"Ugly" Taxi Drivers

Read this in The Star today

Students pay RM250 for KL-PJ taxi ride

KUALA LUMPUR: In the wake of calls for everyone to be friendly to visitors from abroad, some students from China had a first-hand encounter with “the ugly Malaysian.”

The students had attended a talk on Friday about how Malaysians were friendly and hospitable and were inspired to tell their family and friends back home about it.

Their enthusiasm, however, was short-lived when they boarded two taxis outside Wisma MCA here and were allegedly fleeced by the cabbies.

One group of students claimed they had to pay RM250 to get from Jalan Ampang to the Stamford College in Petaling Jaya. The other group, travelling the same route, claimed they had to fork out RM200. ...

Well, I had similar experience back in college days as well. One fine day, I was rushing for the next upcoming lecture (I was late), and I fell down the steps and sprained my left ankle joint. I could hear the loud "crack" sound and I knew (at that time, I had no anatomy knowledge what-so-ever) my bones were broken (later I found out it was just ligament tear)! And the pain was so intense, that I had to call and inform my lecturer that I couldnt make it to her class.

I limped towards the nearby bus station, but knowing that all those buses won't travel to my house, so I had to wave at a taxi, and painfully I climbed into the cab and said,"Mister... I have a broken leg, can u please send me home at XXX garden?" The wicked man turned to me and grinned -- then he said "Well, sonny, 100 bucks, how 'bout that?!"

WTF! 100 bucks! Usually it only cost Rm15 to get home from college!

I pleaded to him again hoping that he was a kind soul, "Please mister... I am really in pain, but I really don't have that much of money... can we go by meter instead?" And now he was angry,"Sonny, take it or leave it... there are better clients who can pay me this amount, get lost!" I was stunned by his rude attitude. I had to get off the cab, painfully and slowly...

Finally, to make story short, I reached home after transitting 2 buses, and walked another 20 minutes to my house doorstep -- 3 hours in total. My ankle was so swollen up that I nearly fainted then! So painful. (That's why nowadays I always give ample of pain relief to my patients, becoz pain is a very subjective experience!)

I could never forgive that taxi driver. I wish he ended up one day in the hospital (for whatever reason) and I could be there to return him a "nice treat"! ;)