His son had suffered a knock on his head from a fall in school. After applying urgent leave from work, Mike immediately booked a Grab to take him to the school.
During the ride, the Grab driver, who wants to be known as Sam Ang, struck up a conversation with him. After finding out that his passenger needed to rush his son to the hospital next, he decided to go the extra mile by sending them there directly, so that they wouldn’t have to spend time booking another ride.
The 55-year-old told The Pride that he had noticed Mike looking worried and decided to check in with him.
“As it was raining lightly, I was thinking he would have a hard time getting another Grab ride, so I decided to just offer my help,” said Ang, a part-time Grab driver.
“When children fall sick, the parents will be the ones who are most worried. This gentleman, I can also see that he’s a very shy person and I know he will not ask for help. So I wanted to just offer him my help.”
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Ang even rejected Mike’s offer to pay him extra. The original ride from Mike’s workplace to his son’s school had cost $10.
He explained that through his experience as a driver, the majority of riders are all from middle-income to low-income households.
“There’s no point being so fussy about the fare. If I can help, I’ll just help out. Everyone in this society in Singapore is living quite stressful lives.”
Mike subsequently took to Facebook last Wednesday to share Ang’s good deed. An accompanying screenshot to his post also showed that he gave the driver a five-star rating.
He added in Chinese: “Kind people will receive good karma” and went on to thank Ang for the kind deed.
His Facebook post received more than 2,500 reactions and was shared over 1,600 times. Plenty of netizens also commended the driver.
Johnny Midon Chia commented that there is always a need for more kind and generous drivers such as Ang, who aren’t focused on just their earnings.
Another netizen, Nor Atiqah, wrote: “Thank you, uncle, your kindness shows humanity does exist”, while Roland Seow said: “Good deeds will receive good blessings. Thank you, Mr Ang, for showing the good side of Singaporeans. Love you!”
When asked about the praises he received, Ang chose to remain humble. Instead, he said: “Singaporeans should do whatever they can to help one other.”
But Ang wasn’t the only kind Grab driver to be showered with praise on social media in the past week.
On Tuesday, Facebook user Izzy Padawan Ismail wrote about how his driver, whose surname is Lee, had insisted on him breaking fast in his car as he was still stuck in traffic.
Izzy shared in his post that he knew it was impossible for him to reach home in time to break fast that day, but he felt that consuming his food and drink in the driver’s car would appear inappropriate and rude.
But at 7pm, Lee told Izzy that if he had to break fast, he should just go ahead and eat in the car. He even joked that he didn’t mind, as long as Izzy gave him a piece of his keropok (cracker in Malay).
When it came to the time to break fast at 7:08pm, Izzy informed Lee that he would take a sip of his drink, but Lee again responded by emphasising that he didn’t mind at all.
That kind gesture from Lee touched Izzy. He wrote in his post: “Bless you, sir. Not many drivers these days are as understanding as you. Your gesture might be small to some, but to me, you deserve recognition.”
Izzy’s post also received plenty of responses, with more than 2,600 reactions, 1,300 shares and 72 comments.
A number of netizens said that Lee deserves a five-star rating. Siti Chumlee Gunners commented: “This is (a) good man. Very caring and understanding. Steady lah.”
Another commenter, Joriah Anwar, wrote: “Great to know that there are still good souls out there with a sense of humor, to boot! You’re also a commendable guy, Izzy, to take the trouble to announce to the world and give this fantastic guy the admiration and respect he so deserves. Kudos to both of you!!”