Once you get outside the first world brides seem to be the norm -- every person I know who does international work has a story about having to bride somebody, especially if you need to get something through customs quickly, or at all. It's funny, you just make a bare effort to make it seem official and they'll get you right through.

One guy would keep cash in a hidden pocket in his suitcase and if customs gave him trouble he'd politely inform them about the pocket they didn't check and everything would get resolved.

Another guy would be bringing in parts for his company and when things got held up he'd talk to the person of the appropriate rank and offer to pay the "expedited" fee to get things through, as these were very important pieces of equipment. There was no expedited fee.

Somebody else would literally just sneak them cash as they shook the custom officer's hand, but they had a working relationship and knew each other on a first name basis.

One person got pissed off and refused to pay a bride and literally just waited until they changed shifts and his stuff was released.

Forgot to add, there was one customs officer in $SMALLCOUNTRY who used to take bribes from somebody I knew, but was transferred to the taxation department. The person I knew died, but I found out through one of his coworkers that the former customs officer resolved a SNAFU with some tax paperwork that was about to turn into a very expensive disaster. He didn't even expect payment, he just wanted to do right by the person who had seriously bolstered his income for years, he was even asking about the guy's family how they were doing after his passing.