Becoming a Cabby is a Viable Career Choice?

Mr. Christopher Tan, a senior correspondent on transport matters, wrote a concise and factual report of a "surge in numbers seeking to drive taxis" in the front page of today's "The Straits Times".

In summary, he says that because of an improvement in taxi drivers nett earning of 3.5k to 4k per month, work flexibility, independence, use of the taxi like a personal car, "boss-status" and other positive factors, more people are flocking to get a taxi licence. In the last decade, it was about 7,880 yearly, today, it's 9,100 yearly - an increase of 16%. The pool of taxi licence holders has increased to about 96,000, verses fewer than 90,000 before 2007, though only half are active drivers. Many get the licence as a backup in case of unemployment or drive part-time. (Ex-SIA pilots should consider this option)

Younger people and more women are joining the industry as they find the flexible working hours blends in well with their household chores, like picking kids and running errands. More time are also available for the family. In essence, the value of a taxi licence had increased tremendously and becoming a taxi driver in Singapore is a viable career choice.

However, Mr Tan did not say a word on the negative aspect of a cabby's job. I suppose his report was only to highlight the factual surge in numbers and the reasons behind it. After reading the report, which gives the impression that it could be the best job in town, a normal reader would now mull to become a cabby. All taxi companies and training centers should thank Mr. Tan for his invaluable help in their recruitment drives and potential increase in business.

Honestly, as a taxi driver myself, I'm not worried about more competition in this business. It has been a "cut-throat" business for a long time and how much worse can it get. With nearly 26,000 taxis available for service, another few thousands is only ripples in the ocean. My point is, some folks might quit their jobs to join this industry for the wrong reasons.

Besides the "attractive" aspects of a taxi driver's job, as highlighted in Mr. Tan's report, the prospective taxi driver should also look at the other side of the coin, such as the following, before he hands in the resignation letter.

1. Lack of Benefits
 A taxi driver is self-employed, with no benefits whatsoever. He won't get pay increment, annual bonus/leaves, free medical/dental expenses, employer's CPF contribution, career advancement etc.... Uniquely, a taxi driver has to pay to rest or while in sick bay. If company's benefits are factored in, a salaried worker with a face salary of $2,000 would actually get close to $3,000 monthly. Presently, the median monthly income of  half of all full-time employed Singaporean is about $3,248, inclusive of employers' CPF contribution.

2. Saving
It's difficult to save when daily collections are in cash. A 25 years person working in company will see a saving in his CPF when he   retires at 62, whereas a taxi driver will see none unless he buys an early endowment insurance policy.

3. Poor Health
To achieve an income of $4,000 plus, a driver has to drive at least 10 hours a day, 7days a week. Sitting inside a cab for such long hours without exercises is detrimental to health. Those drivers who does not take care of their health but stress themselves to hit a daily income quota would inevitably have chronic illness, like aches, high blood pressure, obesity, kidney/heart diseases, among others.

4. Job Hazards
Assaults, robbery, traffic accidents/fines, fare cheats, insults/quarrels, stress, lack of social life..etc are some common job hazards of a cabby.

5. Lost of Social Status
Driving a cab is not "glamorous" and sad to say, most people perceive taxi driving as a low prestige occupation. A driver must swallow own pride and come to term with this reality, especially for those who were ex-PMET. In addition, cab driving is a service orientated job that requires a lot of interactions with all kind of people and therefore a "tolerant" temperament is essential and be prepared to deal with difficult passengers. If you don't like to meet people, don't ever become a taxi driver because you're going to meet a lot of them, everyday at your wheel.

6. Dead-End Job
Cab driving is a dead-end job with no prospect of career advancement, though the income could provide for a frugal family of four in our increasingly expensive country. I would encourage young people to venture into more challenging careers or business, which offers better opportunities for successes and fortune. This job is most suitable for those above 50 years old and retirees or as a last resort when all else failed, just like what the PhD taxi driver did when he was fired from A*Star. (Link)
  
Having said the aforesaid, which are common knowledge to the well-heed, I welcome you to the taxi rank and wish you the best of luck.

Life is a Sum Total of Choices.

 
Today is my half yearly medical check-up at Jurong Polyclinic and I called it my rest day, albeit without pay.

Since I've some time on my hand, I would like to share with you an article that I came across recently that reads like a compass in life - human wisdom that provides guidance for living a good life. If I were much younger, I would surely use it as my guide in managing my life. Maybe you would like to share your thoughts, just like I did, on this topic of life's choices.

Here is the article entitled "Good Choices Great Lives" 

"Life is full of choices and opportunities. However, some choices will have a greater impact on your life than others. There are a few choices that will dramatically impact the quality of your life no matter when you make that choice. 

