The Double Edged Sword vs. The Good Samaritan

“Aunty abeg no vex, how much be this blackberry?”  the taxi driver asked me. Remembering my  horrible past experience in a taxi which left me with a vow not to engage in pleasure discussions with taxi drivers,  I was hesitant to answer  however, I managed to drop a disinterested “I can’t remember”  answer hoping that was enough to shut him up at least till I got to my destination and I continued what I was doing on my phone. Apparently the taxi driver didn’t get the lack of interest in the tone of my voice, so he asked again “aunty so you no remember  how much you buy this your blackberry?” at this point I was already officially scared and in my mind I just thought to myself “once again Lade you have been robbed in a taxi!!!”. So I started to look for the easiest means of exit from the moving vehicle I happened to find myself in at the time, in the event that a second person jumped out from the trunk of the car or the back seat or wherever it was he chose to come out from (this seems to be the new trend in Abuja taxis these days). Fortunately I had quite a number of defensive objects in my hand bag + there was no secluded area ahead on our way to my destination, so I decided to relax and enjoy my ride…this time consciously ignoring him. He then proceeded to pass his message across whether I was interested or not. He said he was asking for the price of a blackberry because he wanted to purchase one. He also explained why he needed one. Surprisingly he was quite aware of the basic functions of the blackberry and from all he was saying, he had quite a good reason as to why he wanted the phone. Eventually I found myself conversing with him (yeah I know...I broke my vow *covers face*), I explained to him how the blackberry isn’t exactly a luxury anymore as it used to be in the past and that it was now very affordable, according to what I hear, he could get one for as low as 31,000 or thereabout and blah blah. The astound driver further asked “why people come dey tiff blackberry, dey carry curse for their head because the tin no cost na”. I just shrugged. He began narrating his experiences with passengers who had forgotten personal items in his taxi and how he went about looking for them to return their stuff to them.

According to him, once a certain lady forgot her blackberry phone in his taxi. He said he could have easily kept the phone and used it since he had been looking to buy a blackberry phone but instead he called the last dialed number which was saved with the name “mummy” and he told the person on the other end of the line that the owner of the phone he was using to call had forgotten his/her phone in his taxi and so he was calling to return the phone. The lady on the other end confirmed that she was the mother of the owner of the phone and arranged a meeting point with the taxi driver. It was bad enough that both mother and daughter who had  somehow managed to hook up and were together, kept tossing the driver from place to place until they eventually met him at ceddi plaza after about nearly two and half hours of trying to track them. As it was, they had already wasted his precious time and his fuel. After claiming her phone, the reasonable thing the cheeky passenger could do was accuse the taxi driver of using up all her credit!!!! Can you imagine! He tried to explain to her that it was the credit on her phone that he used to call her mum to inform her of the phone which she had forgotten in his taxi. Anyways the girl left without giving him a dime.

Another passenger accused the taxi driver of stealing part of the money in his wallet when he went to return the wallet to him in his house. And the last story before I eventually got to my destination was the story of a man who also forgot his phone in this taxi driver’s taxi and after he called him, the man asked him to bring the phone to him in Gwarinpa. Note that the taxi driver was in Apo at the time of the phone call and a trip to Gwarinpa from Apo is between N500 to N700 or more depending on your bargaining skills (nothing less than N500 though). The owner of the phone had assured him that he was going to pay the transportation fare from Apo to Gwarinpa. On getting to Gwarinpa, the owner of the phone collected his phone, thanked the taxi driver and gave him N100. Did I hear someone say what!!!! Yes oh!!! According to the taxi driver, the man gave him N100. The driver said he returned the money to the man and said thank you very much. At this point thankfully I had gotten to my destination. I sympathized with him a little and told him not to desist from returning people’s property to them as God was going to reward him somehow. I searched my bag thoroughly for my phones and wallet, paid him his money, made sure all my personal items were intact before alighting from his taxi.

All I can deduce from this man’s stories is that he is not exactly trying to say anybody should give him all the money in their wallet for returning it to them, or the money equivalent of the phone which was forgotten in his taxi, but N100!!!!!!!!! For driving all the way to Gwarinpa from Apo to deliver a lost phone to the owner, accusing him of using up airtime on the phone or worse of all accusing him of stealing money from the wallet if truly he didn’t take from the money is simply unfair. I lost two phones last year within a space of one month. I felt terrible during the period considering the fact that one of the phones was barely six weeks old + it was my dream phone at the time + it was quite expensive too, not to talk of important details saved on the phone , the contacts and other stuff. Then I also had to deal with the thought of coughing out huge sums of money to replace both phones. Honestly I’m not sure which of the above problems I was worried about the most. I hoped that someday, a good Samaritan would bring at least one of the phones back to me. Sadly that day never came. After all said and done, I had to replace both phones eventually.

What I am saying in essence is that if we can spend a lot of money replacing lost phones and other valuables, what will it cost us to show some appreciation and encourage the good Samaritans who are nice enough to ensure that we get our valuables back rather than accuse them falsely. So what if he/she used up your credit? You would have lost both your phone and all the credit either way. The same theory applies to the person who complained that the driver took money out of his wallet. He was going to lose the money and wallet alongside his Atm cards, identity cards, driver’s license (if any) and other valuables. I’m sure we all know the hassle in trying to get these things back. So the next time you want to be mean to that taxi driver (or anyone) who has returned your missing valuables, just imagine the amount you are going to spend and the stress you will go through replacing those items and at least be nice to the good Samaritan. Your niceness and appreciation will definitely go a long way even if you have no money to give.