This post is originally from a collaborative blog but since it's under construction (more details to come) and I'm long overdue for a new post I'm going to post what I wrote here as well.
Dear friend,
I would highly advise you to turn down an offer from a moto taxi
driver who is carrying fresh groceries. Within a week I have had two
encounters with a taxi driver ferrying fresh vegetation and the other,
raw fish.
You may raise your eyebrow at my advice and judge me in your thoughts
that I am merely grocery prejudiced. Let me explain my words of advice.
The most important reason why you should turn down a driver who has a
plastic bag of tomatoes, string beans and what have you, strapped in
the front of his moto is he may in fact not be a taxi driver. It is most
likely that he is on his way home to bring home the purchased goods for
his mother or wife to prepare dinner and wants to seize an opportunity
to make a quick buck.
“Bah!” you say. “What’s is wrong with supporting a man on a moto? Is
it his fault that he has fallen into a fortunate disposition?”
My friend, a man with a moto does not make a taxi driver. Does a girl
with a brush make her a hairstylist? A man with Tylenol a pharmacist?
Although I have no trouble paying for someone’s honest services, you
must consider that he may not know where he is going and may in fact
cause you more trouble if you are not familiar with the roads and cost
you your time (and his).
Secondly, in my experience moto drivers with fresh groceries tend to
be slower on the road. Perhaps this is because he is afraid of his fish
flopping out of his front basket if he hits a pot hole.
Yes, it may cause you distress as your nostrils share a motorcylcle
with three raw fish on a hot sweltering day, but my final point is not a
selfish one. Consider the “taxi” driver’s family. While he has his
groceries and is driving you around town, every minute you are on his
moto means another minute his family has to go without food. Think of
the children.