Bribe The Police in Europe Checked !!!

Good ole Richie Rich gave me not one but two new mini adventure after a long time. We were going to a couch surfing event he created which was on the outskirts of the old town Prague set in a gym that serves beer and has a ping pong table. I am still not quite sure what kind of place it was for it had two ping pong tables, foosball tables, pools table, bowling, air hockey and a bar.

So on the way to some ping pong and drinks event he created we went out waiting for the troller-bus on a Sunday evening. As we board the troller-bus I asked Richie what about tickets … bus tickets …

“Just sit down, Its fine”, Richie said

Seeing as Richie had been in Prague for a significant amount of time chasing skirts or in his manly valor charming explanation “I have to go see about a girl”, I assumed he knew what he was doing.

Few stops later two guys in casual clothing tapped us on the shoulder and asked for tickets and showed us a badge cupped closely in their hands like it was a secret operation. Richie did all the talking, said we don’t have tickets and we were both shuffled off the bus.

So there was a fine for not paying the bus ticket, 800CZK a person. The asked for passports and ID which Richie said it's back in the hostel and I just pointed at him pretending not to know English. Richie did his best innocent look and explain how he did not know where to get tickets on a Sunday since all the tickets shops are closed. (They sell them in grocery stalls apparently which is close on Sunday, so you need to buy in advance or at the train stations)

“F*cking Americans”, the cops in casual clothes said.

I just put on my dumb look and hoped for the best. Everything they asked I replied with hand gesture or a shake of the head and a blank look to Richie. Richie had work to do and a small Chinese guy did not look as attractive (money wise) as a young American guy.

Richie went through three of the five stages of grief for parting with money.

1. Denial
He actually denied doing anything wrong. As if the tourist is not at fault for not knowing how to buy a ticket.

2. Anger
Richie voice did got louder at a point with arms in the air saying it was ridicules to pay such a heavy fine for not buying a ticket. I watched as he tactically scolded the cops but with no success … it just made things worst

3. Bargaining
This one work out the best … he yanked out some money from his pocket and showing the balance of an empty pocket said that was all the money he had. The wallet was still smugly tucked in his jacket. So he worked out the BRIBE COST FOR TWO = 600CZK

So my share of the bribe was 300CZK about 21 SGD. Not bad Richie ….