So one must know them and the best of them! 

Friendships:
The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will want you to stay where they are. Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl. Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you.

Consider this: Never receive counsel from unproductive people. Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how. Not everyone has a right to speak into your life. You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person. Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.

With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it. Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life. Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships. If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl. But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights. "A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses."

The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate - for the good and the bad.

Note: Be not mistaken. This is applicable to family as well as friends. Yes...do love, appreciate and be thankful for your family, for they will always be your family no matter what. Just know that they are human first and though they are family to you, they may be a friend to someone else and will fit somewhere in the criteria above.

"In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our friends."

"Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them." "If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.." 

(My thought: How true! I think we should wisely select our friends, instead of letting them select us. It's better to have 2 good friends than a dozens of the "good weather ones") 

Careers:

Making the choice between passion and practicality is something you really should take seriously in your career. I didn’t do it in my younger years and as a result my life was miserable in numerous ways. My health deteriorated, I was depressed, and I was always angry or anxiety ridden. A career takes up a significant part of your life, up to 65% of your day in many cases. If you hate what you do, then think about what kind of things you are going to attract into your life. The majority of your time, energy, and thoughts are being directed to your misery. It’s a simple application of the law of attraction at work. 

(My thought:  In the beginning of our working life, the majority of us do not have a clear idea of what we really like in a job. As we embarked on a discovery trip in our job, the picture becomes clearer and we eventually know what kind of career we really want. A perfect career fit is possible if you are willing to listen to what your family, teachers and good friends say about your personality, strength and weakness. More importantly, you must have the courage to make the change as early as possible. The reason for Warren Buffett's success is :"He does what he loves". Recently departed Steve Jobs said likewise: "The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it." 

Relationships: Your choice in relationships not only alters the quality of your life, but the quality of someone else’s. So, if you make a bad choice you run the risk of making two people’s lives miserable. Of course the opposite is true as well. If you make the right choice then you double the joy that goes out into the world and bring more of it back to you. Have you ever noticed how at the beginning of a relationship when you start dating somebody, everything seems too be perfect. You have a great time together and everything goes smoothly and you seem to be on a roll of attracting positive experiences into your life. Then, you stop getting along, and everything else goes to hell too. So, make sure you choose wisely.

(My thought: Don't ever believe that you can change to please your partner or hoping your partner will change for the love of you. That's a delusion. Instead ask early if both of you can accept each other the way you are. Your relationship has a very long expiry date. So, be honest and practical, especially when money matters are involved.)

To extrapolate our personal choice onto a national level, the choice we make on polling day, determines the kind of government we want.....One that serves and take care of its citizens or one that goes after A First World status with highest GDP but with scant regard of the former.

Superstition In Singapore

Mandarin word for "Prosperity"

Singapore might be one of S.E. Asia's wealthiest and most well educated society, but bizarre superstitions are still part of daily life in our predominantly ethnic Chinese city-state.

Chinese Singaporean in every strata of society and faiths and at some points in their life, believes that "invisible spirits" are breathing down their shoulders and it's best to appease these "spirits" than to provoke them. To treat superstition as irrelevant or benign could be a terrible mistake and to temp faith with obstinacy is precarious.

Even those of you who say "I'm not superstitious!" have probably at some points cross your fingers to make a cross-sign of Christian faith to fend-off evil spirits from destroying their good fortune or make a silent prayer for help from above.

In Singapore, many participates in superstitious activities, which seemingly look irrational but perceived as rational, just to get a few steps ahead of others. Even well educated Singaporean embraces superstitious practices because of the cut-throat environment here. Hence, the prevalent "kiasi" and "kiasu" mentality permeates into every Singaporean daily struggles for a better life.

A Chinese taxi driver, before he kicks off his shift, places some fresh coins on his dashboard for good business and stroke the armlets high on his arm or the amulets hanging at the rear mirror for a prosperous, safe and accident free shift ahead.

Jack Neo does an elaborate offering of a roasted pig with other goodies to someone above, before embarking on a new movie project. And Sembawang's CEO cracks a bottle of champagne at the launch of a new oil rig.

The original design of the three MBS hotel towers, without the ship-like-structures, looks like three Chinese ancestral tablets at an alter. And that was considered a bad omen as it's related to death. So the additional structure, costing extra millions was placed.

And also, the spinning direction of "Singapore Flyer" was reversed to revolve towards the land instead of outwards towards the sea. This was done with the hope that good fortune would flow inward to the business enterprise and not letting revenue flow outward to the sea.

