I recently started a new job as a data scientist at a real estate company, marking the end of my time as an urban planner — the first job I had after graduating from college. On my last day of work, feeling exhausted, I decided to take a taxi home. Unfortunately, I got stuck in heavy traffic. The frustrated driver expressed his regret, saying, “if I’d known there’d be so much traffic on this route, I wouldn’t have picked you up.”
Context: In Thailand, it’s common, but illegal, for taxi drivers to refuse passengers after being informed of their destinations.
I tried to reassure the driver by saying, “The traffic here is usually even worse than this. It’s not that bad today.” But after making that statement, I started questioning its validity. I wondered, “Is it really not that bad? Did I just say it without any evidence? That shouldn’t be how a data scientist works, right?”