I was in Czechoslovakia in 1990 and witnessed some of the petty corruption you described. In a communist country that was supposed to not have much commerce, there was lots of commerce, if you knew where to look. Much of that has been rooted out (I believe). But now there is more western corruption.

About 18 months ago, the Alberta government privatized its medical laboratory system. The lab results were taking longer and longer, creating bottlenecks in the medical system. Last week, the government put the labs back in public hands. The question not enough people are asking is: "What kind of deals were made to go from public to private---and back again?"