laremy.sg

I’m extremely annoyed with the lack of ethics that a lot of Singaporean mechanics possess.

These wrangling pirates revel in a cut-throat ethos that places their customers’ needs below their shop’s bottom line.

To explain, Pooters’s battery finally yielded the ghost at the start of the work-week.

Because I didn’t have the time to get a replacement earlier, I went down to the shops near my home in the hope that I could buy a battery, return home, fix Pooters up, and carry on with the rest of my Saturday.

FAT CHANCE IN HELL.

I was quoted a price of $90 at one shop and $60 at the next shop. I knew a battery didn’t cost that much, but I had no way of verifying that at that point in time.

Anyway, I gave some excuse about having to make sure it was the correct model and left the shops.

But I was so furious that they tried to take advantage of me obviously because of my n00b-ly ‘jiak kentang’ demeanour/inability to speak a Chinese language well: Hokkien Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, etc.

Pseudo-sociological ramblings aside, this pillagery probably worked last time in the age of no Internet.

Now that information is more perfect than it was before, however, a phone call to Lim Ah Boy (LAB) Shop when I got home provided more clarity – a Yuasa 12N9-4B-1 battery is worth $32, if it matters to anyone else.

I learnt something though: I could have saved myself much grief if I had called up the shops to check the prices + convinced myself that the trip down to LAB was worth the trouble.

Since the worm of conscience will never begnaw the souls of most of these louts, I’ve never been more convinced that there’s probably a market for English-speaking, socially-conscious motorcycle mechanics.

Unfortunately, there’s only so much one can do with a BA in English (and a PGDE to boot). But if you’re my student, and you can tell me how many King Richard III references I’ve made, you win a prize.

Had to go for a Digital Storytelling Workshop organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore over the last few days. This is the product of the workshop.

The YouTube link here in case you can’t see the embedded video.

The script we had to write:

Pooters the Happy Scooter
By Laremy Lee

The first thing I do before first-time pillion riders get on my bike is to introduce my scooter to them. “My scooter’s name is Pooters,” I will say. “Pooters?” they will ask. “But why?” My response: “Because it poots.”

Pooters is a Vespa ET8 that I’ve owned since receiving my motorcycle license back in 2004. When I bought Pooters, it was black in colour. After Pooters and I met with our first accident in 2005, however, my father nagged me into painting Pooters white. Since then, Pooters and I have been in two more accidents, so maybe it’s not really about its colour.

Pooters has a knack of endearing itself to everyone it meets. While Pooters’s fan base is innumerable, let me settle this matter once and for all: I am Pooters’s biggest fan. After me, comes my girlfriend, and after her, the cats in my neighbourhood. I just wish they’d stop leaving their paw prints on Pooters’s seat.

I like to think that the reason why Pooters is so popular is because Pooters is A Happy Scooter that smiles at everyone and everything it sees. I know it sounds like mere whimsy on my part, but rest assured that you’re not gonna get a chance to ride on Pooters if you don’t agree with us.

Though it isn’t always rainbows and unicorns with Pooters, you know. One of my biggest bugbears is Pooters’s temperament: it often breaks down at the most inconvenient of times. Compound that with Singapore’s penchant for rain, and it’s a surefire recipe for an unpleasant commute.

Does this mean I’ll be trading Pooters in for another vehicle anytime soon? Well, for all its quirks, Pooters occupies a special place in my heart. Until the day comes for us to ride under the giant ERP gantry in the sky, you’ll still find us pooting merrily down the roads of Singapore together, Pooters and I.

I’ve finally learnt how to kick-start Pooters! After five years of owning it! Hurray for perseverance and celebrating the small victories!

Anyway, if anyone wants to learn how to kick-start a Vespa ET8 or ET4, here are some helpful links.

And a video to boot:

I think the proverb is supposed to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, in that one always tends to say, “Well, I wanted to, but you know…” and doesn’t do anything in the end, hence being placed on an express queue to hell in the Judeo-Christian sense of the word.

But I’m wondering if it can also refer to how being nice can sometimes backfire. Why?

Well, Pooters got hit from behind by a taxi on Fri, 27 Mar. I had stopped at a red light for a few seconds when this clown of a taxi driver came screeching to a halt right behind me. Obviously, he had either been speeding or had been distracted by something, because he couldn’t stop his taxi from hitting my bike in time. I wasn’t injured, but Pooters was.

Poor Pooters.

Was quite sad to have to send Pooters to the workshop because I don’t seeing my bike in a sorry state. But I’m also thankful for the fact that I didn’t get injured – while I love my scooter quite a bit, Pooters is much more repairable than I am. So if I had to choose between me going to the hospital and Pooters going to the workshop, I’d choose the lesser of two evils.

Perhaps the accident wasn’t that bad partly because I hadn’t exactly stopped at the stop line myself. The light turned amber at the third arrow before the stop line, and I didn’t want to run a red light, so I only stopped slightly after the stop line. Also, I heard the screeching of brakes before the collision, and had already moved slightly forward with the intention of flinging Pooters aside and jumping away.

It didn’t come to that, but the taxi driver still emerged from his taxi and apologised to me profusely. I was very chill about it, because I’ve been in scrapes before and I just wanted to get the documentation down and be on my way. I was supposed to go watch The Importance of Being Earnest later that night, and I didn’t want to let the accident spoil my plans and/or my mood.

The taxi driver wanted a private settlement; he mentioned that he hadn’t paid off his installments for something, and it sounded suspiciously like he hadn’t finished paying off his installments for a previous accident he had been involved in. It should have set off alarm bells, but I, being the overly nice person that I sometimes am, decided to take him on his word and go with the private settlement. That was when my troubles began.

Well, not really troubles lah. To cut a long story short – the taxi driver very nearly defaulted on his agreement. After I got my vehicle back and tried contacting him to inform him about the repair costs, I found out that he had either switched off his phone or had disconnected his line. After a few days of listening to disembodied beeps, I decided to send an e-mail of complaint to the taxi company yesterday. This was a good move – they got back to me within the day, and I got my money back before the sun had set. So kudos to SMRT Taxis for the prompt and courteous customer service.

So should I have gone straight to filing an insurance claim, or should I have stuck to the private settlement, as I did in this case?

I still don’t know what the best choice is, but I’m just glad that this is one less matter for me to deal with. I think it really depends on the situation – maybe being nice and having good intentions sometimes is alright. But one cannot be too nice all the time, and there must be a limit to one’s goodwill.

In any case, I think the Singaporean motorists out should be aware of what to do in the event of an accident. My advice in five simple steps:

1. Be calm – don’t panic. Don’t let the other driver rattle you either.
2. Make sure you get these details down: the driver’s name, identity card/driving licence number, licence plate number, phone number, time of accident and location of accident.
3. Send your vehicle to an Independent Damage Assessment Centre at once, then proceed with repairs. Regarding the repair bit, I’m not too sure whether you can choose to go to your own workshop, or you have to send your vehicle to the workshop of the insurer’s choice. Ask for advice on this.
4. Keep all receipts, documents, etc. You never know when they might come in handy.
5. Last but not least, take pictures. Take loads of pictures. Not just for blogging, mind you, but also to be used as evidence when effecting claims, etc.

The taxi driver, by the way, is quite a character. But that’s another story for another time.