A 28-year-old Grab private-hire driver called Teckwee Ng shared his unpleasant experience with a rude passenger in a lengthy Facebook post on Apr. 10.
His post has been shared 877 times, with 295 comments and 405 reactions at the time of writing.
While his post was written in English, the entire exchange he had with the passenger was in Mandarin.
Picked up a woman around midnight
Ng states that he has been in this line for 1.5 years and has been working the midnight shift.
The incident allegedly happened at 12:19am on Mar. 28.
He had picked up a female Chinese passenger at Park Royal Collection Marina Bay.
The passenger, who looked to be in her 20s, was heading to Dunman Regency on 485 Dunman Road.
Ng noted that like most passengers, she remained "quiet and nice" throughout the ride.
Another man got into the ride
After reaching the destination, the passenger called someone on her phone, presumably so the person could come and pay for the ride in cash.
Ng then drove towards the man, who was standing next to the road on 487 Dunman Road.
After walking towards Ng's car, the man opened the door to the backseat and told the female passenger to "move in a little", before getting in.
Image by Teckwee Ng.
Ng informed both passengers that they will need to make a new booking if they wish to get to another location as he had already accepted his next booking.
According to Ng, the man ignored him, and told him to "go straight" while continuing his conversation with the woman.
Assuming the man "was lazy to walk a few metres towards the traffic light or something", Ng complied and drove around 30 metres towards the traffic light, stopping 10 metres away to avoid making an illegal drop-off.
The man subsequently told Ng to "turn left ahead", to which Ng reminded him again to make a new booking if he would like to go to another location.
Ng reminded him of the fare as well, saying: "My next passenger is waiting for me. S$17.30, please."
The man then allegedly produced a small stack of S$50 and S$100 notes before paying Ng -- a gesture that Ng believed was to show off his wealth.
After accepting a S$50 note, Ng then proceeded to gather the right amount of change for him, which was S$32.70.
Vulgarity rampage
Ng said that when he tried to pass the change to him, the man rejected the money, and went on a vulgarity rampage, shouting profanities while "pointing his index finger" at Ng's face.
Ng retaliated: "Oi, if you want to scold me, go ahead, why do you scold my mother?"
The man then allegedly reprimanded Ng, saying he should do as he was told instead of "speaking so much".
Ng also claimed that the man said he didn't want to alight in front of his home as it wouldn't be "good" for the woman if his four sons catch him "at this hour" with her.
Ng continued his attempt to reason with the man, explaining that unlike a metered taxi, he could not simply change the destination if it was already set on the app.
He added: "We drivers are humans too, how could you scold someone else's mother just like that?"
According to Ng, the man went on to mock him, saying: "You chauffeurs are all beggars, all of you are bastards. Customer is king, we are always right. Which company are you from? Would you like me to make your company bankrupt?"
Image by Teckwee Ng.
As a driver under Grab, Ng laughed in response, "You want to make my company bankrupt? Go ahead if you want."
Threatened to get the police to arrest him
The heated back-and-forth continued for a while longer before Ng asked the man if he was going to alight.
The man had refused, and even threatened to get the police to detain Ng. The man also claimed that his son is working as an "inspector" in the police force.
It was at this point that Ng felt his patience running thin, and considered physically dragging the man out from his car.
Turning to the woman, Ng said, "Take the change first, take it and alight from my car."
The man then allegedly threatened to break her arms if she took the change, and to break her legs if she got out of the car.
Ng subsequently got out from his car and went around to open the door to the backseat.
The altercation continued for a few more moments, during which the man said he was 60 years old, and offered to show Ng his Singapore identity card.
The man also allegedly refused to accept the "chump change" from Ng.
Driver ended work early
Despite it being a Saturday night, which Ng said was the "best sales day for the week", he ended work immediately after the incident.
Ng expressed his gratitude and apologies to the passenger whose booking he had accepted, but could not fulfil due to the altercation he just had.
You can read the entire post here:
Netizens' comments
Many netizens were impressed by Ng's patience and suggested that he simply go straight to the police next time should he run into such a customer again.
Top images by Teckwee Ng on Facebook.