You're 100% spot on that this type of environment breeds criminality and corruption. It is undesirable. But it is unfortunately the way of life in a lot of und

You're 100% spot on that this type of environment breeds criminality and corruption. It is undesirable. But it is unfortunately the way of life in a lot of under-developed countries (nothing to do with Islamic countries as another comment pointed out elsewhere). Feeling uncomfortable around this behaviour is also a very typical Western outlook on this. Having grown up in the middle east, bartering and the "give and take" is just going with the flow. Its endemic.