Diesel

High diesel prices? Bollocks. Or at least it is to the Malay driver of a Premier KIA taxi I took to work this morning (yes, i zouked last night, peeled myself off the bed at 10am, and was horribly late for my last day of work).

With the way he accelerated and floored the gas, one would think that diesel has fallen back to 60cents per litre. Not that I'm complaining cause I obviously wanted to get to work as soon as possible but I wondered a little about how his lack of fuel conservancy will affect his earnings. Personally, I've become a tortoise of a driver; slow, slow, pick up, and a cruising speed a couple of km/h +/- the speed limit. Gas is expensive, and I'm a poor bloke.

It was a pleasant surprise when I arrived though. It states clearly on a sticker on the window that there would be a 30cents diesel surcharge added to the fare. Given my abysmal math ability, I asked him how much it would cost after adding the surcharge to my $9.80 fare. Guess what? He smiled, shook his head and said "Don't worry about that! Have a nice day!" Wow. Nice dude. Nice guys lose out, don't they? 30cents per customer. Maybe it's immaterial, as Angela would put it.