Ethics question

[tahnan]

Suppose you took a cab somewhere and the total was $10.50. You decide that $1.50 tip should be about right--pretty close to 15%, and a good round number. Unfortunately, all you have is a $20, so you give that to the driver and ask for $8 back.

Now, suppose that the driver only has a ten and six ones. Do you:

(a) Shrug and take the six ones. Overtipping is a risk of taking a cab.
(b) Take the six ones, quietly note the cab number, and call in a complaint. Cabbies should have the right change.
(c) Insist on taking the ten. It's the cab driver's problem if he doesn't have change for you.

(I hate cabs.)

Comments

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

Generally I try to err on the side of mercy in service jobs; they are usually pretty sucky and hard.

That tends to be my take on it. And I hate calling to complain, so it's worth the $2 to me not to have to worry about it any more and to feel like I'm doing a good thing by giving somebody a little extra money - random acts of kindness and all that shit, even if in this case it's kind of accidental. Unless I got the impression that the guy was deliberately trying to rip me off, in which case I'd probably do what you did - ask for the number of the cab. And then I'd prompty forget to call, but oh well.