DAYLIGHT ROBBERY AT KLIA

Last night, I approached the clerk at the KLIA taxi counter headed "Budget" and announced my destination. She asked me, "Mewah?" to which I replied that I would have gone to the appropriate counter had I wanted anything else but a budget taxi. Without looking up at me, she told me the fare and casually added that there would be a long wait for a budget taxi. I paid the fare, collected the coupon and headed for Gate #3, anticipating a long queue of passengers waiting for a budget taxi to appear. To my surprise, I found there was no one waiting in line for the budget taxi; instead, there were 4 budget taxis waiting to pick up passengers! During the ride home, I wondered why the counter clerk cautioned me about the long wait when there was none in the first place.

How would she know if there was a queue, anyway, since the pick-up point was out of her sight and she was not in communication with the usher at the pick-up point? Were the clerks paid a commission that varied with the type of taxi "sold"? If not, then why would the clerk "encourage" passengers to go for the premier taxis, leaving the budget taxi drivers without passengers? Or was there far too many premier taxis that needed "help" to generate sufficient revenues to meet the target? Or did the passengers prefer to pay less for the budget taxi? By the time I reached home about 40 minutes later, I still could not figure out why.

So, this morning, I looked at the situation again, but from a different angle, and concluded that either:

(a) the clerks were given a free hand by their employer to operate the taxi desk in any way the clerks saw fit (courtesy & integrity being irrelevant to service), or

(b) the clerks knew that Malaysians were such a grateful lot that paying a little extra for the petrol-engined taxi is no big deal, so long as they could reach home.

In either case, that appears to be the manner services are generally dispensed in Malaysia, don't you agree?

But not when they deal with me.....

Regards
KASSIM S.A.