Stupid Me.
Hi,
Yesterday was an eventful day. I had a meeting at Deira, Dubai at 12 PM. After the meeting, which went on well, I took a cab to go to Bur Dubai.
I had some small talk with the cab driver, and came to know that he was basically from Fallujah, Iraq. He was saying that his family was in Fallujah, he was trying to bring them to Dubai… but has been unsuccessful so far.
The fare to my destination was 13 Dhirams. I opened my wallet and gave 20 Dhirams, but he mentioned he did not have the change of 7 dhirams. I usually carry some change in my leather bag… and I opened the leather bag and paid 3 dhirams in change.
As soon as I stepped out of the cab, I realized that I had forgot my wallet in the car. Also I did not know number of the car… Stupid me…
I immediately called up the national taxi office and gave a complaint regarding the loss of my wallet. The complaint cell executive mentioned that they can only confirm once the vehicles come back to HO late evening, and, if the driver hands over the same to the lost and found department. They asked me to call back around 4 PM in the evening and check out on development, if any..
I was disappointed… and was cursing, how stupid of me to carry so much cash (more than $500) and how I could forget it in the cab… the whole afternoon I was wondering what to do.. in case, I do not get the wallet.. which also had my credit cards, important papers etc. I was praying, hoping that I would get my wallet…
Till evening when I did not get a call from the cab office, and neither did the driver turn it.. and the building he drop me… I had lost all hope of getting it, and was wondering if the driver would have taken all the monies and thrown the wallet into the Persian Gulf… Stupid me…
Evening I called the office, and they said that none of the drivers who turned in at 4 PM returned any wallet… the slim hope I had was fast fading away, and then I decided to visit the National Taxi office, to make an request in person.
The company executive, Mark, was kind enough to let me know that they would do their best to trace the driver and followup on my case… The cars did not have a GPRS system (I’m told that Dubai Transport has the facility) that can trace the car details on the path and time I mention.
Mark, then suggested the time-tested method of identifying the driver by the photograph, and they had more than 1000 photos in their driver databank.. I was looking for sitting the whole night to search the databank… I started to browse the photos, and casually mentioned that the driver was from Iraq… and lo, that made their work easier as they can search the driver details by their nationality. The search was narrowed from more than 1000+ to just over 20 J.
I could identify the driver, and when the office contacted him on his mobile, he replied negative about commuting that particular way, at that time… then I had to convince the office that the driver was the same guy… and the vehicle was a Toyota Camry – manual drive; and when they checked the file on vehicle that driver had taken… it turned out to be a Toyota Camry… well, the person was zeroed on… but the wallet was still not found.
They called up the driver again and asked him to search the vehicle again… and then after 20 minutes when called again… the cab driver replied in affirmative that the wallet was lying under the front seat… phew, my prayers have been answered.
The driver told that it would take an hour for him to reach the office… and I decided to wait. I was wondering about the incident and trying to find out what should be done to avoid such circumstances… and what can be done…
Always check your belongings before you alight the vehicle
Have a small talk with the driver. It helps to be friendly with them
The taxi services should have a tracking system to help them locate the vehicle.. depending on the location or time.
Report, the loss immediately.
If possible, make a visit to the Offices of the cab, things tend to move smoother and faster, when you are there in person
Don’t lose hope…
Have faith… and don’t forget to pray
After an hour or so, the driver arrived and handed over the wallet to me…. I was so happy, to find it again.. I offered him 100 dhirams for his truthfulness… he declined … saying “you happy, I happy”… and I realized, he would have been hurt… for I put a price on his honesty….
As I said before… Stupid Me.
_Santosh
Yesterday was an eventful day. I had a meeting at Deira, Dubai at 12 PM. After the meeting, which went on well, I took a cab
I had some small talk with the cab driver, and came to know that he was basically from Fallujah, Iraq. He was saying that his family was in Fallujah, he was trying to bring them to Dubai… but has been unsuccessful so far.
The fare to my destination was 13 Dhirams. I opened my wallet and gave 20 Dhirams, but he mentioned he did not have the change of 7 dhirams. I usually carry some change in my leather bag… and I opened the leather bag and paid 3 dhirams in change.
As soon as I stepped out of the cab, I realized that I had forgot my wallet in the car. Also I did not know number of the car… Stupid me…
I immediately called up the national taxi office and gave a complaint regarding the loss of my wallet. The complaint cell executive mentioned that they can only confirm once the vehicles come back to HO late evening, and, if the driver hands over the same to the lost and found department. They asked me to call back around 4 PM in the evening and check out on development, if any..
I was disappointed… and was cursing, how stupid of me to carry so much cash (more than $500) and how I could forget it in the cab… the whole afternoon I was wondering what to do.. in case, I do not get the wallet.. which also had my credit cards, important papers etc. I was praying, hoping that I would get my wallet…
Till evening when I did not get a call from the cab office, and neither did the driver turn it.. and the building he drop me… I had lost all hope of getting it, and was wondering if the driver would have taken all the monies and thrown the wallet into the Persian Gulf… Stupid me…
Evening I called the office, and they said that none of the drivers who turned in at 4 PM returned any wallet… the slim hope I had was fast fading away, and then I decided to visit the National Taxi office, to make an request in person.
The company executive, Mark, was kind enough to let me know that they would do their best to trace the driver and followup on my case… The cars did not have a GPRS system (I’m told that Dubai Transport has the facility) that can trace the car details on the path and time I mention.
Mark, then suggested the time-tested method of identifying the driver by the photograph, and they had more than 1000 photos in their driver databank.. I was looking for sitting the whole night to search the databank… I started to browse the photos, and casually mentioned that the driver was from Iraq… and lo, that made their work easier as they can search the driver details by their nationality. The search was narrowed from more than 1000+ to just over 20 J.
I could identify the driver, and when the office contacted him on his mobile, he replied negative about commuting that particular way, at that time… then I had to convince the office that the driver was the same guy… and the vehicle was a Toyota Camry – manual drive; and when they checked the file on vehicle that driver had taken… it turned out to be a Toyota Camry… well, the person was zeroed on… but the wallet was still not found.
They called up the driver again and asked him to search the vehicle again… and then after 20 minutes when called again… the cab driver replied in affirmative that the wallet was lying under the front seat… phew, my prayers have been answered.
The driver told that it would take an hour for him to reach the office… and I decided to wait. I was wondering about the incident and trying to find out what should be done to avoid such circumstances… and what can be done…
Always check your belongings before you alight the vehicle
Have a small talk with the driver. It helps to be friendly with them
The taxi services should have a tracking system to help them locate the vehicle.. depending on the location or time.
Report, the loss immediately.
If possible, make a visit to the Offices of the cab, things tend to move smoother and faster, when you are there in person
Don’t lose hope…
Have faith… and don’t forget to pray
After an hour or so, the driver arrived and handed over the wallet to me…. I was so happy, to find it again.. I offered him 100 dhirams for his truthfulness… he declined … saying “you happy, I happy”… and I realized, he would have been hurt… for I put a price on his honesty….
As I said before… Stupid Me.
_Santosh
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