Idiot Tax Every now and then I do something really stupid and it ends up being a minor inconvenience. This usually results in me having to spend money that I wasn't planning on spending. I've dubbed these occurrences "idiot tax." Thrice this year I've paid idiot tax for waking up late, taking a later BART than I wanted to, and missing the last shuttle to the office. To punish myself, I pay $20 for a taxi to get to work. The most common idiot tax is tied to my mobile phone. Four times this year I've forgotten my phone charger at home. Being on the road with a dead phone is not acceptable. So I've had to plunk down $30-$40 on a new phone charger. Frags just brought me to the Sprint store to pay my latest idiot tax. I now have four phone chargers. I'll leave one at home and put one in each piece of luggage I have. Hopefully this will prevent any further idiot taxes.