I have any worth sharing. Most of the time when people showed kindness, I’m afraid they’re out to con me! Ya, I know that’s pathetic but so is our society today.
4. joiz3 | July 13th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
mmm i dunno if this is considered kindness or not. i love dining at johnny’s thai restaurant. their waiters are incredibly well trained and friendly. it’s even cuter cos they speak with a thick thai accent and their english is slightly broken. a few days ago i went there to eat and the waiter that served us very adorably recommended a few desserts when we couldn’t make up our mind. he pointed at it and said “this one. very good. very very good.” with a nice big smile. haha! i love friendly waiters/cashiers. :) okay so maybe i digressed but oh wellll.
5. Patricia | July 13th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
when i was 10, my mum used to bring me down to jb every month for my orthodontist appointments. the first trip mum called a cabbie to give us a ride. i rmb vaguely that all throughout the journey the guy was friendly, funny and a real sport. he had to wake up and drive at dawn for 2 hours and even brought us out for breakfast, unlike some who would drop us off some bus stop and call it a day.
sometimes all we can do is appreciate all these kind souls since we cant do anything gigantic to repay him.. god bless him.
6. fatcat | July 13th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Oh, when my family and I were in Australia, the cab driver waived the entire cab fare because we were tourists. It was quite a huge sum. So nice right!
7. Michelle | July 13th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
There was a cab which my mom and my sis took when they were heading to Flemington from the airport and his name was ANIMAL.
He drove like one too and NEARLY crashed into one of those metal things.
8. maysnow | July 13th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
*heart melts* the cabbie is sooo sweet! =) I waited at Mid Valley for the bus for almost an hour because i didn’t dare to take the taxis…i’ve got conned by one too many taxi drivers..and there’s just too much dangerous horror taxi stories to ignore.. >_< Do be careful and take good care of yourself k? ;)
9. cindy khor | July 13th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
that’s a really nice gesture from that taxi man. i don’t think there would be another one like him in malaysia. i mean, speaking of generousity, that’s totally over the top.
to be honest, sadly, i can’t remember getting any good service from any shop in m’sia. i know, its discrimination against m’sia’s society, but i only could remember how wonderful the many service that i got in uk. sigh…
10. chm | July 13th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
haze……. woke up at nine. came outta my room. proceeded to turn on the living room air-con due to the fact that i was feeling like i was bloody breathing bloody exhaust fumes…..
taxi guy was sooooo damn nice ^^
11. Mar | July 13th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
You know what’s good? That your stories are honest and believable, but only because they’re honest and believable!
As a Singaporean, I do visit KL and the other states once in a while and the worst service experience that I’ve seemed to be getting are from taxi drivers, who haggle and tout the cab fares. Some even decline to accomodate you at times cos the place is ‘too near’.
But I’ve had my share of drivers with excellent service too. I think it is common everywhere (not just Malaysia) of overzealous taxi drivers, but ultimately, there are good ones out there, and indeed thank you for sharing one of them with us here.
Oh, Just saying hi. ; )
12. v | July 13th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
at first i was thinking, nope no good service stories none, then i thought of comparatively good service and how that sometimes makes all the difference.
i’m from east malaysia, and one of the things i miss most about kl are mamaks, and the incredibly good service you get there. not everyone may smile but everything’s fast, chop chop. so finally the first decent mamak in sarawak opened with its very own mamak chef and service was sooooo slow that i boiled over everytime i went, and swore never to go again.. i think their problem is that all the waiting staff is local or foreign as in filipino foreign and they dont understand half the menu. so this time i wanted dhosai and the poor guy eventually had to fetch the head chef (whose chef hat was actually a cylinder of cellotaped a3 paper, so cute!) who looked so happy that someone was ordering dhosai that he did that cool rattling off menu thing, paper dhosai? normal dhosai? sorry we dont have rawa dhosai, couldnt find the rawa here. and when it was done he personally served it to me and scooped out like 5 different types of chutney and when i said i didnt want the tomato one he said, you must try this, it’s very nice, not too spicy XD
(it was quite lousy dhosai actually but i think he was just out of practice. poor indian chef)
13. Caffy | July 13th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
I just hung out at Zen, Sooka Sentral, with a friend, for about 3 hours today. We deliberately went during non-peak hours to write something. I loved it! Good food, free coffee, good music, great environment, and most of all the staffs are extremely friendly! Though in a non-intrusive way.
