In the early 70s, trying to get a visa for Chad at their embassy in Algiers. The official looking probably head fellow spent a bunch of time looking at the pages in my passport, and said to come back tomorrow to pick it up. It turns out he had someone hand draw a fancy looking visa "stamp" to mimic those of other countries. Coolest visa I ever got!

More recently, a young acquaintance went to the Indian embassy in NYC - took the bus down, doing it as a day trip. The queue was as crazy as posted above and things were not getting anywhere - they were not even letting people into the building. So she bribed a guard and got in - had to pay the guy in the elevator because there were cameras everywhere. We (my Indian friends and I) thought this was a hysterical "entrance exam" where you had to demonstrate the ability to give baksheesh just to get into the country