> In the US I would be afraid to offer money to an officer, because that is clearly illegal.
Yeah that's the nice thing for all the criticism people have for US it still has a relatively well functioning justice system compared to those other country. People simply have no idea what it is like to live with pervasive corruption on all levels of society.
Handing money to a police officer was expected and sometimes even asked for blatantly. It is still illegal just that nobody cares. It never called a bribe but something like "Maybe we can come to an understanding..."
> I don't offer "help" to subsidize the work that a waiter does then I am essentially taking money away
That's a good way to understanding it. Except you'd pay "tips" ahead of time, they'd be large, and would be for random things like kids getting good grades, or doctor not messing the surgery up, and the judge to get off murder.
A particularly evil case, was a neighbor I had who knew the guy who worked in a DNA testing lab. That guy had a huge house, cars and lived the good life. Why? He offered falsifying DNA results for criminal and paternity tests as a service.
Just thinking about the damage that one person did, and I am sure he wasn't the only one.
> What are the opinions / standards coming from there?
I have mostly been in Eastern Europe. It's much, much worse. US might have high level corruption - nepotism, lobbying, regulatory capture but it is still doing pretty well compared to many other places.
Yeah that's the nice thing for all the criticism people have for US it still has a relatively well functioning justice system compared to those other country. People simply have no idea what it is like to live with pervasive corruption on all levels of society.
Handing money to a police officer was expected and sometimes even asked for blatantly. It is still illegal just that nobody cares. It never called a bribe but something like "Maybe we can come to an understanding..."
> I don't offer "help" to subsidize the work that a waiter does then I am essentially taking money away
That's a good way to understanding it. Except you'd pay "tips" ahead of time, they'd be large, and would be for random things like kids getting good grades, or doctor not messing the surgery up, and the judge to get off murder.
A particularly evil case, was a neighbor I had who knew the guy who worked in a DNA testing lab. That guy had a huge house, cars and lived the good life. Why? He offered falsifying DNA results for criminal and paternity tests as a service.
Just thinking about the damage that one person did, and I am sure he wasn't the only one.
> What are the opinions / standards coming from there?
I have mostly been in Eastern Europe. It's much, much worse. US might have high level corruption - nepotism, lobbying, regulatory capture but it is still doing pretty well compared to many other places.