My friend even left a note to the servers on a paper napkin,thanking them. Just shows how nice they were. Ahhh, empty Zen. We told them we’ll be seeing them a LOT in the future.
14. sheon | July 13th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
courteous staff (service industry specially) are hard to come by these days. there are really good ones which do not get the credits they deserved, but having the rotten ones stinking up their industry.
i have some pleasant experience with nice people who were professional, helpful, and courteous. but i had this one experience with a traffic policeman many years ago that still reminds me that there is still hope in the police force.
it was in year 98 when i was in f5. being a passenger in my fren’s brand new satria, with him being a complete idiot behind the wheels, he ran a red light, just right before a police block. we got pulled over, and the ’standard protocol’ commenced. ic, driver’s license, where we’re going, etc…
my fren then asked “berapa boleh settle?’….. which prompted him into giving us a lecture on the evils of corruption!!!!
we were dumbfounded!! this was never in the book, nobody told us a policeman would say no to a bribe…. we didnt know how to react, but just sat there and listened.
and then we were let off with a stern warning, to obey the law, and not to offer bribe.
a traffic policeman, having pulled over a traffic offender caught red handed, and spending 10minutes lecturing on the evils of bribery, and finally letting them off with just a warning…. IN MALAYSIA?!?!?! it happens….
15. In search of good service ;) | July 13th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
There was once my mother broke her hand, so she couldn’t accompany or send me all the way from PJ to KL every single weekday for a month to attend some lessons in KL. Then there was this really sweet, endearing taxi uncle who lives all the way in Cheras but agreed to send me to and fro from PJ to KL and back again for 3 weeks, running on metre, with a discounted rate. He’ll come early each day with no complains although my house is really far from Cheras. Sometimes he’ll even wait for me if I’m running late. I was seriously touched by his services.
Unfortunately, I brought him bad luck because 3 days before the 3rd week ended, his car broke down on a highway on our journey to KL and he had to send it for repair in the workshop. I felt horribly guilty.
I hate it when taxi drivers rig their metres. I was once conned by a guy who charged me twice the price as well. Not only did he rig his metre, he was giving me some confusing explanation about how I made him wait for half and hour and he’ll charge me an extra RM10 although I only made him wait for 15 minutes at most! He also took the longer way back so the fees were rocket high by the time I reached my destination. :(
16. gingerelf | July 13th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
There’s a waiter in TGIF in The Curve, he has a mid-eastern accent. I regret not taking down his name. Very attentive and sweet, and not just because he’s trying to get a tip.
I was in service line for the longest time in the Book biz..and I used to get yelled at all the time. I kinda pride myself for putting on my customer service face and say “sorry Mdm/Sir I’m afraid I can’t do that” x 10,000 times with everyone looking on. And then turn and smile at the next customer.
I waitressed once too and nope. we don’t spit into our customer’s food =P There was a very grumpy aunty who demanded a lot..I told myself I’d melt her with my smile..and I GOT HER TO SMILE YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY
17. csv | July 13th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
he’s probably happy that someone was actively engaging him in conversation. maybe he wanted somebody to talk to actually.
nice move.
18. songjun | July 14th, 2009 at 12:57 am
its not very hard to get pleasant service, all you have to do is be polite and smiley with the person :)
of course there are horror stories too but at the moment i cant really recall any … :S the cabbies i used to take i usually end up chatting with them and they were nice :P
19. bryanlyt | July 14th, 2009 at 3:05 am
omg the second cabbie damn nice kan!
oh my story.. this is not related to taxi fare laa, but still a taxi story…
back in high school, i used to play lotsa basketball that i got so tanned and dark skin… then there was once i got in a cab.. i was conversing in malay with the cab driver.. the whole time during the journey he thought i was a malay.. i forgot wat triggered but my conversation with him eventually led to the topic of babi/pig/pork/khinzir/etc… he took out one islamic book about pigs from his side door compartment n showed me… he continued explaining pig is no good la, chinese eat pork thats why when they get older they have spots on their skin, etc etc… all the while saying bad stuff about pig n chinese yadaa yadaaa…..
until i reached my house, i paid the cabbie la… before i left the cab, i told him “thanks, ohh i’m a chinese btw, and i eat pork” smiled at him….
then i duno laa he got malu or angry or wat… but he drove off damn fast LOL!
