Imagine being in a tight spot financially and relying on public transportation to get to and from work. If you lost a coin and were slightly short on bus fare, would you hope you could ride the bus anyway, or would you find another way home?

In this story, one man loses a coin before he gets on the bus and that means he’s slightly short on bus fare. When the fare collector is rude about it, the man decides to turn the tables the next time he rides the bus.

Let’s read the whole story.

Couldn’t Let Five Cents Slide, So I Guess I Can’t Pay Either

This happened to my dad.

In our city, most buses have someone stationed near the middle, next to the turnstile, whose job is to collect fares from passengers.

Unlike places where the driver handles payments or where everything is automated, this person takes cash, gives change, and makes sure everyone pays before moving past the turnstile.

Uh-oh! A coin was missing.

It was late at night, and my dad was heading home after work.

Things were difficult for us at the time, and he had just enough money for the fare. He had even checked it beforehand to be sure.

But when he got on the bus, he realized he was missing a small coin. Just five cents. The fare was 1.25$.

The fare collector did not let it slide.

His dad probably felt so bad.

Instead, he made a scene, shouting and humiliating my dad in front of everyone.

He even said that people who do not have enough money should not be riding the bus.

It was cruel and completely unnecessary.

Thankfully, someone nearby saw what was happening and kindly offered their transit pass so my dad could ride.

His dad wasn’t going to let this go.

Now here is the twist.

Two weeks later, same bus, same fare collector.

This time, remembering what had happened my dad used a higher value bill, not one that the guy could have enough change for, and tried to pay normally.

And how unfortunate, the fare collector did not have enough change. He was short by twenty five cents. So he asked my dad if he could owe him the difference and settle it later.

Not gonna happen!

Normally that wouldnt be an issue but…

My dad just looked at him and said, “Oh, you want me to let that slide? Funny considering what happened two weeks ago. I guess I can’t pay now either. No worries tho I’ll be staying on the bus. Just let the driver know to open the door when I get off.”

To be fair, the fare collector was just doing his job. No, he shouldn’t have made a scene about 5 cents, but who knows what he has to put up with from people trying to ride for free. I love his dad’s clever way of getting revenge though.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

It feels good to turn the tables on a rude person.

This is a good point.

Exactly.

Here’s a funny alternate ending.

It sounds like Seattle is a better place to take the bus.

That’s a lot of drama over five cents!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.