Ah señor Embassador que voy a hacer contigo?
First, I learned Spanish in high school some 30+ years ago. I took two years in high school and then switched to Latin for two years, which I continued for another two years in college. At the time, I also worked as a construction laborer in Texas, where 90%+ of the laborers at the time were from Mexico, which helped me reinforce what little Spanish I had actually learned in high school. But I got out of construction (as a laborer, anyway) by the time I was 21 or so and thus ended my Spanish lessons
When I came here some 9 years ago, I only remembered a smattering of what I'd learned 25 or so years in the past. In fact, when I first met my wife, we conversed mostly via Google translations to have any meaningful conversations! (we talked a lot in generalities and and such without need to translate) But nearly 9 years of living with her, and then her sisters, I have become fairly accomplished in the language.
My ancestry is very strongly Scotch-Irish with a bit of German thrown in - I couldn't pass as a Latino if I had a summer-long beach tan
This, from my girls who laugh when I say, but there are many European-descended people here, I couldn't pass as one of them? The answer is a resounding "no". Hehe.
I suppose the exchange with the cop went something like this (remember, it's been some 6 or 7 years since this happened, I don't remember the details but the generalities are correct):
"Usted sabe que no se puede usar el celular mientras que manejas?"
"Le pido disculpas señor. Era mi esposa quien me llamó y tenía el miedo que algo malo le había sucedido." (hey, it was the only possible excuse I could think of!)
"Si usted pensó que era un problema cuando llegó la llamada, usted debería haber estacionado en ese momento para recibirla. No le puedo disculpar la ofensa. Me parece que voy a tener que llevar su auto para la ofensa señor. Por favor, salí del auto y voy a llamar una grua."
I sat there for a couple of seconds, thinking fast.
"Señor, no hay otra manera en que podemos solucionar la situación?"
He looked at me for a moment.
"Qué propones?"
"Yo propongo que le pago la multa a usted directamente y evitamos el problema de involucrar todas las demás. Tengo dos billetes de cien en mi billetera para solucionar el problema."
He thought about it.
"Bueno esta bien. Metélos en un papel o algo y pasámelos."
It was literally that quick. I didn't have to argue with him or anything.
And those who read this, excuse my Spanish - I don't often write Spanish (indeed, when I have to send an email or something I usually get one of my girls to proof-read, but no one is here right now
) and I haven't had formal instruction in the language since 1979
Having said all that, I was desperate to not have my car impounded. I really don't suggest that people try to bribe officials here, particularly if one doesn't know the language very well. I was probably lucky that my actions didn't get me in real hot water. Had the officer only written me a ticket, I would have accepted the ticket and not tried to bribe him. I don't know how often they actually would have impounded the car in a situation like mine, but I do know that I saw people getting towed on the spot when the government changed Santa Fe, Puerrydon and Las Heras to have the restricted bus/taxi lanes during the day, for about a month or so after they changed it up when people ignored the signs and drove their cars there anyway (of course, they don't seem to enforce that any more). But those were the newer city transit cops that were handling that. It seemed like the PFA officer that talked to me was looking for something.
I also suggest that one act with complete respect, no matter what an official has to say to you or no matter what he or she ends up doing. Don't get on any kind of self-righteous crusade to show that you "know" how things should be. While Dr. Rubilar is an attorney and knows the ins and outs of the law and how to handle corrupt officials, finding oneself in a jail for a night or two (most likely in the case of a cop, not an official in immigrations as an example, although the latter has its own set of consequences) because one was naively trying to stand on rights does not usually end with a good series of events, I can guarantee.
I don't suggest that people lay down and take it up the a__s either, but think real hard about what you are doing and the possible consequences before you act, remembering that things are very hierarchical here in terms of power structure and those on the bottom rungs seem to seek out ways to screw with those who come to them - just because they can.
Bajo, I appreciate what you say about official misconduct and how it should be handled. But you have to see it from a foreigner's viewpoint - unless we hire a good lawyer to help us out, many of us don't understand the law completely and are often faced with hard decisions. and most of us don't have the time or inclination to fight constantly issues with Argentina itself. It is the culture of Argentina, not the US, and we aren't the ones who should be changing the hearts and minds of Argentinos to become less corrupt. While such corruption exists on such a scale, it is often safer for us to go with the flow, as much as we hate it, as we are often targets in this society when we raise our heads. This is not necessarily fear talking, but rather pragmatism.
I remember back in the mid-90s when I was working for an offshore drilling company, I was about to go to Nigeria for business. Before I was due to leave, we had an IT emergency in Angola and I diverted there instead. I was, by coincidence, going to be traveling to Nigeria with one of our auditors who had gone there about 6 months earlier to audit the area office in Nigeria. It was a policy of our company that we didn't pay bribes to get business done and the auditor had gigged the Nigerian office for a number of bribery payments over the previous year. The area manger quit making bribes and business slowed down to a crawl. The horrible/funny thing was that when the auditor arrived in Nigeria (on the trip I was supposed to be on!), he was thrown in jail with two others from the company that had also traveled with him, for a week, straight from immigrations at the airport. The area manger laughed his ass off when he went to bribe the officials to get the auditor and the other two out of jail.
I suppose the area manager could have left the three in jail for a month or two (or more?) while they went about trying to get justice in Nigeria, but the auditor was very thankful that the manager only laughed about the previous audit and didn't leave him in there while he sought justice.
I would not equate Argentina with Nigeria, as far as how extremely corrupt is Nigeria compared to Argentina. But the situation is similar as far as trying, as a foreigner, to fight corruption here. The only alternative is to leave the country, but it has been my experience that one must simply accept a culture as it is, without trying to change it, and enjoy that which is enjoyable and tolerate and/or work within how things are done in that particular culture. It is up to the culture itself to change from within.
