When I was growing up, I was addicted to arcade games. Back then we did not have laptop computers, smart phones nor Playstation and XBox as is common these days.
To feed my habit, I had to travel to town daily after school to the shops that had the machines. I do not refer to the gambling coin slots like at the casinos but to the video games like Pac Man, Kung Fu Master and Street Fighter.
It cost 20c a game and I hated it when the game ended and the screen read: “Please Insert Coin.” When I had run out of coins, I would stare at the screen and watch the machine auto play in a teasing manner.
The older generation would remember the public telephones that were coin operated. They were often placed near post offices and that’s where I would go to raid their coin slots, hoping some hapless caller had forgotten their change.
In the event I found no coins, the trick was then to punch the telephone and hope it would spit out some coins.
This is my confession to allowing an addiction to corrupt me at a young age. Thankfully, I outgrew arcade games and coin telephones are only a memory as technology advances.
The other day, I was rushing to the airport when I got pulled over at a roadblock. It was one of those dreaded ones where the officers check for outstanding fines.
I knew I had a stash of outstanding traffic fines and I braced myself for the inevitable arrest. The traffic officer took my driver’s licence and printed all my infractions, which came to a whopping seven grand. The print-outs were kind enough to also show my vehicle where I had been caught on camera skipping a red traffic light or exceeding the speed limit.
The officer gave me options to pay in cash or swipe my card or else hop in the police truck thoughtfully parked to take offenders to the cells.
I begged and pleaded that I was running late for my flight and I even thought of greasing the officer’s palm with “cold drink”.
Realising my quandary, the officer gave me another option to pay half the amount and settle the rest later.
I was so thankful to avoid jail time that after swiping half the amount, I reached for my wallet and took out a clipper (R100) to thank the law enforcement officer. Big mistake. The guy told me he was not doing me any favours but was only doing his job. Being a veteran of many roadblocks when I would accompany the police, I knew that many people got arrested for outstanding traffic fines and I was lucky to escape.
As I delightfully pulled away and rushed to the airport, I felt a pang of guilt that I had tried to bribe the law, or did I?
Technically, it could not have been a bribe as I had already escaped censure. The gesture was only a token of relief and appreciation. The cop is a rare species indeed in a country where corruption has become a national past time.
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