Yahoo! Newsroom - In his first post on Taxi Talk this week, Mr M
speaks about the ups and downs of being a taxi driver (AP file
photo)
Mr M, 47, was a former senior sales and marketing
manager at an electronics MNC for nine years before he was
retrenched in 2009. Married with a wife and twin teenage sons, he
tried his hand at being a financial advisor for a year before
deciding to become a taxi driver. He has been running his taxi
service since 2011. He survived a heart-attack in late 2012 and now
has four stents in his heart. His philosophy on life is now to live
well, stay healthy and to share his real-life experiences. In his
first post on Taxi Talk this week, he speaks about the ups and
downs of being a taxi driver.
Taxi driving is a hard life as I work long hours of between 14 –
16 hours each day. On a typical week, I clock about 80 – 100 hours
on the road.
It’s a job of “no choice of choices” as I shared with my fellow
colleagues who have suffered the same fate as me and were also
retrenched. Initially, it was tough going as my retrenchment
benefits payout didn’t last me more than six months. I also became
depressed and felt a deep sense of betrayal, self-denial and
hopelessness.
I never imagined I would turn to running my own taxi as a
full-time job. From a comfy $7,000/month job, I was relegated to
earning a mere $2,000/month. My family’s lifestyle had to be
adjusted, with steep cost-cutting measures ranging from eating more
home cooked food, buying cheaper groceries, less time and money
spent shopping, less TV and no holidays.
The initial job loss made the whole family very nervous.
Nonetheless, I assured them that as the father and head of the
family, we would overcome all adversity and I would strive to give
them a good life and education. My kids were apprehensive and had
their doubts about my new job -- whether I could cope with the job
change, the difference in status, the safety of driving on the
roads, and dealing with difficult customers.
Almost everyday, I would share with them my many encounters with
customers and their stories and experiences, and how they could
learn from these stories. After a few weeks of driving on the job,
I had proved to them that all their doubts and worries were
unfounded. They have since stopped worrying for me and re-focussed
back on their studies.
Spending your entire day on the road can be stressful. Road
bullying by heavy trucks, coping with peak hour traffic jams,
accidents, dealing with unreasonable, unruly or drunk passengers
are all part of a day’s work.
But with the strong support of my faith, hope and love from my
family, I picked up the courage to inject new energy into my job
and to think and act positively.
Despite working longer hours, I also learnt that being a taxi
driver allowed me to adopt flexible time arrangement with family
and friends. I began to enjoy picking up, meeting and talking to
many different customers each day.
I also began to wear different hats for different purposes –
tour guide, listener, consultant, counselor, story-teller, adviser,
food expert and motivator.
Eventually I treated every day as a learning journey, sharing my
life experiences with my customers while learning new skills of
engaging customers on a wide array of topics.
Smart taxi driving is also about good time discipline and
management, good local knowledge of roads as well as being able to
take advantage of new technologies such as using GPS or iPhone
apps. While on the road, I also take charge of my own health,
listening to “new age” music to de-stress while trying to exercise
regularly, eating a proper diet and having sufficient good
rest.
I now try to maintain a positive and honest attitude, empathise
and manage my customers’ expectations, as well as provide good
customer support and services. “Driving is my business,
communication is my hobby” is my new personal motto.
In this column, I will be sharing more about my daily encounters
with my customers and my own personal reflections about life in
Singapore. I hope to have your support. See you in my next
column.
