When is a tip really a bribe?

• Author: Klosterman, Chuck
• Position: The Ethicist - Brief article

My family and I traveled to Cambodia. On the day we left to return home, the immigration officer asked me for a tip and I gave him $5. Was it wrong to pay and, by extension, help perpetuate that nation's corruption?

Leon Weaver, Redding, Connecticut

THERE ARE NO ETHICAL (or even social) parameters for tipping. It's hard to fathom why almost everyone tips the pizza-delivery guy while almost no one tips the UPS man.

Tipping an immigration officer seems odd only because he's a government employee. You fear that tipping this man will contribute to more corruption in Cambodia. That's a valid consideration (not to mention that the request itself is probably illegal and could get you in trouble). But it's possible he requests tips because he needs the extra money to make a living wage.

Of...