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We were detained in Mozambique for arriving to work on their cellular network without a pre-authorization letter from the CTO. That was quite an experience; no

We were detained in Mozambique for arriving to work on their cellular network without a pre-authorization letter from the CTO. That was quite an experience; not every nation is friendly to Western nations, turns out.

titoCA321 5y ago
Sometimes parts of the world expect "under the table" payments to get things moving.
- alkaloid 5y ago
  Funny you mention that -- when our liaison came to the airport he called the CTO and hand-wrote out an authorization form . . . then paid the border security people MPesa (and cash) lol . . .
- ricktdotorg 5y ago
  i was involved in the setup/config of new Sun servers for a Morgan Stanley office in India in the late 90s. everything was done ahead of time in the London HQ and shipped over to India. it was well-known by everyone on that project that there was a cash slush fund that our couriers and the employee who shepherded the gear over to India had to use at various levels to grease the wheels.
- renewiltord 5y ago
  FCPA actually allows facilitating payments for things like this. No one will prosecute you for it in the US. Of course, Ericsson did get FCPA sanctioned for other stuff since they paid kickbacks etc. It’s actually quite fascinating. The real victim here is the foreign state that is suffering from the corruption but US law protects them. I suppose it’s anti-trust sort of law. It retains competition for fair-playing US companies. Definitely an interesting positive-externalities US law.
- iso1631 5y ago
  If I pay a bribe or facilitation payment to the local warlord, I, personally, break laws in my own country. This even applies if I pay a taxi driver to take me to the site, and he pays the bribe. If I'm paying a bribe for safety purposes (say giving a bottle of scotch to pass a checkpoint to get back to the hotel before night), then if I'm lucky I won't be prosecuted when I return to my home country. The great thing is I don't feel guilty about not tipping in the US. "Facilitation payments, which are payments to induce officials to perform routine functions they are otherwise obligated to perform, are bribes"
  - tomc1985 5y ago
    > The great thing is I don't feel guilty about not tipping in the US. Wow, that is a real stretch of logic, and a great way to make wait staff hate you
    - 988747 5y ago
      The US are probably the only country where tipping makes sense, because it is kind of recognized by law (i.e. waiters have no minimum salary, because it is assumed they would make most of their money from tips). In every other country a tip is indeed just a bribe.
      - tomc1985 5y ago
        I get that, but if GGP is not from the US then it is incredibly rude to come into the country with that kind of attitude. And if they are from the US, then it makes them look even worse.
      - throwaway2037 5y ago
        You wrote: <<waiters have no minimum salary>>. This is untrue. It varies from area to area. I don't know of any areas where there is no minimum wages for wait staff. (Please correct me if wrong.)
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]

titoCA321 5y ago

Sometimes parts of the world expect "under the table" payments to get things moving.

alkaloid 5y ago
Funny you mention that -- when our liaison came to the airport he called the CTO and hand-wrote out an authorization form . . . then paid the border security people MPesa (and cash) lol . . .
ricktdotorg 5y ago
i was involved in the setup/config of new Sun servers for a Morgan Stanley office in India in the late 90s. everything was done ahead of time in the London HQ and shipped over to India. it was well-known by everyone on that project that there was a cash slush fund that our couriers and the employee who shepherded the gear over to India had to use at various levels to grease the wheels.
renewiltord 5y ago
FCPA actually allows facilitating payments for things like this. No one will prosecute you for it in the US. Of course, Ericsson did get FCPA sanctioned for other stuff since they paid kickbacks etc. It’s actually quite fascinating. The real victim here is the foreign state that is suffering from the corruption but US law protects them. I suppose it’s anti-trust sort of law. It retains competition for fair-playing US companies. Definitely an interesting positive-externalities US law.
iso1631 5y ago
If I pay a bribe or facilitation payment to the local warlord, I, personally, break laws in my own country. This even applies if I pay a taxi driver to take me to the site, and he pays the bribe. If I'm paying a bribe for safety purposes (say giving a bottle of scotch to pass a checkpoint to get back to the hotel before night), then if I'm lucky I won't be prosecuted when I return to my home country. The great thing is I don't feel guilty about not tipping in the US. "Facilitation payments, which are payments to induce officials to perform routine functions they are otherwise obligated to perform, are bribes"
- tomc1985 5y ago
  > The great thing is I don't feel guilty about not tipping in the US. Wow, that is a real stretch of logic, and a great way to make wait staff hate you
  - 988747 5y ago
    The US are probably the only country where tipping makes sense, because it is kind of recognized by law (i.e. waiters have no minimum salary, because it is assumed they would make most of their money from tips). In every other country a tip is indeed just a bribe.
    - tomc1985 5y ago
      I get that, but if GGP is not from the US then it is incredibly rude to come into the country with that kind of attitude. And if they are from the US, then it makes them look even worse.
    - throwaway2037 5y ago
      You wrote: <<waiters have no minimum salary>>. This is untrue. It varies from area to area. I don't know of any areas where there is no minimum wages for wait staff. (Please correct me if wrong.)
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]