I recently lost my job for a rather unexpected reason – I drove Grab during work from home office hours.
When I started working from home due to the pandemic, I thought that driving Grab would be a great opportunity to make some extra money.
After all, I had plenty of extra time on my hands as I worked from home and I figured I could use that time to drive Grab and make some extra income.
So I got my license and started driving Grab. Initially, I was very careful to not take rides during my office hours. I made sure that I was only taking rides during my free time.
But one day, I decided to switch on my Grab driver app during my work hours as there was nothing much to do that day.
I thought that since I rarely have free time during my office hours, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I decided why not use the time to drive Grab and earn extra.
A request for a ride came in and I accepted it and proceeded to the location.
Little did I know that the passenger I picked up was my boss. He was on his way to a meeting, and I had unknowingly given him a ride.
He was visibly shocked to see me behind the wheel and asked me why was I driving Grab and especially during company hours.
I sheepishly apologized and told him that I would not do it again.
Unfortunately, my boss was not so understanding. A few days later, he called me into his office and fired me on the spot.
He said that it was unacceptable for me to be driving Grab during my work hours and that I had violated the company’s policy.
I was devastated. I had worked hard to land that job, and now it was gone because I had decided to test the system.
It wasn’t even worth it, the money that I earn from the Grab rides that I took during my office hours on a daily basis amounts to maybe $100/day and my job was paying me $5,500 at the time I was fired.
Since then, I have learned my lesson. I have avoided driving Grab during my work hours, and I have been extra careful not to get myself into any more trouble.
I have also learned to be mindful of the company policies and to abide by them.