Many aspects of Chinese Singaporean life and even national icons are not immune to superstition and feng shui practices, which is a Chinese system of geomancy to improve luck in general.

Like many cultures, Chinese superstition here are related to good and bad luck and spirits of the unknown.

Good And Bad Luck     

These two links give many good examples of omens for good luck and feng shui ( Link 1) and (Link 2). Please take a look at these two links.

But here are some uncommon superstitious beliefs from kopitiam uncles and my taxi buddies.

1. For good luck at casinos, do not walk into the entrance of the casino at the center of the walkway. Instead, go through the entrance at the extreme ends of either sides with your head bowed. In this way, the casino's spiritual guards would not notice you nor mark you for misfortune. Also, do not touch the rails of an escalators or lean against the walls in a lift. Your lucky "qi" or energies will be drawn away through these contacts.

2. At the casino tables, do not sit right infront of the croupier as he/she would suck away your good energies with combined help and strength from his managers and supervisors around. It's better to stand at a corner of the table to avoid their attack and move about to rejuvenate and recoup your strength when luck is down.

3. Gamblers are the most superstitious of the lot. In action, no gamblers like to be touched on the shoulders or head and likes to wear red underpants to attract lady luck. Many carry lucky charms or carry out some sort of a ritual before or while gambling, like silent praying, never counting money, crossing legs or accepting $50 notes as payout. They will try a variety of things to influence lady luck to smile at them.

4. When urinating onto the ground near a tree or bushes in the open, ask permission and forgiveness with a praying palms before performing the call of nature or you might die from sickness for urinating at the "God-of-Earth" or some "Wandering Spirits".

5. Upon entering a hotel room for the night, ask the "good-brother" spirit's permission to let you sleep peacefully till day break.

6. For the not so fertile couple who want to have a child, the wife should lay down on the bed of a mother who had just given birth to absorb the fertility "qi" or goodness.

7. To get good results in any exam, the candidate should wash his face with holy water from his place of worship and drink the contents too.

8. After visiting a funeral or wake and before entering a home, the person must wash his hand and face with fresh water mixed with "shiah lui" leaves to remove all evil spirit.

9. To increase sexual vitality, man must not wear underpants in bed and drinks horse urine. Similarly, woman must immerse in goat's milk and eat raw goose's egg yolk.

10. To strike 4D frequently, one must donate generously to the God of Fortune on the 9th of Sept. of the Chinese lunar calender.

11. Do not sit at the front row of a Hungry Ghost Festival's "getai", as those seats are reserved for the "unseen guests" or they will haunt till your death when offended.

12. The incremental ninth year of a person age (example: 29, 39, 49, 59, 69 etc) is besieges with ill fortune, sickness and tragedy. Avoid revealing your age at those time of your life, if you want to live longer and have a more blissful life.

The list of superstitious beliefs and practices goes on and on, in spite of the fact that we're living in a new millennium with the most advance scientific technologies in a First World country. My philosophy on this matter is in mandarin "Ke Sin Pu Ke Mee"  i.e." Can Believe, But Don't Be Blinded".

Many Chinese Singaporean are followers of Buddhism, which do not practice superstitious beliefs, whereas Taoism followers, on the other hand, are regular practitioners. But both religion itself does not have such practices. A lot of them will just try because to them there is no harm in trying. As long as we don't let superstition control our life, believing in something that will bring us good luck is actually beneficial.

As Singapore is a cosmopolitan city-state, the local Indians and Malays have their own unique sets of peculiar superstitious beliefs and practices but it revolves around the same basic belief in luck and spirits like the Chinese.  

Tell me if you know of other lesser known superstitious beliefs in Singapore. Thank You!.

To all my Chinese readers:

Wishing You " A Happy & Prosperous Chinese Lunar New Year"
                      " May the Year of the Snake Brings Good Health &
                        Happiness to You & Your Family"

Three Characters Sadden Me in a Single Night.

If you've been a reader here for a long time (and I thank you), you may noticed that my posts had become less frequent lately. That was because there are only so many hours in a day and I was spending more and more time on the road due to LTA's mandatory 250km/day ruling on taxis. Inevitably, it takes a toll on this old boney frame of mine and I seriously need more rest and sleep to stay alive.

Anyway, I'm not a fast writer and like to roast phrases over and over until the they sound right to my mental ear like the sound of biting into a well roasted, succulent Peking duck. Honestly, I would love to write more but because..excuses, ....excuses.!

Now, seriously, I've been longing to write this post lately. Why?. To get rid of all the rotten luck that had struck me since the beginning of this new year.

