💬 I keep a list of the auto drivers near me who never overcharge

I have 5 auto drivers saved in my phone. Not their names, just labels like, Kukatpally auto 1. They all quote a fair price on the first try and none of them argue about the change. It took about a year to build the list. Every time I got a good ride I saved the number. Every bad ride I deleted a number, or I didn't save one, and moved on without a speech. The first good one was a man in a faded green shirt who gave me back 20 rupees I'd overpaid. I stood there holding the note, thinking it must be a trick. It wasn't. I saved his number that night. Now I call him first. If he's busy I try the next, and so on down the list. I've waited 15 minutes for the right driver rather than flag down the first one passing. My mother thinks I'm wasting time. She says, just take whoever stops, what's the difference? The difference is a 30 rupee argument at the start and a bad mood for the next hour. I told her about the list and she asked me to send her the numbers, so now she uses it too. She called 1 of them for the market last week and he asked, madam, are you the one who made the list? I do get the odd ride from a stranger when none of the 5 are free. Those rides are usually okay. Sometimes there's a long speech about petrol and the rate of everything. I've started keeping a rough price in my head for each route so I can say it first. The list is a bit of work, but it saves me a lot of small fights.

Labelling them as Kukatpally auto 1 is a smart way to do it. I never thought of saving them.

There's one driver near Ameerpet I've been calling for three years now, ever since he handed back change I wasn't expecting.