Adding The Taxi Tax

(I live in the Philippines, but because I’m Caucasian many people assume I’m a clueless tourist.)

Me: “Hello, po! Can you please take me to the bus station?”

Taxi Driver: “Sure, that’ll cost 150 pesos.”

Me: “Well, let’s go by the meter anyway.”

(The meter is set at 96 pesos, obviously from the previous fare.)

Me: “Excuse me; I think you forgot to reset the meter.”

Taxi Driver: “Oh, yeah, um…” *resets it to 40*

(After we arrive, the meter says 75 pesos. Recently the government has reset starting fares to 30 pesos, so everyone just removes 10 pesos from the end fare.)

Me: “Okay, so minus 10, that comes to 65 pesos. Here you go!”

Taxi Driver: *grumbling for losing 10 pesos* “Hey! You need to pay me 30 extra… for petrol!”

Me: “Haha, you’re hilarious. Bye!” *leaves quickly*