Every time you board a private-hire car, you can anticipate getting a talkative driver or a quiet one. A Redditor who landed on the former somehow got a Grab driver who “flexed his financial muscles”, sharing his earnings and achievements, which include a Master’s degree.
The OP recounted his experience in the Singapore subreddit yesterday (20 Feb).
Source: Reddit
According to the post, the driver owns his own business too, and only drives “when he’s free”.
In his Reddit post, the OP shared that he decided to take a Grab ride home on Sunday (19 Feb) after a late shift as he had missed the last train.
Upon boarding his ride, the driver confirmed his name. This is where the pleasantries apparently ended, as the driver proceeded to ask, “Guess how much I earned today after working 14 hours on a Sunday?”
Despite being tired and a little sad over the exorbitant price of the ride, the OP still tried to be nice. He told the driver that he had no idea what Grab drivers made, but the driver insisted that he guess anyways.
When the OP gave a ballpark figure of S$300, the driver reportedly “looked offended”, and revealed that he made over S$800, after incentives and expenses. At this rate, he estimated that he could make five figures in a month.
Noting that driving long hours must be tiring, the Redditor then found out that the driver merely accepted rides “when he’s free because he’s got a business outside as well”.
The driver subsequently revealed that he owns another business, graduated from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from New York. Perhaps as a side note, he added that he already had a girlfriend while in Primary 5.
The OP’s only takeaway from the exchange was,
So basically, smart, works hard, [is] entrepreneurial, got money, and good with ladies. Anyone here wants an intro? So exhausting la. More exhausting than my work.
He then wondered if the driver was seeking his validation by sharing all the info.
Thankfully for the Redditor, he isn’t alone in having such odd conversations with ride-hailing platform drivers, judging from the responses to his post.
One user said that they have encountered similar drivers, while others have crossed paths with drivers who like to complain. Both concurred that the easiest way to deal with such drivers is to just agree with them and move on.
Source: Reddit
Others hazarded a guess that such drivers tend to overshare and even exaggerate as they are insecure about their line of work. However, not all of them are like this, as most riders do not really care and just want to get to their destination safely.
Source: Reddit
Whether you are a passenger or a driver, ride-hailing apps such as Grab give people a chance to interact with those they might not usually hang out with.
However, there will always be situations where one party is more interested to chat than the other.
So, the next time you are not up for a chat, remember that you can ride in silence now with Grab’s new ‘Quiet Ride’ function.
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Featured image adapted from Acharaporn Kamornboonyarush on Pexels.
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