The Incredibly Stupid One
Playing dumb works extremely well to get out of extortion attempts too.<p>I've driven through a stack of countries notorious for extortion by Police and Military - Congo, Nigeria, Honduras, Kenya, Guinea - just to name a few.<p>One of my tactics to avoid paying a cent is playing dumb. It's super easy when they don't speak English. I do my best to understand their (French/Spanish/Portuguese/Whatever), all the while remaining very polite and friendly. It's a real shame when I don't understand they want money, and virtually always they wave me through in disgust.<p>On a two year drive from Alaska to Argentina I paid one $5 bribe.<p>In three years around Africa through 35 countries I paid once in Ivory Coast, because I was too big for my boots and let on that I speak French.<p>Playing dumb has a lot of advantages.<p>For anyone interested, here's me dealing with a real-life extortion attempt in Nigeria [1]. This was in Nigeria, so it's all in English, but the script is identical in any corrupt country.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RTlDa2cg0o" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RTlDa2cg0o</a>