Where do you live? Because “this culture” now exists at the top level of the US government, for example. And in fact, even before the current administration, it was an accepted and legal aspect of government, for example “lobbyists” who handed out checks to the representatives whose influence they were controlling.

In the US, it’s only at much lower levels that this is at all frowned on, especially in government. In private business you’ll still find e.g. apartment managers asking for bribes to do their job properly.

▲

verve_rat 2 hours ago | parent [-]

And if you squint a bit and stretch some definitions... then tipping culture isn't a million miles away from bribing culture.

What is a tip if it's not a bribe to not spit in your food?

	▲	Cyberdog an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Former foodservice worker (in the US) for several years here. Servers do not spit in customers' food; that would be psychopathic behavior that no manager would tolerate and grounds for immediate termination, and the type of person who would actually do that is the type of antisocial person who is going to struggle in any job. If a known bad tipper ends up in a server's section, she'll roll her eyes in private, perhaps grumble to her co-workers, then go put on the customer service smile and serve them as normal. That said, please tip. Note that (where legal) servers are generally paid below minimum wage because it's expected their income will be supplemented with tips. Consider the tip not a bribe but as a payment for a service you were provided which, at least in the current cultural climate, is not being tacked on to the actual bill; you may not like that and want that cultural norm to change, but it hasn't changed yet and is unlikely to in the near future. If tipping really offends you, then order pick-up instead of dining in, or just cook at home.