anyway, i'm slightly peeved by this taxi driver who just drove a couple of us home. my friend helpfully instructed him how to get to his place the fastest way, to which the driver replied "我知道，我知道”. likewise when my friend asked the driver if he knew the way out from the private housing estate we drove into, and my friend did tell us exactly how to get out of the estate.
“我知道，我知道。。。”
if he driver had known, he wouldn't have made a wrong turn IMMEDIATELY after dropping my friend, thinking that it's a shortcut to the main road. and of course i noticed it, and asked with a hint of irritation, for it was past midnight and i'm sure he would not ever give me a rebate if he took a wrong road (stubborn people always think they're right): “咦，好像不可以从这边出去。。。(which is bloody obvious because we hit a dead end) 你知道怎么走吗？？”
“我知道，我知道。。。”
and started talking about how the roads have changed and whatnot. come on, my friend lives in the area so he would know the place better than you do. his words of assurance came off as close-minded stubborness. i was proven right whenever he hesitated at every single junction we encountered - he would halt and look around for five to fifteen seconds before deciding to make a turn. thank goodness, though, there was no more mistakes because i'm paying for it.
and that's not all. he spent around three minutes figuring out how to use the NETS payment device! he slowly removed the device from its socket, punched in some numbers and depressed some button, at which point the device was supposed to indicate that a nets card was to be swiped, but that didn't happen. instead, he repeatedly punched a particular button (which i found out to be the 'clear' button) and swiped my card in a total of four different orientations ad infinitum (magnetic strip facing away or towards the user, swipe left or right) until the device cancelled the transaction. that happened at least twice or thrice.
and all that while he was complaining about how the taxi he used to drive had an easier nets device and the current one is slow “这个很慢的。。。” i don't remember nets machines ever being THAT slow. when i finally decided to observe carefully what the heck he was doing, i took over the control and pressed the 'confirm' button (instead of the 'clear') and swiped the card the CORRECT way after the screen indicated to do so immediately after the CORRECT button was pressed. that took less than ten secs.
after that, the receipt was printed. he was so much more concerned about placing his nets device back into the socket properly than giving me my receipt. fiddle fiddle fiddle he did, while griping about how difficult it is. and what about the lights in the taxi being not bright enough for him to see what he was doing - which i think is utter bullocks, because he's able to drive at night.
so i asked “好了吗？我可以拿账单了吗？？”
“不要急。。。”
HELLO? 不要急？well, that's not for you to say, because i am the customer. so i attempted to tear the receipt myself from the device, albeit unsuccessfully, after which he finally stopped being self-centered (not that i WASN'T self-centered apparently, but on his part he should have been more yielding to the customer. that is what i'm not happy about) and helped me tear off the receipt. he couldn't read which receipt was the correct one, so he must have really bad long-sightedness and should get glasses for that.
weren't the drivers trained how to use the nets machine? and some basic courtesy, too?? it's not like, i'm demanding that they smile and give over-the-top gracious replies whenever i speak to them (which was the case when i dined at lot 1's delifrance bistro - my brother's choice of place by the way - the waiter replied "you're welcome" in the exact same tone whenever i muttered a thanks it's obvious the staff were doggy-trained in executing mannerisms) , but to simply be more understanding towards the customer? my friend gave directions because there are drivers who don't know how to take shortcuts and in the above case, drivers might not know their way around - which is acceptable in private housing areas. but you shouldn't assume you know your way around even after directions were given, right? the pay meter jumps very fast after midnight and only you stand to gain from the mistake you made. and don't try defending yourself against technology when you don't know how to use it. he, the driver i had, probably made no effort in learning it.
oh, should i add? the driver didn't wear his seatbelt until he saw the police 100 metres ahead. after passing the police he took off the seatbelt again.
never mind la, i won't bring this up to the taxi company. later i make the driver lose his job! :O
