An e-hailing drivers’ job is essentially to drive their customer(s) to their destination regardless of their social or cultural background. If one was even willing to send a ghost back home then there’s no reason for one to reject a customer simply because of their ethnicity.
It was supposed to be another day at work, but things went south. Unfortunately, this woman had a terrible experience with her Grab driver who refused to pick her up because of the stereotype of her race. Here’s her full statement:
Instagram user Thivashini Rajamanickam recently posted on her profile to share her recent experience of booking a Grab ride to go home from work. According to the Operational Risk Specialist, she booked a Grab ride at 10:30pm from TRX Exchange to the Asia Jaya LRT Station. Suddenly, she received a message from the driver that reads, “I’m so sorry but I don’t accept customers that drink alcohol”.
Confused, the customer asked the driver to clarify what he meant by his message to which he quickly replied, “I just can’t stand the smell of alcohol.” It then dawned on her that the driver assumed she was drunk simply because she was Indian. She defended herself saying that she had just finished work and asked the driver to cancel the ride because of his rude assumptions but the driver did not respond nor did he move from his location.
Furious, the netizen asked her sister to help book a ride for her while she filed a report and complaint against the driver on the Grab app, accusing him of being racist. She was later notified that the driver had cancelled her ride. For those who may be wondering why she didn’t cancel the ride herself, Thivashini defended her actions saying the drivers should be the ones to cancel if they refuse to accept a customer (keep in mind that she will need to pay the RM3-5 late cancellation fee if she’s the one who cancels her ride).
“This is blatant racism at its worst. This is absolute nonsense and is not ethical at all,” she wrote in her post. According to local news, Grab has released a statement saying that they are currently investigating the issue and will take appropriate actions.
We’re glad Thivashini still managed to get home safely and we do hope something like this would never happen again to anyone.
Source: Instagram