20. msihua | July 14th, 2009 at 8:09 am
First up, u r so brave to sit a cab alone in Msia =)… Applauds ur bravery…
I have 1 cab driver whom I always use and call… he knows my family (by chatting)… and will always tell us stories whenever he’s driving us to and fro from the airport… such a nice old man…
He was saying.. his been driving for a long time, and his son has recently come home to visit from the US with grandchildren =)
Amazing!!!… The fact that he could afford to send his son overseas, and that he doesn’t want to retire ‘cos he misses talking to customers… such a nice old man!
21. KY | July 14th, 2009 at 9:05 am
it’s only Tuesday and you want me to read that long post of yours with that tiny tiny font? :X
22. ashleighhhh | July 14th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
can relate to your cab experience. met a cabbie last time who’s kids are all overseas studying and driving a taxi is his retirement job, according to him.
was with a friend when we boarded his taxi. he didnt rip us off although it was pass midnight, and he insisted on dropping my friend (who is a girl) off at her place first before detouring to my place although it was inconvenient for him. nice old chap.
btw msihua is right. you really should start driving…. if I had a daughter i wouldn’t allow her to take a cab unless absolutely necessary. haha.
23. lishun | July 14th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
my friends and i used to frequent ajimal razim in oug. i have a habit of ordering their maggi mee goreng ayam (which is the best evar, btw) with an extra serving of fish curry while a friend of mine loves condensed milk instead of curry/dahl with her roti. after ordering the same thing two or three times in a row, the waiters started bringing those combinations to us every time we went to that restaurant…without us requesting for them!
i just think it’s great that they treat regulars well. even when our visits became far and few, they still remembered how we liked our meals.
24. melissa | July 14th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
hi su ann I’m in NEW YORK! :D :D :D it is as awesome possum as anything can possibly get!
haha i have a cabbie story to share as well. it was the first time i was traveling by bus in west malaysia and was very paranoid about how safe taxis were in seremban. when i arrived at the seremban bus terminal, i asked to be taken to the seremban KTM so that I could take a train down to Batang Benar, and then take another cab from there to get to my boarding school in mantin.
Initially the taxi guy asked for RM18 to take me to the KTM station. Coincidentally he asked me where I was going to and I told him that I was supposed to go to my school in Mantin.
He was so shocked at my plan and started scolding me about how far the ride was and how it was so much easier to drive from Seremban to Mantin and that he would take me to school for the same price! (a cab from seremban to mantin, I later found out, cost typically RM35)
On the way he told me about his family and proceeded to lecture me about how I should be more careful as a young East Malaysian traveling alone in a place I didn’t know nuts about and warned me against suspicious looking cabs.
then at school he sheepishly asked for a ringgit more as well! I gave him a bit more than that and thanked him profusely.
oh oh oh and there was another time when i was looking for an eyebrow threading place at the Curve and I went from beauty salon to beauty salon asking if they did threading. no one seemed able to tell me where in the Curve I could do threading when I asked. -________- then I went to one where the lady said she wasn’t sure where else did threading, then when i left she suddenly remembered and then ran out of the store after me to tell me to go to a hair salon (the name of it I can’t recall) nearby because she was quite sure they offered threading. I thought that was really nice of her. :)
25. Ping | July 15th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Wow… that’s quite unbelievable nice of the cabbie. I’ve no recalled of nice experience on cabbie here, okay, maybe once.
26. pinky | July 15th, 2009 at 10:30 am
hey…i thought you are supposed to tell us about the nasty things martian did to you???shloudn/t it be on OSIM?i waited one week for it…sobs**
27. pinkpau | July 15th, 2009 at 11:12 am
suanie : so lucky! sometimes you arrive at your destination at 11.59 also they wanna charge midnight charge…
mellissa : that’s so kind of him. your story and suanie’s is making me feel super bad for entering every cab with the preconception that they’re out to con me :(
ronin : haha i feel the same way sometimes about cabbies and cops.. have been bitten way too many times to not practice caution. ah maybe when i’m married (and if my husband is like you!) i’ll get to stop taking cabs. but i dont drive, so it’s cabs for now!
