Ridiculous Taxi Driver

The number of stupidly ridiculous or ridiculously stupid people (whichever the case may be) I bump into in the on-goings of my daily life never fail to constantly amaze and confound me. Today was no exception. I decided that in the spirit of the Lunar New Year and of Spring Cleaning, in a bid to flush out all things bad and welcome only the good, I shall blog out what frustrated me today:

It was declared half day today at the company where I am currently working at so we were let off from work at 1pm. I got off at my usual MRT stop on my way home and boarded a cab, telling the taxi-driver (hereafter 'uncle' or 'U') the name of my housing estate.

OK, before I go any further into the story let me just explain something for those unfamiliar with my housing estate. I live in a housing estate which is rather inaccessible without a car so this particular taxi radio (Yes, such old-school things still exist) service company set up a consortium of sorts -- member taxi-drivers of this consortium install a radio in their cab and they receive bookings from the main radio centre which answers the phone calls of residents in the area. Think of it as a private hotline for the taxi-driver members of this group. The charge for booking a taxi from this hotline is the same as calling a cab from any of the main taxi operators - $3 extra.

Right, let's get back to the story. My conversation with the uncle went something like this (entire conversation in Mandarin translated into English for ease of reading):

Me (getting into cab): Uncle, to SH housing estate please.

U: OH, SH housing estate ah? Have you ever taken one of our cabs?

Me: Yeah, I have.

U: What is your address?

Me: No. 13 Lavender Road.

U: No. 13, no. 13..... No lah, you've never taken our cabs before lah.

Me: Yes, I have. But it was a long time ago, maybe about two years at least. Nowadays I call another cab hotline.

U: No lah, you've never taken our taxis before. I've been driving in this estate for over 20 years and never heard of a booking made from your address.

Me: Yes, I have taken the cabs from your radio service company before, just that it was quite some time ago. But I have taken them before.

U: No lah, no lah, you've never taken our cabs before.

By this time I was already considerably fed-up at having to endure this ridiculous conversation. I kept quiet and stuffed my earphones into my ears and continued listening to my music, refusing to answer him anymore. I mean, I've practically lived in this estate all my life and I would surely know if I've ever called any of the cabs from this particular radio service right? I mean, by arguing otherwise the only conclusion you will ever get is that I'm a lying piece of shit and WHY WOULD any taxi-driver want to do that to your own passenger? What greater purpose does it achieve???!!! The only thing he has managed to do is further alienate me from his radio service consortium which I vow to never patronise again.

It was EXTREMELY ridiculous! I was so pissed off I shut up.

Then, as if the above conversation was not enough, after about 2 minutes of silence, he struck up the conversation again:

U: No lah, you've never taken any of our cabs before lah, I would know. I've heard of no. 14, 30, and 20-something Lavender Road but never no. 13.

(and then he went on a bit more... I can't remember exactly what now)

But by this time I was sufficiently pissed with his stupidity to finally retort (in Mandarin), in a somewhat curt manner:

Me: Look, I've already told you that I have patronised that taxi service before just that it was a very long time ago. If you really want to insist on otherwise then there's no way I can argue with you.


I think I was already being very civil to him... If he went on any more I would have told him off for his extreme stupidity, and obstinacy to the point of utter ridiculousness, and like asked him point-blank: ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY I'M A LIAR?!!!!


LIKE WTF.




Why WHY WHYYYYYYY must I be constantly plagued by stupid people? I'm allergic to this kind of people!!!!! ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH.