Challenge Accepted: An Act of Kindness

Tonight, I decided to take a cab back to my apartment. It is usually a 35-ish kuai cab ride, depending on the traffic. I hopped in the cab, told him to take me to Qing Hua Dong Lu. Normally, I have to say it a few times (my tones are terrible) before they understand what I am saying. This time I didn't have to repeat myself. When learning a new language, moments like this are confidence boosters. The small achievements are what bring the most satisfaction, like yelling at the fuwuyuan (waiter) to bring you another pot of tea, with no hesitation. This was a milestone moment for me. I knew I had a thirty minute commute to look forward to, so I decided to continue reading one of the books I started: The Happiness Project. I had just finished reading about the author's Ninth Commandment, to "Lighten up", when I realized that the taxi driver, was in fact, taking me to Qing Hua University not Qing Hua Dong Lu.  I did my best to tell him that he was taking to the wrong place, but he assured me that he knew where he was going. Five minutes later, I asked him to turn around and follow my directions. I was calm when trying to convey my concerns to him; I took it as an opportunity to practice my Chinese. More often than not, taxi drivers will try to take you the long way home to run the meter, but when he realized that he was taking me to the wrong place, he turned off the meter. We were another five minutes from my apartment and my cab fare was 46 kuai. I was slightly annoyed by his reluctance to listen to me, but having just read the "lighten up" section of my novel, I felt like this was a good opportunity to exercise this point.

I told the driver that it was no problem and we laughed about his misunderstanding. I was impressed that he turned the meter off well before we arrived at my apartment. I had every intention of giving him 50 kuai and leaving the change with him. It's not customary to tip in China, but I felt that he genuinely felt bad. I handed him the money, told him meiwenti (no problem) and started to exit the cab. He turned around and hollered at me, I was a little confused, and he gave me back 10 kaui. He wouldn't take my money and to my astonishment, he didn't even charge me the full 46 kuai fare. He payed 6 kuai out of his own pocket. Normally, taxi drivers are unfriendly but not this one. I wanted to leave him something for being a sincere person, and instead, he did me a service - an act of kindness.



I wanted to write about this moment because my confidence that benevolent people in the service industry exist in China has been shaken. Being a foreigner in China must mean you have "take advantage of me" written across your forehead. For example, when you ask for the price of a piece of fruit, you know (or assume) they recite the 'laowai' price to you. I don't know if all expats experience this feeling, but I do on many occasions. Of course, this comes with the culture and should be expected, but I had a hard time accepting it for what it was. Tonight, I was pleasantly surprised by the taxi driver, which gave credence to the concept of paying it forward. A simple act of kindness can go a long way. For those of you who read this blog, I challenge you to join in and pull-off an act of kindness. I am making it a goal of mine to partake in a random act of kindness on a daily basis, in hopes that others will also be influenced to do so.