First, I don't know why I forgot to buy my regular 4D number and it came out First Price on the very day I forgot, resulting in 40k being blown away with the wind. More amazingly, I had three episodes a few night ago that could serve as a model of how despicable some local folks can be when money is concerned and what ass luck I had to I've met those ass-holes. And it all happened in a single night that gospelised the Hokkien saying - " Bo San Put Seng Lay" (meaning "No Three Is Bad Manners).

The chronology of the three episodes went something like this.

8.30 p.m.  I picked up a Chinese lady, twenty something, at Parc Oasis  in Jurong East. She told me that she was in a hurry to join the maddening crowd at the WP political rally at Rivervale Crescent. As we hid the PIE expressway, I could tell from the short conversation we had that she was a loyal WP supporter.

8.45 p.m. "Whom did you vote in the last G.E." came the shocking question. "Sorry. Miss, it's my secret". I replied promptly. There was total silence for the rest of the journey. She seems offended.

8.50 p.m. We stopped about half a kilometer from the rally site due to traffic jam. She paid the fare of about $25 with a credit card. I thanked her but she disembarked without a word and disappeared into the maddening rally crowd.

9.00 p.m. Stopping to have a puff, I routinely search for debris left by passengers. Wow!, sitting on the back seat was an iPhone. The phone was not locked but only 5% of battery was left, which means that if its owner doesn't call me soon, the phone will loose its charge and it cannot be returned. From experience, I checked the address book and called the best person - "Dad" with my phone.
He answered and I blah...blah...the story. "Return the phone to......and I'll pay you the metered fare. I promised", he promised soundly.

9.30 p.m. At reaching the agreed destination, an elderly man came to meet me and I handed over the iPhone. He thanked me and asked for a receipt of the fare. "Mister, may I come back with the money for the fare as I don't have enough now", he pleaded. "Ok, how much do you have now". I asked. He took out a $5 note but the fare was $20. "Ok, I'll wait for the balance". He never return. What promise?

10.00 p.m. After cruising without customers for about half an hour, I finally picked up two young Caucasian along Sixth Avenue. They wanted to drop at two places. First stop, a condo at Amber Road and then East Coast Road. I was delighted as the fare would be about $20. They looked decent and chatted among themselves with accents like British students at an International School here. But soon I was to discover that looks can be very deceiving. 

After dropping the first guy, we reached the second drop-off in less than 5 minutes. East Coast Road around Frankle Ave was dimly lighted and deserted. As soon as I stopped my cab at the spot the chap wanted, he dashed out like a lighting flash into the darkness. My old weaken limbs could not gave chase and there went my half portion of succulent Peking duck. What ass luck!

11.30 p.m.  Again, cruising around without passengers for another half an hour, I stopped at a traffic light junction of Orchard Road/Scotts Road/Patterson Road. In front of me was a white Mercedes Benz 350E, with a dark skinned driver. We waited for the traffic light to turn green so that we could turn right. 

When the light did turned green, I expected the driver to move off and I lightly pressed on my accelerator to move forward. Shockingly, that joker remained stationary!. I bumped into his rear lightly. He got out of his Benz and me too. We examined for damages of his bumper. There was no serious damages or any dents, only a slight scratch at his bumper. He angrily accused me of being reckless and demanded a compensation of $800 for repair of his expensive Benz or he would make a police report to claim from my insurance company. 

I admitted that I made a mistake and pleaded for forgiveness and compassion for an old taxi driver who does not earn much as a cabby. If an insurance claim is made against me, I would instantly loose a thousand bucks. That would mean about 200 hours of driving without pay.

After some intense pleading with him, he finally relented. I emptied my wallet of about $400 and gave it to him. I think he knew the damage to his car was very minor, only a slight scratch, almost invisible if you do not where to look for it and he does not want the hassle of making an insurance claim. Though he accepted my plead, he certainly wasn't magnanimous nor compassionate. He was greedy and could not resists the opportunity and temptation of making an easy few hundred dollars from a poor taxi driver. What f.... ass luck I had!

12.00 a.m. I decided to call it a day. Cruising smoothly along the coast with refreshing flowers and plants greeting me from the road side, made me changed my mood from one of cursing anger to one of cool and calm reflection of man's moral values. In a matter of less than 4 hours, I encountered three sets of despicable characters in Singapore....an elderly man breaking promises without shame, a set of fare cheats and a rich man without empathy for the less well off. All these three reprehensible characters shared one thing in common....the irresistible love of $$$$$$$. 

With the current hustings at Rivervale Crescent, I hope the successful candidate who enters office is doing it out of pure goodness of character and not out of personal greed, fame, ambition or in love with $$$$$$$$$$. May the MP of Punggol East be that kind of person.