I was travelling back home in the bus yesterday, and an incident left me thinking.

The bus I usually take from my workplace gets crowded along the way.. Too crowded that everyone gets squashed like sardines in a can. Yesterday, an Indian man (foreigner) was about to alight from the bus when he discovered that his ez-link card could not be read. He tried to tap his card but the 'beep (x5)' went on. So most of us know that when this happens, most probably the card wasn't tapped properly at the entrance earlier, which also means he just had a free ride.

And most of us would just leave the bus and go on our way, grinning to ourselves on how we managed to save up on the few cents. But this guy wasn't that aware of what's happening and got really flustered. He quickly ran out of the bus, and ran to the entrance to speak with the driver to tell him what's going on. This time, I was curious to see what the bus driver would tell him to do.

What shocked me was, this gentleman's honesty wasn't really appreciated by the driver. I heard the driver shouting at the top of his voice, but I couldn't catch what he was saying as I was seated quite far behind. All I heard was a 'Just, get out.' by the driver, at the end of their conversation.

Was the driver rude to him because that's just the way he is, or was he rude because he thought that it made no sense to be nice to a foreign worker? If it's the latter, I think it's very sad.. Foreigners are humans after all, and they deserve to be treated fairly. Not ostracized.

But coming to think of it, some bus drivers have simply no manners. I have personally come across rude drivers who "bark" at people who ask them for directions. I don't think only employees in the Marketing/ Sales lines needs some customer service training. Bus drivers need the trainings too. After all, we're paying for the transport and not travelling for free.

Everything these days increase.. Including the bus fares. And it's sad that we're not getting the proper treatment for it.

Moral of the story: It's doesn't pay to be honest at times.. Sometimes, it's just not worth the hassle.