'My eyes small but not sleeping': Private hire driver's passive-aggressive notes amuse passenger

A private hire driver here seems to have had just about enough of people giving him bad reviews without communicating with him first.

In a Facebook post yesterday (May 26), user Clara Fu shared images of the interior of her private hire driver's car and the many passive-aggressive and hostile notes that covered the plastic divider between the front and back seats.

"This driver must have seen it all," Fu wrote on her post, amused by the comprehensive notes pasted all over the divider.

"Thought [it] was ah long [who] pasted papers," a commenter said on the post.

The term 'ah long' refers to loan shark in Hokkien.

"My eyes small but [I'm] not sleeping!" One sign on the plastic divider reads, much to the enjoyment of many netizens that repeated this statement in the comments.

The driver also had multiple signs up specifically telling passengers not to complain.

"Be grateful to have [the] driver pick you," a sign in the middle of the divider states. "Don't complain!"

"Want extra service? Please tell me, don't complain!" Another sign reads.

"Driver's just [trying to] earn a living," another message states. "Please don't complain [this and that]!"

Some netizens felt something was amiss, however, and that this driver shouldn't deserve a five-star rating or good reviews.

"You block the [air-conditioning] to the back, why didn't you think of the [passenger's] comfort?" A Facebook user wrote in the comments. "Only think about yourself. I will give you [a one-star rating]."

"Looks so messy. How to give five-star [rating]?" Another user questioned in the comments.

He wasn't rude

One user claimed to have been a passenger in this vehicle before and said that the driver was "crazy".

The user said that this driver got angry for "no reason" when a message on the Tada app glitched out, and asked her to get out of his vehicle.

"He [braked] so hard before I [could] put on [my] seatbelt, then I almost [fell] off the seat," the user said in her comment.

Despite this user's bad experience, Fu, who posted the image, told AsiaOne that her experience with the driver was good and that while his tone was serious and firm, he wasn't rude at any point.

"We did make an effort not to talk too loudly too, so I guess his 'notices' worked," Fu admitted in jest.

On why she posted that image, Fu said that she had "found [them] quite amusing" and she "wanted to share" them.

"When we reached the destination [the driver] even said 'thank you'," Fu added. "It [kind of] goes to show there must be plenty of unpleasant passengers around."

There have been other instances where Grab drivers have sent the wrong message and offended others, despite their personal belief that their intentions are good.

In 2020, a GrabHitch driver was suspended after he sent anti-LGBTQ texts to a passenger — he insisted that his statements were not abusive, and that "political slogans" should not be shown in a public space.

READ ALSO: Angry Gojek driver insists dog owner cancel his ride, for booking the 'wrong service'. He refuses. Who is right?

khooyihang@asiaone.com