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Comically Small Bribe: Difference between revisions
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* [http://notalwaysright.com/bribery-adjusted-for-inflation/502 This] [[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]] entry has a customer, convinced that the cashier knows when the store will get more Wiis but is trying to keep it secret, try to bribe him with $20 for the info. As the cashier points out, even assuming he ''did'' have secret knowledge of the store's shipments, $20 is not worth the punishment he'd get for giving out such a secret.
* People find it amusing when politicians and bureaucrats revealed to have accepted bribes turn out to have accepted what seem to be ridiculously small bribes in exchange for their favour. A few million dollars, people can respect that. A few thousand dollars worth of ''furniture'', on the other hand...
**A lot of times the difference is explained by the [[Values Dissonance|odd ethic]] that regards cash as vulgar but ceremonial objects as magnanimous because the later harkens back to a gift economy. Arguably the more vile the service you want the more you have to polish it. If for instance you are a foreign agent and the service you want is treason then you have to make it look like it is something more honorable, then well, treason.
**There is also the straight forward point that someone has to hide his ill-gotten gains somewhere and a bank account might be to conspicuous. While an art object can hang on the wall and the secret police goons who are good at finding money be to much of philistines to realize you shouldn't have it.
* [[Roger Ebert]]'s contests on his blog, such his limerick contest and photo caption contest have always given tiny rewards of "a shiny new dime." In the case of the caption contest, it became satirical [[Serious Business]] when the winning entry was accused of plagiarism, and the prize given to another, only to find that it wasn't and for the original winner to receive his dime after all.
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