Just an incident during my official trip in Chennai few days ago:
After office I was heading towards my hotel in a cab (ola). The fat and young driver of the cab seemed a bit frustrated. He was attending frequent calls, as I could guess, from his home. Continuously speaking in Tamil which I could not decipher but I could sense he was irritated with the calls. After sometime he started talking to me-
Driver (in his Tamil acsent): "Too much traffic sir. Chhahh. Heavy traffic. chhahh"
The word 'chhahh' seemed to be his punctuation when he was irritated.
Me: "Yes, it is"
Driver: "Ola money or cash sir?" He asked me way before my destination.
Me: "ola money"
Driver: "chhahh sir chhahh. No ola money sir. Cash sir. Chhahh."
Me: "what?"
Driver: "I want cash sir. No ola money sir"
I was wondering why he was adamant on cash. I became a bit angry over his demand. I replied, " Why ? I have ola money, why should I pay cash?"
Driver: "No sir, return ola money, chhahh, I will take cash"
Me (showing a bit of anger): "No. I will not return ola money. I will not give cash to you"
On seeing me angry, he fell silent. After driving for a couple of kms, he started speaking again: "Sir, you can get down. I will not charge anything. I will return in cash the Ola money deducted from your account. Chhahh. You can take another cab." This time I could feel a heavyness in his voice.
There is something, that I was missing in this situation. So I decided to probe a bit.
Me: "Why you don't want to take ola money?"
Driver: "Sir, from morning everyone is giving ola money, chhahh. I have no cash. Only ₹200. I can swipe card for petrol. But where will I get food? No swiping for food."
I was curious whether still we have long lines outside ATMs. But his situation seemed authentic. Leaving the cab in the middle won't serve anyone's objective. So I decided to help him out.
After fiddling the app I discovered how to transfer ola money to any of your friend's account and transferred the total amount before reaching my destination. Afterwards, I paid him cash when I reached my hotel. He was way more thankful to me for going out of the way to help him. Although it was hardly any effort for me, but it had huge importance to him.
Sometimes, not being adamant to stick to rules is the right thing to do!
After office I was heading towards my hotel in a cab (ola). The fat and young driver of the cab seemed a bit frustrated. He was attending frequent calls, as I could guess, from his home. Continuously speaking in Tamil which I could not decipher but I could sense he was irritated with the calls. After sometime he started talking to me-
Driver (in his Tamil acsent): "Too much traffic sir. Chhahh. Heavy traffic. chhahh"
The word 'chhahh' seemed to be his punctuation when he was irritated.
Me: "Yes, it is"
Driver: "Ola money or cash sir?" He asked me way before my destination.
Me: "ola money"
Driver: "chhahh sir chhahh. No ola money sir. Cash sir. Chhahh."
Me: "what?"
Driver: "I want cash sir. No ola money sir"
I was wondering why he was adamant on cash. I became a bit angry over his demand. I replied, " Why ? I have ola money, why should I pay cash?"
Driver: "No sir, return ola money, chhahh, I will take cash"
Me (showing a bit of anger): "No. I will not return ola money. I will not give cash to you"
On seeing me angry, he fell silent. After driving for a couple of kms, he started speaking again: "Sir, you can get down. I will not charge anything. I will return in cash the Ola money deducted from your account. Chhahh. You can take another cab." This time I could feel a heavyness in his voice.
There is something, that I was missing in this situation. So I decided to probe a bit.
Me: "Why you don't want to take ola money?"
Driver: "Sir, from morning everyone is giving ola money, chhahh. I have no cash. Only ₹200. I can swipe card for petrol. But where will I get food? No swiping for food."
I was curious whether still we have long lines outside ATMs. But his situation seemed authentic. Leaving the cab in the middle won't serve anyone's objective. So I decided to help him out.
After fiddling the app I discovered how to transfer ola money to any of your friend's account and transferred the total amount before reaching my destination. Afterwards, I paid him cash when I reached my hotel. He was way more thankful to me for going out of the way to help him. Although it was hardly any effort for me, but it had huge importance to him.
Sometimes, not being adamant to stick to rules is the right thing to do!
