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The professions of midwife and customs officer, although apparently at opposite ends of the spectrum, are however unanimously discredited and offer, according to popular accounts, a certain number of similarities in their disdain for "anonymous users" (in contrast with the complaisant attitude shown to recommended users) and in the "racket" established at the expense of these users, even if the amount of illegal revenues varies considerably. By comparing their methods, we can develop an "exploratory model" which attempts to identify certain elements of "practical norms" which, although différent from "officiai practice", regulate the behaviour of state officiais in Africa. On the one hand, local professional traditions, which are specific to each group, lead to a mix of scraps of knowledge picked up in training, local know-how and attitudes picked up on the job; on the other, there is a well-understood system of privatised bureaucracy, with its "privileges", its "documents for cash", its lack of productivite its "personal favours", its combination of dehumanised activities and personalisation for certain tasks.