Saturday, February 17, 2007
::cab snatchers!!!::
The world is full of inconsiderate pests and I had the great misfortune of bumping into not 1 but many of them yesterday!! I took the train from school to Outram hoping that there would be cabs at the taxi stand but to my surprise there were none at all. I was hurrying back home because my family was having the reunion dinner earlier this year as my mom and grandfather would be overseas by New Year's Eve. The queue at the taxi stand was quite long and the taxis were all on call and none stopped. To make things worse, some idiots stood before the taxi stand queue trying to flag taxis!! And that was extremely unfair to those in the queue because if everyone did that, those in the queue will never be able to board the cab and hell, what's the purpose of the taxi stand then!?!??! MY GOODNESS can't they be more gracious and considerate?!? It's not as though they are the only ones in the world who is in a hurry!!!!!!! Anyway, after someone successfully hailed a cab by snatching it and this old couple with their granddaughter in tow tried to do the same thing. And they were at the back of the queue, next to me. The guy who was in front of the queue confronted them by telling them that what they were doing was wrong and told them that if they wanted to get a cab, they should join the queue like everyone else. Boy weren't they pissed at him! Anyway, after grumbling amongst themselves for a while, another guy at the back managed to snatch
another cab and the horrible old hag started scolding the poor guy who had told them off. She was saying why didn't he lecture the other guy who had boarded the cab and yada yada yada. Now this was when I got seriously pissed at her and yes, a pissed me isn't to be trifled with! I told her off immediately, saying in Mandarin why couldn't they be like everyone else, join the queue and wait. It's not as though they are the only ones in a hurry and all that, why can't they be considerate? And I said all this in a very calm tone, all the while leaning against the bar infront of me. The bitch PRETENDED not to hear me and I got disgusted and tapped her shoulder. And that's when she got all ballistic and that's when the fun started!! =)
Old Hag (looking damn pissed): Why you tap my shoulder?!?!
Me (looking dead calm): Because you were ignoring me when I'm talking to you and I wanted your attention.
Old Hag (looking more pissed): Then why you tap my shoulder??!? I ALSO DUNNO YOU!!
Me (looking still as calm as ever): Ok lor, then it's my fault that I tapped your shoulder, so?
Old Hag (looking slightly smug) + husband smirking there happily watching the show: Where are you from?!?! (你哪里来的?!?! was what she said in Chinese and she was looking at what I was wearing while asking the question.)
Me (thinking about her amusing little question): 什么我哪里来的？(What do you mean where do I come from? At this point many answers came to my mind, for example: Boon Lay, Singapore, NTU. Poor thing, surely you are not thinking I am from from JC or Poly or Sec school where you can write to and complain?!?! But if she's thinking that, then I should be happy! I look younger than my real age!)
Me (happily trying to continue with my reasoning while she pretended to ignore me again): Why are you so inconsiderate and impolite? Why can't you spare a thought for those people in front of you who have been in the queue for so long?
Old Hag (totally can't stand me anymore and told her husband): Let's go! -yada yada-
Me: Ok lor, it's for the better that you are leaving! So old already still so rude!
Old Hag (continued mumbling in the distance in hokkien): that woman blah blah blah ...
And guess what, after she left, all the taxis started coming and soon I was already the 3rd person at the queue! At this point, I saw something that made me feel good. The next 2 taxis that came did not stop for those outrageous cab snatchers who started appearing! They came all the way to the front of the queue!! I salute those taxi uncles for doing the right thing! The cab that I got on also had a very nice taxi uncle who totally agreed with me telling those people off. We had a pretty good chat. He said I did the right thing! I had the right to fight for my own rights! But the saddest thing was that he thought I am a teacher! Surely I don't look that old? However, those who were in the same queue as me were totally passive about those pesky cab snatchers and only know how to "look at show" and cast not-very-nice glances at me as I scolded the old bitch. But hey, I'm doing everyone who is in the queue a favor and that's what I get? Icy stares? It's sad that many Singaporeans are so kiasi. I recounted the incident to my family when I got back and they also felt that I did right. My father felt that I shouldn't have tapped that woman's shoulder though. Ok, I'll be careful with the shoulder tapping thing then. =)
But anyway, the reunion dinner was good and I was happy, fell asleep with a full stomach. Happy Chinese New Year everyone!
