- Joined
- Oct 30, 2014
- Messages
- 36,768
- Points
- 113
For the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon when heading back from work. At the end of my day, I normally book a Grab from work. These few weeks, I’ve noticed that my Grab arrives in no more than 20 seconds. Today, I had the energy to discover why.
Uncle picked me up today and shamefully, for the first time in a long while, I had the energy to chat with him, particularly because I was curious why Grab cars arrive so fast. Uncle explained that he had been sitting in the expensive TTSH car park for more than 30 minutes, waiting for a passenger. “If not, how can I get a passenger? I have to be the nearest to the passenger to get the job mah. Nearest place to you all is parking lot lah! You never notice meh. This whole carpark all Grab driver waiting leh. They go Kopitiam da bao eat in the car and wait!”
Beep. His car IU sounded as he stopped at the parking gantry. I was stunned at the price he paid for parking. “小弟. This one nothing. I no customer already. Pay abit of parking, got passenger, I happy already.”
And so we began to talk. And I heard the grief he had. “Today my son birthday. But bo pian need to work. No customer also need to drive and pray got customer. I need to pay petrol, season parking, car rental. I can go hungry but I don’t want my family to go hungry”
Uncle dropped me off at my block. “小弟you be careful ar. Don’t kenna coronavirus ar. You work work work also must take care of yourself”.
I tipped Uncle after my ride ended with a message to buy something nice for his son’s birthday. I don’t think it helped a lot, but I hope it did brighten his day.
For every Grab driver like Uncle, there are many more like him. Everyone’s hurting in this period. Let’s open our eyes, go the extra mile, love a little more because we’re all in this together.
Uncle picked me up today and shamefully, for the first time in a long while, I had the energy to chat with him, particularly because I was curious why Grab cars arrive so fast. Uncle explained that he had been sitting in the expensive TTSH car park for more than 30 minutes, waiting for a passenger. “If not, how can I get a passenger? I have to be the nearest to the passenger to get the job mah. Nearest place to you all is parking lot lah! You never notice meh. This whole carpark all Grab driver waiting leh. They go Kopitiam da bao eat in the car and wait!”
Beep. His car IU sounded as he stopped at the parking gantry. I was stunned at the price he paid for parking. “小弟. This one nothing. I no customer already. Pay abit of parking, got passenger, I happy already.”
And so we began to talk. And I heard the grief he had. “Today my son birthday. But bo pian need to work. No customer also need to drive and pray got customer. I need to pay petrol, season parking, car rental. I can go hungry but I don’t want my family to go hungry”
Uncle dropped me off at my block. “小弟you be careful ar. Don’t kenna coronavirus ar. You work work work also must take care of yourself”.
I tipped Uncle after my ride ended with a message to buy something nice for his son’s birthday. I don’t think it helped a lot, but I hope it did brighten his day.
For every Grab driver like Uncle, there are many more like him. Everyone’s hurting in this period. Let’s open our eyes, go the extra mile, love a little more because we’re all in this together.
