The Random Truths

As a frequent taxi user, for me there are at least three crucial things that a taxi driver should know to make the ride enjoyable and comfortable for the passengers-and I think most people would agree with me. If you work in a taxi company, or know someone inside, feel free to pass this along so they can strive to be better at customer service ^^

1. Body odor is NON TOLERABLE
Being someone who is super sensitive about smelly ket, the one thing that annoys me the most when taking a cab is when the driver is smelly! Smelly ket, small closed space, one of my worst nightmares! Yes I know they've been working all day, and perhaps they're exposed to sunlight and heat more often than not, but there is something called deodorant.. And I think it would be in the best interest of the taxi companies to give a certain budget for their drivers to buy deodorant. Or maybe this is an opportunity for Rexona to do sampling in taxi pools? Hmm.. ^^;;

2. A little less convesation please...
Personally, I like taxi drivers who speak as necessary. Asking for directions, about the passenger's convenience (Is the aircon too cold, would I need to move my seat forward, etc) and making small talks about the weather and traffic is acceptable. What I don't like is when they constantly talk to me when I have clearly shown I want some alone time, or even worse, when you're having a conversation with your friends in the taxi and they act like they're a part of the conversation. Once Mike,Michum,Pak Hamdan and I were in this taxi, and we were laughing about how Mbak Indri treats Jonah's 37.5 degree temperature as such a big deal, and the taxi driver laughed and commented, "hahaha... 37.5??". Helloo..?? Yes sure they need to be friendly, but I think there's a line between friendly and sok akrab (can't find the english term for this), and sok akrab is definitely not good.

3. Silence is golden
I think all taxi company should make it clear to their drivers that it would be best to leave the radio OFF. Because they can't possibly know what genre of music every passenger is into, right? And for some passengers, like me, listening to music/radio that you don't like can be quite irritating. For instance, this taxi driver whose cab I took a couple of days ago. He was listening to this dangdut radio,and the announcer was really annoying. I respect people's taste in music genres, but did he really have to listen to the radio when there was a passenger? And on such a loud volume? I wasn't being my aggressive self that day, because I was afraid of being rude, so instead I played passive-aggressive,turned on my iPod, and hum and sang to beat the radio ^^ it seemed to work at first, when the driver asked me for directions and I didn't hear him because of my iPod, he turned off the radio. I thought, great-it worked! But of course, I was wrong.. After I answered, he immediately turned the volume up again ^^;; so after that I got back to the passive-aggressive mode once again, hehe.

So those are my 3 most important things to ensure a comfortable taxi ride, all equally important, and all of which I hope can someday be entered to Blue Bird/any other taxi company's manual book for drivers. Amin to that!

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