# Have you ever bribed anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 14, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bribed-anyone/489463 "2009-03-14T23:29:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bribed-anyone/489463/41 "2009-03-18T17:22:47Z")
Incredibly, no! I have been led to believe by Bulgarians that the only reason I have escaped it was that I am a foreigner. [It is a VERY corrupt country](http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=99907) and I heard a lot about bribe paying, but I never actually paid any bribes. My students offered to bribe me for good grades, though. I told them a 6 (ie, A) would cost ONE MILLION EUROS. Sadly, none of them coughed up. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bribed-anyone/489463/42 "2009-03-18T18:41:07Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > In Vegas our hotel room was listed as having an 80something percent rate on the “slip the clerk 20 bucks for an upgrade” trick. I tried it (I’m sure I turned beet red) and I don’t know if we got much of an upgrade, but I heard a ton of people complaining about their rooms with regard to noise from the nightclubs downstairs, and we were just fine. So it might have helped. In October 2007 my SO and I checked into our Vegas hotel, and as he handed the desk clerk his credit card he asked if any room upgrades were available. Lo and behold there were, and we wound up in a room with a pretty decent view of the strip. Later my SO asked me if I’d noticed the $20 bill he’d slipped the guy while handing over his card, and I hadn’t! My SO said that’s also why he waited for a male desk clerk to be available: he says that they are more likely to take such bribes than female desk clerks. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bribed-anyone/489463/43 "2009-03-18T19:13:13Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Once. It was at a show in Vegas and I wanted a good table to impress a date. $20 to the maître d did the trick. Folded discreetly, of course, and offered in handshake. Yes, and I can’t stress this too strongly. If they do not have assigned seating (few older venues do) then it’s not a bribe, it’s a tip- thus $10+ to the maître d and $5 to the dude seating you can make a world of difference. And- dress nice, not sloppy. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bribed-anyone/489463/44 "2009-03-18T20:10:50Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Sure. There have been plenty of times I have slipped a folded bill into a maître d’s hand to secure quicker seating or a table by the window. > > I once bribed a public official, in a foreign country, in a “this is the way it’s done” moment, to get a copy of a certificate that he was legally obliged to provide, but wouldn’t absent the bribe. I don’t think the latter counts as a bribe so much as extortion. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bribed-anyone/489463/45 "2009-03-19T16:30:13Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Waaaaay back when I worked as a buyer for Mobil Oil, bribes were added into the purchase orders when dealing with Pertamina (Indonesia). Good old Presidential Decree 14b. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bribed-anyone/489463/46 "2009-03-19T17:50:08Z")
A motorcycle cop in Tijuana pulled me over for driving with my arm around my girlfriend. He gave me the option of paying a $20 “fine” now or going to jail. My girlfriend was holding most of our money. I only had $13 in my wallet, but she had about $60 on her. I said I only have $13. The cop said he would reduce the fine to $13. He took it and we went on our way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bribed-anyone/489463.md?page=2)