When I say people are very honest , I guess what I mean is average people on the street . And you ' re absolutely correct , bribery is a very , very fascinating part of life here that locals accept as normal everyday life . I ' m learning a lot , and change my mind all the time about how much I dislike it . Why is bribery , which is only theft with a little extra effort , not considered robbery ? I personally don ' t think bribery is theft with a little extra effort . Now that I have experienced it hundreds of times I am learning about it . Often bribery is just paying someone to do their job , because their government is so dysfunctional they are not being paid from them or being paid a tiny , tiny amount . That ' s certainly how locals see it if someone helps you by stamping a form , or allowing you entry , you pay them . And you pay them , instead of paying taxes or official fees . So it ' s not like you ' re paying more , you ' re just directly paying someone , instead of paying taxes which might eventually get paid to the worker . I can see why some people think it works .