Just as there are good drivers and bad drivers, there are also good riders and bad riders. We asked Grab drivers who are members of the Philippine Transportation Network Organization if they had ever encountered “passengers from hell” and they had a lot of stories to share.
The Grab drivers didn’t name names, of course. But, yes, we definitely concur that there are passengers who make the rest of us look bad. Here are some of them.
1. The passengers who want to be treated like royalty. Driver A related, “There was this woman whom I picked up at her house in Quezon City. She gets into my car and tells me, ‘Hey, kuya, I am not giving you a five-star rating because you didn’t open the door for me. You should get out of the car and then open the door so I can get into the backseat.” When asked if the woman was elderly, pregnant, or physically-challenged, Driver A said, “No. She was probably around her early 30s. She was not carrying anything heavy either.”
For her part, Driver B said, “I’ve had passengers who talk to me as if I’m their very own servant. I’ve been made to feel dumb by them. One time, I just cried out of frustration.”
Speaking of which, check out this exchange, wherein a passenger wanted the Grab driver to literally get out of his comfort zone.
2. The passengers who want to defy the transportation laws, as well as the laws of science. Just take a look at these riders who wanted the drivers to accomodate them even if there were too many of them.
3. The passengers with rather disturbing intentions. Take a look at this crazy note that came with a booking.
4. The passengers who want to use the premium car service to transport construction materials. There are just no words for this. There are trucks that you can hire for this purpose.
5. The passengers who say they’re there when they aren’t. This infuriates a lot of drivers. It’s not very considerate to say you’re in a certain spot when you are actually not there. This is a rather widespread practice among passengers who claim that they don’t want to wait for the Grab car to appear. They would rather make the driver wait for them, which is very rude because time is literally money for these drivers.
For their part, Grab drivers admit that there are, indeed, some of them who may not be ideal drivers. However, that still doesn’t give anyone the license to treat all of them badly.
