Border Corruption

So we just had to deal with the stupidest thing ever.
We got to the thai/lao border. For US citizens, you need a visa to get into Laos. It costs 35 USD to get a Visa On Arrival at the border.

I did the calculation and it cost about 1,085 Thai Baht which is equivalent to $35 USD. In my pocket I had 1,500. The visa guy took it and didn't give me change. I said nono it costs 1,085, you need to give me 415 back. He said, no he doesn't take Thai money in the first place so he will keep the extra 400 instead of requiring me to pay in USD.

Aaron, Lahti, and I had no US currency and assumed it was totally fine to give the equivalent in Thai money.
The other tourists on our bus were nice enough to give me 35 in exchange for my thai money. When I gve him 35, he then said that after 4PM it is 36 which is complete and utter BS because the sign outside of the building said 35 USD, nothing about a cost difference in the day.

We had to argue with him for another 10 min and in the end he said, it's either 36USD or 1,500 BHT. We had to give in because we were holding the bus back...
Lesson learned, keep US dollars with you when you're crossing boarders in shady corrupt countries.