M’sian Shares Her Father’s Awful Experience As A Grab Rider to Remind Us to Be Kinder to Delivery Men

By Charmaine Shaharin  •  09 Aug 2021 in News

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After going through three lockdowns, all Malaysians agree that Grab drivers are crucial to our new way of living.

The hardships they face to deliver a meal or transport a passenger, all to make ends meet, are unimaginable, yet some still mistreat our heroes.

Recently, Instagram user Esther Erin has shed some light on the constant verbal and emotional abuse that Grab drivers face. Her story hits close to home because the person she’s talking about is her own father.

According to Esther’s Instagram post, her father has been a Grab driver for the past year and his usual routine starts from waking up at 5 am and driving for 12 hours straight along with the constant thought of  “Will I make enough deliveries today to cover the bills?”

She also explains how her father had made deliveries for multiple restaurants but dreaded delivering food from two popular burger restaurants due to the long queues and the number of customers who rush him for their meals.

Her father had taken one last job from a Korean restaurant before returning home for dinner. Esther expressed that the owner was very rude to her father and the experience was overall very unpleasant.

According to her, the owner had told her father to wait outside shouting, “Not ready! Grab drivers wait outside,” when he entered the premises to check on the food.

Not only that, the customer waiting for their food sent him nasty texts saying, “Why the f*** is my food taking so long?” and “I’m going to give you a low rating.”

Once the food was ready, Esther’s father quickly rushed to the customer’s house and even tried explaining the situation to him, only for her father to be cut off by the customer who said, “Jangan kurang ajar.”

The customer also threw the hot bowl of soup at him, angrily saying, “So f****** long, better don’t deliver next time!”

This was the first time her father had encountered such harsh remarks. He tried to see the incident in a positive light, saying that he was still blessed to have a job despite the pandemic.

In an updated Instagram story, Esther stated that this incident had happened months ago but decided to bring it up again when she saw a Grab rider delivering a food order when she was driving, triggering that memory of her father.

She also shared that her father was also assaulted and badly beaten up by a petrol station drunk driver, and Grab has reached out to her and her family for clarification.

Local netizens are infuriated by the actions of the customer and the restaurant. They took to social media to encourage all customers to be more mindful of their riders.

Here are some of their comments:

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, Esther urges the public to be kinder and more empathetic towards our delivery drivers during these trying times. She advises future customers to:

1. Order their food earlier.
2. Leave a message to remind the rider not to rush.
3. Thank the driver when you receive your food.
4. If you’re financially able, tip the driver. If not pass them a bottle of water.