One afternoon, there was a familiar rumbling sound outside our apartment door. Before we could hear the knock on our door, my mother and I instantly found out that it was the LPG gas delivery which we booked a week ago. My mother was getting ready with the cash to pay for the gas cylinder, while I opened the door .The delivery guy placed the cylinder on the floor where I pointed and then I asked him “How much?” He simply said “Rs. 410, sir” and handed me the bill.
When I saw the bill, the amount printed was only 392.00 Rs. I asked him “Why Rs. 410, anna ? The bill reads Rs. 392 only?” He carelessly replied that everyone pays this amount only. I was shocked by the way he responded and I said, “We will only give you that amount which is printed in the bill”. He refused to accept and said, “We are not paid well and it is only Rs. 18 extra”.
Then I asked myself, “Are we supposed to make up for the extra money which the government is not ready to pay?”
When we asked our neighbours about this, they advised us not to mess with him otherwise ‘he may not deliver the cylinder on time’. Sometime people give extra money as tips by thinking that it might help the poor guy.
No one wants to raise a complaint because they collectively feel that it will affect the delivery service. And also, “Hey, it’s just a little extra!”
This is also a form of corruption, which if not thwarted then it will snowball wherein the ‘little extra’ won’t be little anymore. We talk about corrupt politicians and government and complain that our tax money is not getting used properly, when we ourselves are encouraging corruption by paying bribe to get our work done instead of collectively boycotting it.
