Respect the Cabbie

I use the Cab facility provided by RBS group to commute to office, in more than one instance in the last few months I have been irked by the attitude of certain staffs availing the facility.

It happened a few months back, where the staff wouldn’t respond to calls of Cabbie. The poor guy had waited for ten to fifteen minutes to no response. And he decided to skip that staff and arrived at my place ten minutes late. Mid way through to office, the Cabbie got a call, it was from the staff who missed the cab, I could hear the voice from other end, he was using a cheap handset. The staff was yelling at the driver for not waiting, he tried his best to be polite explaining his state – he called, he waited, he had other people to pick up and was answerable to Admin staffs for delay in reaching office. The person wouldn’t listen, after sometime I could hear another voice that started to threaten the Cabbie that he had to return back to pick up his wife, I couldn’t stop laughing at the plight of the cabbie, we were barely few hundred meters away of office.

They were talking as if they were been insulted by the Cabbie, they even went to the extent of threatening to assault the driver. Losing patience, the driver asked them to speak to admin and cut the call. But he got calls repeatedly until we reached office.

More recently, today, I tried reaching my cab driver, his line was engaged for more than fifteen minutes, assuming that he would be arriving shortly, I went to my point, the Cab had already come, I alighted and he was still on the phone. Again, the conversation was looking all but familiar. I could hear the driver requesting the staff to check with admin for a different cab as the stop wouldn’t fall into his route and the staff repeating that this was the allotted cab and would want this Cab only, and wouldn’t get in touch with admin people. The driver was in deep conversation that he lost his concentration completely; we even had a couple of close shaves.

At one pick up point, he even started rolling the car even before one guy could get in. The conversion was endless with both parties repeating the same lines again. Finally, I could hear “There is no point talking to you, I will talk to the admin” from other end. For which the Cabbie replied “That’s what I am saying from first!”

These are two different stories, but they force me to offer certain perspective.

1. Yes it is the duty of the cabbie to wait and pick you up. But, he does his best. So let’s respect them for the work they do.
2. No, it is not a dedicated Cab, you have to value the time of other staffs who use the Cab.
3. It looks bad, when a person who is not associated with RBS group, speaks rules to the Cabbie.
4. You, me and the Cabbie isn’t perfect with time. Each of us has made the other wait at some point of time. But just because he picks you up doesn’t mean you can command him.
5. Don’t take it personal with the Cabbie, you are just another staff, he is just another Cab Driver.

I do agree that few of the Cabbies who do get on your nerves, I am not talking about them. There are a lot of others who respect us, so let’s be courteous with them, at minimum. Respect the Cabbie, for the work he does!

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