A great deal of the taxi work you do in Canberra involves taking public servants to and from meetings and taking them from the airport to their home in the evenings after they've had meetings in urban and remote Australia. When the government is paying for the taxi ride all public servants want is to get home via the fastest route; price does not matter. However, there are exceptions to the rule.
One time I took home an employee from the Defence Material Organisation to his apartment on Corranderk St near the City. He was one of these types that thought he was better than everyone else, especially a taxi driver like myself. He wasn't interested in chatting; all he wanted was to be taken home. That's fair enough, I appreciate that sometimes people have long days given they have to get up at 5.00am in the morning don't end up getting home till 9.30pm. But things started to get interesting when I dropped him off.
The fare came to $22.70 and I swiped his card on the EFTPOS machine and accidently typed in $22.90 instead of $22.70. He checked the docket and looked up at the meter. The conversation went something like this.
DMO employee: You've overcharged me 20 cents. The fare says $22.70 and you've charged me $22.90. What, so you overcharged everyone 20 cents to make an extra buck mate, do you?
Me: Sorry mate, it was an accident. I accidently pressed the wrong button.
DMO employee: Well I want my 20 cents back.
Me: I can give you it in cash but I can't put it back on your card. I'm sure it's not going to blow the Defence Budget of whatever billions a year.
DMO employee: Well I want a cheque from you, payable to the Defence Material Organisation for 20 cents. Please have a letter accompanying the cheque explaining why they have received the cheque.
Me: Sure mate.
I'm not going to write the cheque. These overpaid public servants can bugger off.
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