hello.hello.hola.

We've been traveling for a few weeks;  we arrived home on Sunday, and I went yesterday to the grocery store so that my family would have something to eat other than rice on top of tostadas.
(not that there is anything wrong with that, right?)

I came home, my arms loaded with fruit, vegetables, meat and cheese (basically, all things perishable) to find Joshua arguing with some guy sent from the electrical company.  Their conversation went something like this:
electricity man:  we're cutting your electricity
Joshua: but we've been paying our bills
man: yes, but the people who lived here before you left two years of unpaid bills
Joshua: let's find a solution;  The owner of the building is responsible for paying that bill, but I can go pay it right now and have him pay me back.
man:  let's talk in private for just a second . . . I can hold off for a day if you make it worth my while
Joshua:  wait - are you asking for money?
man:  uuuuuh nope; I never said that.
Joshua:  you said you could hold off for a day, so just let me go pay the bill and don't cut my electricity.
man: snip. snip.

We didn't pay the bribe
and we were without electricity until the next day.
That's not the end of the world, I know, but I'm still kind of fuming that my chicken went bad and that my strawberries are all moldy.
and
Joshua and I have our minds and hearts spinning - asking ourselves if we made the right choice - asking ourselves if this was corruption or if it was just a clash between two cultures - asking ourselves how God's love for truth and honesty is directly applied to a situation like this.

what would you have done?