Even that is actually rather blurry. There's a difference between gift-giving (and accompanying smalltalk) to build relationships, and gift-giving to get one's

Even that is actually rather blurry. There's a difference between gift-giving (and accompanying smalltalk) to build relationships, and gift-giving to get one's way. Understand that the former (gift-giving to build relationships) is designed to artificially create a high cost of entry to any new relationship so that people are discouraged from making bad deals (or otherwise behaving unethically). The latter (gift-giving in exchange for services) is generally not accepted for the simple reason that it subverts rational decision making on the part of officials. That much is the same everywhere. The fact that there is "bad" bribery in some relationship-based cultures does not diminish the fact that it's undesirable. People there may put up with it because they just need to get things done, much like the way we put up with the legal and patent system here. What the kid did in this case regarding the MacBook Air would likely be considered bribery in any country. It is clearly an exchange of goods in return for services rendered.