joiz3: hmm where is johnny’s thai restaurant?is the food good? and no it’s hardly a digression :)
patricia : that’s really cool. cabbies usually are so stingy with their time cos there’s such high opportunity cost — i’m glad your guy smiled through it all :)
fatcat : WHAT! haha in malaysia you’d probably get charged more if you were a tourist
michelle : but this post is about good service?
maysnow : you know, mid valley is actually not as bad as other malls. good luck trying to take a cab from pavilion — they NEVER use meters :(
cindy khor : hehe according to other commenters, it seems like there are many more like him :) and yeah i asked a few of my friends before i wrote this post, and they had to think really hard for examples of extra-mile service in malaysia. so dont feel too bad. though i must agree with songjun that sometimes all it takes is a smile and some initiated kindness :)
chm : it’s such a conundrum isnt it? we get bad air, and so we use our air conditioning more, but in using more air conditioning, the air gets worse…
mar : hello back! malaysian taxis must seem so … terrible compared to what you get in singapore. singaporean taxi drivers are some of the smartest and nicest i’ve seen! and i love your cab booking system… in malaysia they can opt not to pick you even if you asked for a booking :|
v : hahaha thank you for sharing your story. it made me giggle and i forwarded it to some of my friends just for laughs. you must have made the dude’s day!
caffy : i’ve actually not been to sooka! will check out zen the next time i’m there :)
sheon : WAHHHHHH. HAHA ZOMG. i’m shocked too!!!! but that’s an awesome story. if that happened to me i would probably think i was dreaming. though that did happen many years ago :(
in search of good service: your taxi driver is so kind! i can attest to the distance and traffic jams going from cheras to PJ. and he gave you a discounted rate too :’) do you guys still keep in touch?
gingerelf : haha i was just at the curve’s tgif yesterday, and i looked out for your dude, but i didnt see anyone with a middle eastern accent. hats up to you for your patience in your previous lines :)
csv : who? the cabbie? or gingerelf’s TGIF waiter?
songjun : not just cabs la but other service stories! i feel like i kena con 50000 times more than i met a nice cabbie
bryanlyt : HAHAHA you’re soooo bad for keeping quiet until the last minute!!!
msihua : eh actually a lot of cabbies are quite rich wan! they just do the job because they’re bored and want to keep themselves occupied in old age. quite cool right? :)
ky : YALAR changing font size in my next blog layout…. which is about 5 lines of code that have been sitting around collecting dust for about one and a half years now :\
ashleighhhh : driving is easier said than done!!!
lishun : that’s totally excellent :) eh but what if you dont feel like eating that thing!
melissa : heyhey! glad you’re enjoying new york :) how’s the UN conference going? aww your taxi guy is so nice. 1 buck’s a small price to pay for that sort of conversation. dont do threading at the curve!!! do it in bangsar or brickfields — it’s so much cheaper and nicer. in bangsar it only costs RM 5 for eyebrows :)
ping : so where’s your story!! :P
pinky : haha actually i forgot i was supposed to write about that topic! but soon la :) btw it was not martian.
28. Jasmine | July 15th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Su Ann this is really nice. Inspires people to be grateful instead of complain. : )
29. nor | July 15th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Haha, i just took a cab home just now! :D while waiting for the traffic lights, the kind driver made some donations to a kid who was doing his rounds for Flag Day. So nice!!!
30. sieutheng | July 15th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
u shud hire a driver. gimme rm3k a month n i’ll gladly fetch u around ^__^
31. Michelle | July 15th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Haha, it’s wild service.
32. joiz3 | July 15th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
you know what is one thing i love about your blog? your read AND reply every. single. comment. seriously. i salute your patience and heart taken into this. it feels nice to be able to interact with you although we’re total strangers. haha!
you dunno what’s johnny’s? i’m surprised cos they’re quite ubiquitous esp in kl. they are well known for their steamboat but i personally feel it’s so-so only lah. def got way better. i like to order their sets. it has an ala carte dish (eg. spinach noodles with bbq chicken, pineapple fried rice, tom yum meehun etc.), a small bowl of tom yum soup, bottomless thai tea and a scoop of ice-cream (flavour of your choice!). what i love most about johnny’s is the service AND the highlight of the meal is the honeydew ice-cream. it’s absolute AWESOME stuff and i have yet to find it anywhere else. environment is relatively okay. the desserts are pretty cool too. here’s a link. :)
http://www.johnnyrestaurant.com/location.htm
lolll. how on earth did i end up advertising for johnny’s? :P
33. jean | July 15th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
this is a story about my childhood, regarding mr.roti man, not so much of a random act of kindness act but more like a long term customer thing still kindness lah!
