Monday, February 13, 2023

My Jakarta hero


        vectorimage

I was working a job in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2011. I had a day off because a container hadn't arrived. I went out to get some money changed. After taking care of that I abandoned my plan to have a look around the city. Suffice it to say that Jakarta was not the type of place you would just wander around taking in the sights.

I hailed a cab and went back to the compound where we were staying. About an hour later there was a knock at the door. The man explained that they had received a call from a driver that one of his fares had left a camera in his taxi. The driver gave a description of a white male and they wondered if it was me or one of my coworkers. I checked and sure enough my camera was missing. He explained that they would call the driver to tell him that they had located the owner of the camera.

Shortly thereafter I walked down to the office to see what had transpired. I was told the taxi was not close but that at the end of his shift he would bring the camera to the desk. I told them if that actually happened to come get me.

Sure enough, later that day they came back and told me the taxi was there. I went down and the driver handed me the camera. It would have been so much easier for the driver to just keep the camera, but he made the effort to come back at the end of his shift to return it to me. I thanked him and shook his hand. When I started to give him money he shook his head "no". I asked the desk clerk to explain how pleased I was and that I felt his honesty should be rewarded. After a short exchange between them the driver shyly accepted the money.

It was a nice experience and it still makes me smile when I think of it.

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