An app-based motorcycle taxi driver (locally known as ojek online or ojol for short) was caught on camera physically assaulting a customer, allegedly for being so outraged by the latter for canceling on him.
The viral video, uploaded on Monday, was reportedly taken in the North Sulawesi capital of Manado.
“Because of you, it’s still early in the morning but [my rating] has dropped to 50 percent. You made me angry. I called you multiple times, why didn’t you answer it?” the ojol driver asked the young man in the white shirt, who netizens suspect is a small-time Youtuber.
Ride-hailing app Gojek confirmed that the incident in the viral video took place, and that the video was taken on Nov. 14. Gojek says it’s investigating the incident, but the company suspects that the driver was livid because the young man had placed a fake order as a prank for content on his social media.
The video adds to the long list of videos recently going viral involving ojols who had orders canceled by their customers. The practice is especially cruel considering the harsh and competitive nature of life as an ojol, where they would often have to front the money for their customers’ purchases before delivering the goods.
In early November, a viral video shows a driver believed to be from North Jakarta bawling for several minutes when it appeared that his customer had just cancelled on him after he was asked to front IDR200K (US$14.23) to buy several items. A few weeks later, at least 13 drivers reportedly became victims of alleged fake food orders in the Banten capital of Serang.
Additionally, there has been a growing trend lately involving Indonesian Youtubers pulling pranks on ojols. The prank, which started around late November, usually goes with the Youtubers ordering a large amount of food only to cancel by the time the ojol arrives.
Since then, many have expressed disgust with the prank, especially considering that these pranks videos tend to show the drivers in distress following a cancelled order for viewers’ amusement.
One Youtuber in particular, named Hasan Abdillah AKA hasanjr11, recently rose to infamy thanks to his ojol prank videos. In one of his videos, he canceled his order of six boxes of pizza worth IDR1 million, which made the driver cry. The Youtuber has taken down his video after it attracted a huge public outrage.
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