Thanks for posting this, I found it really interesting.

As a 20-something geek I was surprised to read how virtually every place accepted the bribe in one way or another. It really contradicts my low confidence + true/false mentality.

His attitude appears to have been the magic for making those deals... had he been holding the money timidly he implies they certainly would have turned him away. I will take away from the article the reminder that more self confidence (to a point) reaps benefits in ways I wouldn't always expect.