Three Thumbs Up!

I love chatting with taxi drivers and barbers! They are truly walking archives of thought, amalgamated from decades of sincere human conversations.

During one of my many many taxi rides, I met a 9-fingered driver. Never did I imagine that much traffic offenses could be committed in just one trip! Anyways, after a bit of an intro, he quickly blasted away the city's 'dysfunctional' IT system. Apparently, it is a hellish sin for an applicant's digital profile not to have exactly 10 fingerprints. On security concerns, the system rejects an application faster than a heart beat. As a sadistic work around, this taxi driver has no choice but to :-

1. Hand-fill multiple outdated forms.

2. Chase down signature approvals from dumbfounded civil servants

3. Physically submit paperwork to multiple departments

4. Pray profusely the paperwork doesn't get drowned under an ocean of bureaucracy

Hardly ideal for a country infamously known for its gross administrative disorganization!

A different year and city later, I was chatting with yet another taxi driver. An extremely friendly individual with such respect for traffic rules. An epitome of customer service to say the least. He grew glowingly excited when I asked him about his three-thumbs birth defect . He boasted how the city's IT system had to bear a costly uplift to accommodate all anomalies similar to his. As far as he can remember, he never had any issues digitally fingerprinting all his 11 fingers. Nor does he know anyone that faced any predicaments similar to our earlier 9-fingered friend.

I was just really impressed by the city's consideration to the human factor. To spend all that money, for the sake of a small subset of the population is truly commendable. Months have passed since flying back home, and I still highly recommend the city as a superb tourism spot. As well as still reference my 3-thumbed friend to anyone that needs a tour guide. Interesting to think about the return of investment to the city.

Malaysians have a proverb (Bagaimana acuan begitulah kuihnya) roughly translated to 'How the mould is, that’s how the cake turns out'. Like any organization, instilling a principle of empathy does yield its fruit. The city expends its assets on the disenfranchised few. Employees feel respected and highly valued, resulting to compounded returns re-injected back to the establishment. A feedback loop held together by pillars of goodwill, justice, and equality.

Here is three thumbs up to the city with the nicest taxi driver!!!