when i was living in my old house, between 7-8pm there will be this indian uncle on his motorbike with a green storage tin box attached to the back of his bike and every night he will drive by the neighbourhood with that special high pitched horn and every night without fail we will run to the front door to shout ‘tak mau’ or he’ll wait a lil longer and horn more. if we miss it, we’ll cry out “roti! roti!!” and he’ll turn back. he’ll get down from his bike and come up to our front door and usually jokes when asking how much. replying “200 ringgit” ” 500 ringgit”!!!!! haha… and we know that it’s not him when the horning tempo is different. i miss mr roti man!!! and gardenia whole meal and chocolate bread……….. :’(
34. #7 | July 15th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
as an old friend…and because u nv call when u came home…you have to do this stupid tag from my blog….
:D
35. Jeff from LA | July 16th, 2009 at 3:44 am
Pinkpau, I love how you remain relentlessly (defiantly?) optimistic even when things aren’t going your way. It’s an admirable trait. We all need to learn from your example.
But yeah, I had a good experience with good service recently. I invited about 30 of my friends to my b-day dinner at a restaurant recently and expected about 15 to show up. To my surprise (and to the restaurant’s even greater surprise) 26 people showed up instead. I was pretty sure that the restaurant staff were going to be very unhappy about all of the extra people showing up especially on a Friday night.
However, rather than give me a hard time, the restaurant immediately brought over several more tables and ended up assigning us a couple extra waiters to deal with the large group. I really appreciated the fact that they were very nice and accommodating about it instead of complaining about the fact that we basically took over a quarter of the restaurant.
36. Mumzzy | July 16th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Thanks for sharing. some people are just angels in our lives :)
37. blue.. | July 16th, 2009 at 10:04 am
faster write about the story about what nasty things martian…if it is not martian,then who?…sobs**i wait very long for the post too….why pinkpau never keep her words?my friends told me after reading your blog that you did not post it…seems like they going to boycott you…faster post!!
38. Ping | July 16th, 2009 at 11:57 am
haa? my story ah. but yours is on kindness wor, mine is just… friendly cabbie? hahaha. my whole life, i’ve only taken cab on my own less than 5 times lo. only remember 2 friendly cabbie while in msia. but i remember a nice cabbie when i was in sg, my friend and me wanted to go for fried chillies at some place quite far off from town and we sorta got lost? so this kind cabbie that took us explained to us bout when we should come and where we can go as alternative.
my kindness to others can ah? :-p not that i reckon it was but that’s what they told me.
39. Myhorng | July 16th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
the good cab driver u met = panda.
40. #7 | July 16th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Hows next week??? Either Tuesday or Wednesday…or the week after that lorrr
41. yuhhui | July 16th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Wow. You’re lucky! I always get conned by taxi drivers. heheh
42. Ken | July 16th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
I don’t really have any stories from Malaysia, at least i can’t really think of any just yet but i’m sure some point in my life i was touched my a simple act of kindness.
Anywas, my first time in NYC, i dropped my phone in a cab. I chased it two blocks down and couldn’t find it anywhere. The seats were black and my phone was also black, so yeah. I walked back to my hotel, convinced that i would never ever see my phone again. I was moping outside the hotel, and then, the same taxi driver drove up and said he found my cell phone and returned it to me.
He was sooooooooo sweet :)
Another one was when i was in Chicago and we were waiting to buy tickets for the light rail. The line was pretty long and this attendant came up to us, asked everyone who was waiting to follow him and he just swiped his card and let everyone through. For free.
So sweet :)))))))))
43. KittyCat | July 17th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Hi Su Ann – what a sweet driver right after such a horrible one!
Thanks for sharing your experience. We’ve been hearing so much about taxi drivers back home, it’s funny how I’m actually more worried about taking a taxi on my own with my toddler in my own country than I am in another! Doesn’t sound right, does it???
44. Naz | July 18th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Your cab driver is so nice!
It reminds me of a cab driver I once used back in 1996 (yes I remember coz he was so nice!). My aunt had to go for her last checkup at the hospital 1 week before giving birth and since our car was in the shop, I called a cab and accompanied her.
