I hear this talk about bribery all the time.
In Congo, bribery is common 24/7 in all walks of life. So I am pretty fluent in giving bribes to get day to day tasks done.
Here, been living in Argentina for almost 7 years - I have never encountered a situation where I was asked for a "bribe" either directly, indirectly or via a 3rd person!
A passive form of bribery very common in USA is "tipping" and if you don't tip, often a tip is demanded very aggresively in some states there. In 7 years here, I never remember a situation where anyone demanded a tip from here for services rendered.
I've been here for almost 10 years and have only encountered 2 times, personally, that I was in a situation where a bribe was or may have been a necessity. I started to write out the experiences but decided against it. No reason to self-incriminate. I've probably written about them before anyway.
I know a couple who were basically asked for a bribe in customs to get their belongings in under the 6 month residency limit and didn't pay and ended up getting their stuff stuck in storage for days and they ended up paying a bit of a bribe plus the storage fees incurred.
It's not rampant at civic levels between the public and officials, but it happens. The rampancy (at least formerly) was between people who "know" people who can get things done, and people who need things done. I have had seen it in person, not on a grand scale but at a business and personal level, and I won't say any more than that. I know that at least pre-Macri, anything that had to do with running a business, at least of any modest success, involved paying someone at sometime a bribe to keep the doors open, between police, health inspectors, fire inspectors, etc. As I understand it currently, business is much more difficult to do like that nowadays, as it was, and apparently encouraged, under the Kirchners but the people who would do this "facilitating" are finding it harder to find people in civil service to do the things they used to do.
I came in while Nestor was president and gradually saw how things were on that level as I know a number of people who have businesses in the city. That was just the way things were done, as far as I knew. And it either got more and more corrupt as we came towards the end of Cristina's final term, or I simply became more aware of it and how deep it went, and how easy it was to take advantage of if you knew someone, I don't know which.
As far as tips in the US, about the only thing I have ever tipped for (although an occasional cab ride or bellboy tip maybe but I wasn't a tourist in my own country and rarely had need for such services) would be food service. Waiters make a ridiculously low salary, and everyone knows it. In fact, the labor laws specifically allow for it, and the tax laws require that it be reported and taxed. The idea (as I'm betting you are aware
) is that the actual service portion of your experience is subsidized by you, the customer, in order to give the waiter incentive to give good service. It's not a bribe at all, it is a business transaction, in the light of day. You are paying less for the food, ostensibly, than you would if the restaurant owner was subsidizing the waiter's salary as overhead; therefore a tip is a reasonable way for the client to express his support for good service, the amount according to the service received. I've left small or no tips for waiters in the US when I've gotten bad service. I couldn't care less if it bothers them. I pay a tip if I like the service.
Now, take waiters here. In my experience, I can go into a random restaurant with my wife and probably enjoy a decent experience. She's young, beautiful and the nicest person I've ever known in my life. She charms people when she smiles. And with a few exceptions, waiters here are male. If I'm coming in with friends, say for a table of 4 or maybe 6 for the first time, we will probably get not-so-good service. There will be all kinds of delays between getting menus, getting the order taken, waiting for the appetizers, getting the waiter's attention during the meal, waiting for the desert menu, getting the dessert, getting the table cleared off, getting the bill...and so on.
Some would say that's just the Argentine way; slow, untimely dinner, mixed results, no hurry, etc, etc. To an extent that is certainly true. But the pace should be set by the customer, not the waiter. And in fact, if I and my friends go to a place where we like the food but the service was questionable, and as long as the waiter was amiable, we'll tip the guy enough to get his attention. Somewhere between 5% and maybe 10%. After a couple of trips like that, all of the sudden we are old friends to the waiter and he's much more attentive, we get good advice on what to order and dinners go smoother, more at our pace and when we want it. To get good service I have to pay a tip.
Big difference I see there is that in the States the waiters are poorly paid on purpose to make them work for good service and let the client himself be the judge. Here, waiters belong to a union, are often nice, but others often arrogant and none are often very attentive, and they are paid reasonably well for that level of work. Everyone here enjoys strong labor laws and there is not as much incentive between that and a unionized salary to provide more service than you feel like at any given moment and one must at times at least pay a tip to get good service.
Which one would really be the bribe?
And I have been to many restaurants here, though admittedly most often the tourist restaurants, where the client is handed the bill and reminded vocally by the waiter or waitress that the amount does not include a tip.
Also, have you not been to parillas where there is a tip jar or plate out on the bar or divider wall, or on a stand, etc, to put a tip in for the parillero? They watch to see who puts a tip in there and if they remember you and you didn't tip, if you come back you might not enjoy your next cut of meat too much...
