The Jeitinho in Everyday Life

The art of the jeitinho can be observed in people’s homes and the streets, in favelas and middle-class residential buildings, in government offices and slum-upgrading project sites. It forms part of the cultural fabric of Brazil.

If a policeman stops someone, that person might ask him if there is a way of making a jeitinho or an exception. If a performance is sold out, someone might ask the host if there’s a jeitinho for him or her to go in. If someone wants to get off the bus when there’s no bus stop, that person will ask the bus driver if there’s a jeitinho for him or her to get off.

But you have to know how and when to ask for a jeitinho. As Fernanda Carlos Borges explains in The Philosophy of the Jeito (2006), you have to ask humbly and kindly, as if you were just presented with an unexpected dilemma. This is key if you want to master the art of the jeitinho.