The cab driver was this extremely well-read, intelligent man who conversed with us the entire 20min drive. Bare in mind we lived in the US for yonks and was only back in KL less than a year so our experiences with cabdrivers were limited at this point.
Anyway, we reached the hospital and he refused payment. Insisted that it was his gift for the newborn and all. 3 YEARS LATER (1999), my aunt (who was pregnant again) and I were crossing the road in front of Sogo and this cab honks at us. We looked and IT WAS HIM! He stopped, took us in and drove us around wherever we wanted the whole day. He was so excited to meet my aunt’s first child that he refused to charge us.
He even asked when was my aunt’s next checkup so he could come pick us up and send us! How nice is that?!
We thought we’d never see him again after that but as fate would have it, my aunt got pregnant again in 2003 and after a day of shopping in Mid Valley, we waited in line for a cab and believe it or not, the cab that stopped in front of us was HIS! The minute I opened the door, all of us just burst out laughing for a good 10 minutes. How often does this happen completely unplanned?
The older generation cab drivers are the best :) Full of wisdom, speaks really good English, well mannered and clean!
45. Lil Miss Confession | July 18th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
wow! i have to say i am amazed that such a thing happened. I’ve never encounter such a thing before.. well so far. But i did encountered one taxi driver who was really chatty and he told me that I should get a car because it’s hard to get reliable public transport in M’sia. haha.. who would have thought. really unselfish.
46. MKL | July 19th, 2009 at 6:13 am
That cab driver was my uncle. He told me the same story that night it happened. So i knew this already :)
Just kidding ^^
Well.. to add my personal experience. I once took a cab from KLIA to Pudu and payed 120RM (that’s called ‘mat salleh bonus’) XD
How are you?
MKL
47. pinkpau | July 19th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
jasmine : yes that was the idea :)
nor : awwww :))) what a good man.
sieutheng : dowan la you so grumpy!
michelle : :)
joiz3 : i try to la, but sometimes it gets hard to do so esp since i started working :( haha thanks for the heads up on johnny’s. will check out one of them soon!
jean : OMG the roti man… :( i used to buy the sugar-ed sotong and those nice creamy buns from my roti man. are they extinct now?
#7 : CALL ME
jeff from LA : i like that! hope you left them a big fat tip after :) and happy belated birthday!!
mummzy : yes :)
blue : maybe i’ve decided not to blog about it cos it’s not nice to talk about these things? :) go ahead and boycott lah.
ping : wait wait what are fried chillies?!?! is that like a dish or a side dish?
myhorng : what does that mean?
#7 : weeknights only though :( i started work…
yuhhui : i get conned at least 100 times more than i find a nice cabbie, unfortunately :(
ken : i dont know if it’s just me, but i feel like cabbies in NYC are generally honest dudes. a few of my schoolmates have left stuff in cabs, and they always get returned. rarely happens in malaysia, though it’s not non-existent
kitty cat : actually, it sounds perfectly right :\ there are lots of bums and hobos around my school (in NYC) that are known to mug people, but i still walk around at night. i always joke with my friends that i come from malaysia, so nothing can ever be scarier than that. haha. :)
naz : omg what an awesome story. i cant believe he remembered you guys and got so excited after three full years! AND refused to charge. so cool. :) he sounds like one of those people in life who have found their happy.
lil miss confession : ah yes .. cabbies can get very naggy these days :)
mkl : wait, what do you mean mat salleh bonus?! haha are you caucasian?! and i’m fine, thank you! :)
48. MKL | July 19th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Yes, Su Ann, that’s what I was trying to convey :P
I’m sure you’re fine. You have an excellent blog here, how come I missed it?? :)
49. Ping | July 21st, 2009 at 10:12 am
muahaahhahaah! sorry pinkpau, i missed the most important word out – ‘crab’ :-P fried chillies crab. ahahahaa. *paiseh mode*
50. polka | August 15th, 2009 at 11:12 am
gosh.. u reminded me of one airport cab driver who took me to the airport when i was studying in shah alam. The cab driver took me to lunch ( i didn’t ask to go for lunch, he paid for it too),and talked the whole way( till i pretended to fall asleep). He nearly didn’t want to receive the rm50 but i insisted.
I don’t know if this is good service or plain spooky…i kinda felt like i might have been taken somewhere and sold away…
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