[1] Mr A. begins his story with the following statement: “The largest commercial enterprise in the district after the Supply Section718 is the Order Service. The already thriving company is growing in leaps and bounds, and the stars promise excellent prospects. Unlike in regular business, the profits of the Order Service do not go into the “company’s” coffers, but end up in the private pockets of a small handful of people on top of the Order Service Command. Here are the development stages of the company:
The first period of the Order Service was “romantic”, when senior officers still despised taking bribes, when the “stars” still felt uncomfortable in their hats and shoes, and when meeting their former clients (we are referring to lawyers who have practically monopolised the Order Service’s top positions), they tried to justify themselves by saying that it was social duty that forced them to accept such an unrewarding, yet necessary and valuable job.
This period was very short: people realised their power and the opportunities it gave them, so they decided to use it. These benefits did not take the naked form of a bribe straightway, as that very word provoked disgust in some people at that point; everything was temporarily restricted to donations in-kind, so-called “voluntary gifts of courtesy.” And here we are approaching the second stage. The Order Service Command appointed their own people to Region I (the richest in the Jewish district), and those people were obliged to provide supplies for the entire group at the head of the Command. This task was executed easily and flawlessly: bakers declared, of course “voluntarily”, a contingent of baked goods—white bread, rolls, and pastries (unofficial
