“So a quick calculation showed they were having a toll booth there for the purpose of paying a toll-taker...”
Similar to my conversation with a receptionist at a NYS Office Of the Aging re my elderly mother. I asked, “Why doesn’t NY lower taxes so retiring children can afford to live here and care for their elderly parents? That way you wouldn’t be so overworked.”
She said, “Oh, the office isn’t here to help the people. It’s here to hire employees to work here.”
I was speechless, and realized she was telling the truth. Later I found out she had only been there a week and she wasn’t supposed to actually blurt out the truth.
In political speak, telling the truth is known as a gaffe.