Yesterday, I had plans to watch a movie. Even though the cinema is only about a 15 minute drive from my house, I intentionally gave myself extra time. I did not want to feel rushed, and I thought it would be a simple, uneventful trip, just a short ride to the venue.
However, something I have been noticing recently is how often I get female drivers. This stood out to me because each of these encounters has been unexpectedly memorable, not because of the destination, but because of the conversations along the way.
I still remember one of my previous rides with a female driver who was a single mother. From the moment I got into the car, she warmly welcomed me and immediately began sharing a personal story. She told me about how she had been scammed by a passenger who asked her to buy something on their behalf. After she purchased the item, the passenger cancelled the booking before she even reached the pick up point. She lost both her time and money. What struck me was not just the story itself, but how openly she shared it. She even mentioned that she had recently encountered a similar attempt and had almost fallen into the same situation again.
Throughout that journey, we talked continuously about scams, how they happen, how drivers cope with them, and how vulnerable people can be in such situations. It turned what could have been a silent, transactional ride into a meaningful exchange.
Then yesterday, I had another similar experience.
The driver, again a woman, started the conversation by asking whether I was going alone or meeting someone. In many cultures, this might feel intrusive, but in Indonesia, this kind of question is quite common and often serves as a way to initiate connection. I told her that I usually go alone and that I was planning to watch a horror movie.
That simple response opened up an entirely different conversation. We began talking about fear, not just in movies, but in real life. She shared some of the unsettling experiences she had encountered, stories that felt personal and vivid. As she spoke, I found myself fully engaged, listening closely, almost forgetting that I was simply on my way to the cinema. By the time we arrived, her story had completely filled those 15 minutes.
What stayed with me was not just what she said, but how the experience made me feel. The ride felt shorter, more human, and unexpectedly meaningful.
These experiences made me reflect on an important point: in service encounters, especially in tourism and hospitality, customers rarely remember the technical aspects of the service. They remember how they felt.
In both rides, the core service, transportation, was delivered efficiently. I got from point A to point B safely and on time. However, what made these experiences stand out was the human connection. The drivers were not just performing a task; they were engaging, sharing, and creating a moment of interaction that felt real.
Even in a short 15 minute journey, engagement can transform a routine service into a memorable experience. It adds emotional value to something that would otherwise be purely functional.
This is particularly important when we think about the future of service industries, where automation and artificial intelligence are becoming more common. While technology can improve efficiency, it often lacks the spontaneous, emotional, and human elements that create meaningful connections.
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