<p>In Mexico, stopped by police and required to pay money, back in the 80s.</p>
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<p>I’ve never bribed a maitre d’ in NYC and I’ve never ever seen anyone else do it either. I think they would be attacked by the other waiting diners. Maybe it’s done like in the movies, super subtle… although I’m pretty eagle-eyed.</p>
<p>Mexico #98</p>
<p>Maitre d’s are “tipped” everywhere.</p>
<p>To my kids, often. Worked far better than threats.</p>
<p>poetgrl,</p>
<p>That’s what I meant. China is probably better than some may think. I didn’t know Russia is among one of the worst.</p>
<p>Flying into Burma years ago, it was known that a carton of 555 cigarettes and Johnny Walker Red label whiskey were expected for fast passage through customs. Put on the cart with the luggage, both items sort of vanished. </p>
<p>It would be interesting to have a list of states, cleanest to corrupt.</p>
<p>The North End of Boston, while working my way through grad school waiting tables for an Italian family restaurant, co-owned by 2 brothers and a newly widowed sister. Her little boy (l0) spent most evenings at a table doing homework. A policeman stopped in and shared a word with a brother, in earshot of the child. Child ran through the restaurant to the kitchen, hollering at top of his lungs, “MA! Johnny wants his protection!” Everyone in the restaurant told him, “Shhhhh. Shhhhh.”</p>
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<p>Happened to my father while we were driving cross-country. We were stopped by a cop in Mississippi, I think, and we could either pay him $100 in cash on the spot or follow him into town and wait days to see the judge. That experience has clouded my feelings about the Deep South…</p>
<p>It is a sort of mandatory bribe where the doctor won’t treat you unless you give him an extra $1,000, paid in the form of fees for unnecessary lab tests done at a testing company that he part-owns.</p>
<p>Sam, that list/report is labeled Corruption Perception — so I don’t know how much is actual corruption, how much is perception.</p>
<p>ShawWife and I were in Lima at the airport a number of years ago (when the Shining Path were strong) waiting to board our flight home. The scene was chaos. The flight was clearly oversold. I put $40 in our passports when we went to get our boarding passes and got the boarding passes and the passports and boarding passes back less the cash.</p>
<p>In Mexico, we were stopped on the highway by a policeman on the highway between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. I spoke with him and answered in weak Spanish – where are you going, etc?. He kept asking me questions and waiting around, I think for a bribe. Because I was obviously a non-comprehending gringo, after 15 minutes, he gave up.</p>
<p>Shawbridge</p>
<p>Yes,but got what we wanted in another country ,and it was worth it .</p>
<p>I’ve done ONE architectural project in NYC. I told the clients they needed to get an Expediter to shepherd the papers through the Building Department. All I know is that Expediter must not have paid enough, because they put us through the wringer. I have avoided any city jobs since. </p>
<p>I’ve never paid a bribe overseas that I can recall. I was grilled once by a Czech. border guard (pre-Iron curtain days) because I had a little suitcase (bought in Somalia) that turned out to have been made in Czechoslovakia.</p>
<p>Bribing was the only way to get certain necessities (like blankets on a sleeper train) while traveling in India.</p>
<p>Of course, zoosermom reminded me that at home I bribe and have been bribed on a regular basis…</p>
<p>We paid an expediter to get a VISA processed, they somehow have the ability to take them into the consulate in person every day rather than waiting days or weeks.</p>
<p>I’ve never bribed anyone or been offered a bribe, and I have worked in the public sector for forty years.</p>
<p>Aren’t you at a public university?^^ Maybe there it is called cronyism. (not saying it includes you) What about what we are hearing about the California University system? That isn’t the only public university and private - but isn’t private different? How many threads are there in CC about the high cost of public education? </p>
<p>I accidentally recently ran across a big expose done in the LA Times last year about huge corruption among city officials in LA. Easy to find googling latimes corruption.</p>
<p>[Super</a> PACs Gone Wild: This Is ?Tip of the Iceberg? If Citizens United Isn?t Overturned, Sen. Sanders Warns | Daily Ticker - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/super-pacs-gone-wild-tip-iceberg-citizens-united-141547649.html]Super”>Super PACs Gone Wild: This Is “Tip of the Iceberg” If Citizens United Isn’t Overturned, Sen. Sanders Warns)</p>
<p>“As of Super Tuesday, so-called Super PACs have spent more than $66 million on the GOP primaries, more than the total Super PAC spending during the entire 2010 midterms, according to The Center for Public Integrity.”…</p>
<p>kayf,</p>
<p>Even whether corruption is “actual” depends on where you are. I am sure things uncovered by the following Medill project, while legal here, are bribery in some other places like Singapore. I am pretty sure those acts meet the legal definition of corrpution in Hong Kong, where I grew up.
[Journalism</a> Initiative with Public Interest at Heart : Northwestern University Newscenter](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2012/03/medill-watchdog-tulsky.html]Journalism”>Journalism Initiative with Public Interest at Heart - Northwestern Now)</p>
<p>I think all these SuperPACs are open corrpution and disgusting to me. It’s my perception but it’s very real to me too. However, there seemingly nothing we, as ordinary citizens, can do about it. <em>sigh</em></p>