Ubiquitous

I’m not your uncle!

10 Jun 2009 No Comments

by Ubiquityin Pain in the asses, Reality bites Tags: muses, rude cab drivers

It is a known fact that in Singapore, cab drivers are OFTEN referred/addressed as ‘Uncle’ or for the least common female drivers, ‘Aunty’. These terms are also used for provision shop owners, hawkers and elderly neighbors. Note: they are in actual fact NOT always related to anyone we know in particular. The notion to this is mainly because it is a general term of respect for someone usually older than you. Especially when you don’t know their names.

Anyway, something strange happened to me yesterday. I was in the cab with my boyfriend on our way home. It was a regular Comfort cab and nothing out of the ordinary happened until we reached our destination. After receiving the change for our cab fare, I thanked the driver, “Thank you uncle!” and started to get out, but before I could, the driver turned to me with a furious look on his face, looked at me straight in the eye and shouted, “DON’T CALL ME UNCLE AH! STOOOOPID! I’M NOT YOUR UNCLE!”

In a split second, I seriously thought that he was just kidding around but the sinister look on his face tells me otherwise. I was almost scared. Right that very moment, I was aching to retort back but I was dumbfounded. I got out of the car, slammed his door shut and he sped away mumbling to himself.

That has got to be the most rotten taxi driver I have ever met! He seriously got a HUGE problem! Not only was I polite to him but hell, I even tipped!