Today I was taking a cab home from an event, and I paid with a $20 bill. I got my change back, got out of the cab, and was 15 feet away when I heard “Sir! Sir!, you gave me too much!”. I turned around and saw the cab driver holding up 2 $20 bills. I thanked him extensively and took the extra bill.
While walking home I was wavering between “darn, I should have given him a couple more bucks in tip as thanks” and “honesty shouldn’t be repaid with money– he did what he felt was right and I will do the same in the future”. I remember in the book Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the main character (Laura’s husband as a boy, I forget his name) found someone’s wallet with the equivalent of thousands of dollars in it, and the guy gave him enough money as thanks to buy — if I remember correctly — 2 oxen.
