It’s like this. You wake up late one morning and start rushing to work or class. Normally it takes like 15 minutes to get to where you need to go and you’re already late.
Then as you drive out on to the roads, loads of things that slow you down take place. I feel as if I’ve seen them all.
Sometimes you just happen to follow behind a car that is driving so slow you’d think his car was being pulled from the front by a mule.
Sometimes you get into a traffic jam at a part of the road that normally isn’t jammed whenever you drive on it on every other day.
Sometimes all the traffic lights you seem to hit ALL turn red just when you’re getting to it and when you see the light turn yellow and try to step on it, the car in front of you takes its own sweet time to cross the traffic light only just enough for it to pass while you have to stay behind.
Or sometimes the construction site you pass on the way to the place you need to go suddenly has a giant cement mixer or crane that needs to reverse out of it hence blocking all traffic from moving.
Or a bus happens to stop right in front of you to drop off some people and holding off traffic again for half a minute.
It’s just bad luck!
I mean who’s to think that these kind of things happen ONLY on the days you’re late for something.
Here’s the classic though.
Just a few days ago I was driving down the highway and there were so few cars on the road you’d think they raised petrol prices to RM10.00/Litre. I was enjoying the smooth traffic and making good time.
Then just as I approached the toll booth I kept to the Smart Tag lane as always. A car cut right in front of me and I let it go.
Then it stopped right in the middle of the Smart Tag lane. The driver then put his window down and took out his Touch n Go card and touched it on the green intercom that you normally use to call for help when something goes wrong.
It didn’t work (naturally), so he tried it again… and again… and again….
I was about to get out of the car and say
“DUDE!!! STOP TOUCHING YOUR TOUCH N GO THERE!! You might as well touch it on my head because either ways it’s not gonna get the barrier up!!”
when a PLUS Highway official finally came to save the day.
The poor lady had to take the dude’s Touch N Go card and walk over to the Touch N Go lane, then wait till all the other cars had passed before she touched his card on the reader to deduct the credit. Then only did she open the barrier for the guy in front of me.
I tried to reverse out and change lane but there were so many cones blocking the way I just gave up and sat still.
Total time it took… 4 actual whole minutes. I heard the start till the end of a song in my car in that time.
And you know what’s the best part… these things ONLY happen when you’re rushing somewhere.
Will someone buy me a helicopter for Christmas? Just a small one will do.
Like one of these.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space