Conversations with a Cabby
As some of you might know, I often work late nights. Thankfully, it is quite easy to get a cab at my customer's office, so whenever I leave the office after a certain time, I will often hop on a cab home. On the cab, the first thing I want to do is to close my eyes and rest after a long day at work. Unfortunately, it appears that many cabbies I encounter do not quite appreciate this fact. I do not deny however, that some of them have rather interesting ways of looking at things. Here is an excerpt of one of the conversations I had with a cabby.
"Holland Village. Please take the AYE and exit at Clementi Road."
"Ok.", said the cabbie.
I laid back and stretched my arms, then I closed my eyes.
"Wow, you have to work so late ah?", queried the cabby.
"Yeah," I mumbled.
"Hai, must be because of all the foreign workers. The other day at 4am in the morning, I picked up one Bangladeshi engineer who was going back to work!", he sighed.
"Oh, is it?" I was hoping that he would notice my lack of interest, so that I could catch some sleep.
"Yeah, I then asked him if it is because his boss called him back, but he said no, he's going there on his own initiative to maintain some of the equipment!"
"I see." I mumbled sleepily.
"They come here, get a lower salary than us and then work very late hours. That's why nowadays bosses like to hire foreign workers because they are cheap and they can work long hours."
"True, true."
"They come here without a family, of course they can work long hours! Not like us Singaporeans, we have a family to care for as well, how can we be like them?" he continued.
"Uh huh." By now, I was resigned to the fact that I was not going to be getting the rest that I so craved.
"Because of all these foreign workers, Singaporeans like you and I have to work longer hours for lesser pay as well!"
I did not think it would be wise to tell him that I wasn't a Singaporean. Deciding that it was a good time to change the topic, I asked him about what he did before he became a cabbie. The conversation that followed was far more pleasant. Apparently, he worked as a technician for a non-local mining company and he often had to support their operations in the South East Asian region. A recent joke that someone told me about miners came unbidden to my mind (What musical note do you get when an elephant falls into a mine? A flat miner), but something tells me that this wasn't the best time and place to be telling miner jokes.
By the time the cab reached my home, I was glad to get out of the cab and back to my home. Finally, I could take a nice warm shower and retire to bed.
As some of you might know, I often work late nights. Thankfully, it is quite easy to get a cab at my customer's office, so whenever I leave the office after a certain time, I will often hop on a cab home. On the cab, the first thing I want to do is to close my eyes and rest after a long day at work. Unfortunately, it appears that many cabbies I encounter do not quite appreciate this fact. I do not deny however, that some of them have rather interesting ways of looking at things. Here is an excerpt of one of the conversations I had with a cabby.
"Holland Village. Please take the AYE and exit at Clementi Road."
"Ok.", said the cabbie.
I laid back and stretched my arms, then I closed my eyes.
"Wow, you have to work so late ah?", queried the cabby.
"Yeah," I mumbled.
"Hai, must be because of all the foreign workers. The other day at 4am in the morning, I picked up one Bangladeshi engineer who was going back to work!", he sighed.
"Oh, is it?" I was hoping that he would notice my lack of interest, so that I could catch some sleep.
"Yeah, I then asked him if it is because his boss called him back, but he said no, he's going there on his own initiative to maintain some of the equipment!"
"I see." I mumbled sleepily.
"They come here, get a lower salary than us and then work very late hours. That's why nowadays bosses like to hire foreign workers because they are cheap and they can work long hours."
"True, true."
"They come here without a family, of course they can work long hours! Not like us Singaporeans, we have a family to care for as well, how can we be like them?" he continued.
"Uh huh." By now, I was resigned to the fact that I was not going to be getting the rest that I so craved.
"Because of all these foreign workers, Singaporeans like you and I have to work longer hours for lesser pay as well!"
I did not think it would be wise to tell him that I wasn't a Singaporean. Deciding that it was a good time to change the topic, I asked him about what he did before he became a cabbie. The conversation that followed was far more pleasant. Apparently, he worked as a technician for a non-local mining company and he often had to support their operations in the South East Asian region. A recent joke that someone told me about miners came unbidden to my mind (What musical note do you get when an elephant falls into a mine? A flat miner), but something tells me that this wasn't the best time and place to be telling miner jokes.
By the time the cab reached my home, I was glad to get out of the cab and back to my home. Finally, I could take a nice warm shower and retire to bed.
