Several years ago a hostel owner in Costa Rica was telling me about trying to get things done through the small city government for his business.

After failing to get permits/licenses/whatever it was, someone told him he needed to give the city administrator some cash on the side for things to go through. Boom! Instant success!

At the time of our talking, he'd accepted that paying bribes to the government (not what the locals called it) was just a regular part of doing business.

It was astonishing that it was required, openly acknowledged/accepted by the locals, and pervasive through other government branches.