Rip-offs

There have only been a couple times here where I've felt taken advantage of because of being a non-local. Maybe "taken advantage of" is wrong in this first instance; things were clearly marked yet somehow I still feel cheated.  In the market was a breadseller with gorgeous, enormous loaves of different things but the spice bread was the most appealing to me.  I say enormous and I mean like 12" x12"x18".  I've been in search of a cake that my host family had in Lyon; a cake with the perfect blend of spices and dried fruit (I make a different fruit cake recipe every Christmas, hoping to hit on the right combination). Anyway, the first week we saw him he spoke very good English to us and I instantly didn't like him.  The next week, I just had to stop.  The bread was something like 4.5Euros/100 gms.  He takes the loaf and measure off a wedge; I consent and he cuts and weighs it.  End price: 34 Euros (around $42); I only have 20.  Long story short: he accepts my 20 and tells me I've gotten a very good deal.  Now why do I feel ripped off?  It would seem I'd gotten a bargain. There was just something about this guy (and everyone with me agreed) that made you feel uneasy, like he went home and hurt little animals.  Also, the cake was dry as a bone and every market sells a similar cake for 6Euros/cake.
Last night was another instance but I was too tired to argue.  Classic tourist trap: the taxi driver didn't set the meter.  I couldn't see it because I was crammed in the back but honestly I don't know if I would have said anything.  We took an 11pm train home from Montpellier (great town) having retrieved Rich and arrived in Agde at 11:30 to find the last two taxis leaving.  Two other girls were waiting and when a taxi finally showed up at 12:05am, I was just relieved to be getting the kids home.  He charged us double the price (and I tipped him!) and when I questioned him about how much more it was than the usual price, he said there was a nighttime surcharge of 25%.  I'm too non-confrontational but that won't happen again (and no more tipping because now I feel really stupid).
There are a couple other minor issues (the Moroccan cookie-salesman comes to mind) but for the most part people seem to have been above-board and honest. We are an easy target, though, aren't we?