Video of man berating cabby sparks outrage
PUBLISHED ONMarch 16, 2015 1:08 AMByJalelah Abu Baker
A video exposing a cab passenger's rude behaviour and uploaded by the taxi driver's daughter has sparked much online criticism against the passenger.
In the video uploaded on Facebook, the passenger - who had booked a cab to take him from Chai Chee to Telok Ayer MRT station - could be heard raising his voice and scolding the taxi driver from the start of the journey.
Text accompanying the video, written by the driver's daughter, defended the cabby and said: "Taxi uncles are not idiots, deaf or useless, they are someone's family. They are fathers who work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, even on public holidays, so people like me and my sis (can) get an education."
In the clip, the passenger first accused the driver of failing to notice him on the main road even though he claimed that he "wave wave wave wave wave". The passenger then threatened to complain if the driver started the meter before the cab had travelled a certain distance.
He called the driver an "idiot", "***hole" and "blind bat", and later complained that the cab was moving too slowly, and accused the driver of trying to cheat him of his money.
"There's something called road hogging in case you don't know, okay. Now, I'm the one paying, so you listen to me," the passenger says in the clip.
He also told the driver not to let anyone cut into the space in front of the taxi.
"Do not let any car cut in front of me, without valid excuse," he says.
Based on the time stamp on the video, the passenger opened the taxi's door at 6.16pm. But he wanted the cabby to reach his destination by 6.30pm.
Throughout the clip, the cabby could be heard trying to explain himself, despite his limited command of English, while the passenger rattled on fairly fluently.
By yesterday, the video had attracted at least 350,000 views and thousands of comments.
Kind netizens wanted to give the driver a small token for the verbal abuse he had suffered. Outraged netizens claimed to have found the man and revealed his details. The Facebook page of the man appears to have been removed and he could not be reached at the number posted.
When contacted, the taxi driver's 27-year-old daughter, who works in the media industry and did not want to be named, said: "I hope netizens will show respect for the rude passenger and not release his personal information online. What he did was wrong, but people make mistakes and we can only choose to be a bigger person and forgive them."
jalmsab@sph.com.sg
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