* I gave $20 to a porter (EWR maybe?) in the hopes of getting quicker service. Perhaps I was naive, but it seemed at the time that I was really just paying for the service that using a porter provides, which included getting escorted to a particular line. I did have a LOT of luggage for a one-month, three-traveler visit, so it seemed reasonable.

* I paid a garage attendant in a private building on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago $20 (in addition to the ticketed rate) in order to get him to take my car. I wasn't visiting anyone in the building, but I knew there wasn't going to be any other parking to be had.

* A few blocks away from there is a building I lived in for many years. They finally took responsibilty for getting cars towed away from the doormen, and hired one of the towing companies to do drive-bys and grab any car in the driveway that didn't have a tag from the lobby noting a 15-minute visit. One of my best friends came by, never said a word about his car to the doorman who let him in, and just came upstairs. I grabbed him and ran back down as soon as he walked in the door, by which time his car was already being dragged behind a tow-truck on the way out of the driveway.

Anyone who's lived in Chicago (or any other similar city, I presume) knows how this game works. I've seen many many cases in which someone would stand in front of the truck while a friend/spouse called the police. I've never seen a tow-truck actually leave with the car once the coppers showed up, but the whole process is messy and takes forever. In the case of my friend, I told him to hand me his wallet and run with me. I asked the driver what it would take to drop the car, he said "half", we did business, and he departed.