One of my favorite stories from my dad involves the annual ritual my grandfather had around Christmastime with the chief of police for the town in which my dad grew up (Timisoara). From the way my dad described it, in pre WWII Romania, any position of authority was given to Romanians (with very few exceptions) despite the fact that the city (third largest in the country) had equal populations of ethnic Hungarians, Jews, Germans and Romanians (this is apparently no longer the case).
Despite having access to government positions and authority, these posts were very poorly paid. It was tacitly understood, however, that any such deficiencies in salary would be made up for with good bribes. It was expected that bribes would be paid for "services."
My grandfather apparently went every year to the chief of police with a good bottle of slivovitz (a type of plum brandy which is the national drink for many of the Balkan countries) and an envelope stuffed with cash. My grandfather and the Chief would have a toast to each other's health and the New Year and then my grandfather would hand over the envelope telling the Chief that this was a donation to the Policeman's Athletic Sports Complex.
The moral of the story, of course, was that bribes were expected, but you couldn't just call it a bribe.
It goes without saying that there was no Policeman's Athletic Sports Complex.
Despite having access to government positions and authority, these posts were very poorly paid. It was tacitly understood, however, that any such deficiencies in salary would be made up for with good bribes. It was expected that bribes would be paid for "services."
My grandfather apparently went every year to the chief of police with a good bottle of slivovitz (a type of plum brandy which is the national drink for many of the Balkan countries) and an envelope stuffed with cash. My grandfather and the Chief would have a toast to each other's health and the New Year and then my grandfather would hand over the envelope telling the Chief that this was a donation to the Policeman's Athletic Sports Complex.
The moral of the story, of course, was that bribes were expected, but you couldn't just call it a bribe.
It goes without saying that there was no Policeman's Athletic Sports Complex.
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Have a great and fraud-free day.
----------à>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>gene
tausk
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