In this country, anything is possible if you pay the right sum to the right person. Today, my tutor, Andrei, and I were waiting in line to enter the Hermitage (we finally gave up) and people came along offering to help us bypass the line for money. Really, if you want something done in this country, a payment or gift will go a long way.
Take Friday night, for example. We went out to the bars to celebrate a friend's birthday. As we were leaving a bar, one of the girls in our party had lost her coat check ticket. After a long time spent trying to convince the attendant that the coat in question was in fact hers, the man finally asked for 100 rubles. She compromised at 50 and we were immediately on our way.
On another occasion, while we were still housed in the dorm/hotel, a friend had to pay a 100 ruble bribe to the front desk. A friend of his who lived on the other side of a bridge which had already gone up for the night (quite the annoyance, if you live on an island), needed a place to stay. The bribe got her in, even though she wasn't a registered guest.
I have not had to pay a bribe here, but it could happen. As a precaution, one should never walk around with more money than you are willing to lose. If a policeman stops you, the fine for whatever wrong you were committing in his eyes tends to be however much you have in your pocket, so I'm told at least. One good habit is to separate your money into different pockets, so that if you produce a wad, you do not reveal the entirety of your cash. This is also good practice for avoiding pick-pocketing.
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