I need tips from Aussie dopers.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Well, looks like I’m off to Australia again for another six months. Luckily, I won’t be spending as much time in the wastes this time (I’m speaking of Canberra, not The Great Vic) and I’ll have more time for socializing with the locals, as well as all the myriad other deadly, venomous inhabitants of the country.

A few things I never fully did get the gist of living there:

Tipping. Down in Melbourne and Geelong the waiters/waitresses clearly said “Folks don’t tip 'round here”, wheras in Sydney they didn’t mention anything and accepted it. Was this a faux-pas on my part, or did they just think “hey, found money”? How about taxis?

Pokies. An Aussie friend has promised that she’ll make these an important part of my stay. As far as I can tell they’re similar to video poker or slot machines, without being quite either. My web searches mostly just turn up that your politicians can’t decide wheather to ban 'em or not. WTF?

Environmental issues and Aboriginal issues I learned pretty quick to steer clear of, even when brought up by the host. Any others I should know about?

Thats about it. Any other major Faux-Pas’ we brutish Yanks make when we’re down there I can avoid?

2

I just got back from a month in Oz:

Tipping: Aussies are getting hip to it. I tip up to 15% in nice restaurants; In pubs it’s just not expected (even tho’ I still did.)

Cabs : I would always at least round off the fare; eg: far is $4.35, I’d leave $5.00 - I still found myself tipping more.

Licker in the front, poker in the rear. :wink: Pokies are alive and well in Oz! Aussies love to gamble!

Abo issues - Depends on whether yer dealing with an ocker or not. Most Aussies are enlightened towards equality and such. Act the same you would around an American when discussing Native American issues.

As far as any other pointers - just don’t be the ‘ugly American’ and they will love ya, mate! :slight_smile:

3

Oh, yeh…

PS - I am a transplanted Aussie.

:slight_smile:

4

I hope you have a great time here, Inky. One thing from LCC’s post - I wouldn’t suggest ever using the word Abo - in general, it will either make people hate you, or make idiots like you.

Tipping is usually only for a full meal - not for a snack, a couple of coffees, or a couple of drinks at a pub. If someone offers you a serviette, they mean a napkin ;). Pokies are a great way to lose money, but they’re fun if you enjoy flashing lights and cigarette smoke.

One of the hot issues at the moment is treatment of asylum seekers/illegal immigrants/refugees (the term used probably shows the attitude of the person using them) - I’d stay away from getting involved in discussions/arguments about that. Heck, I’m an Aussie, and I try to keep out of it.

5

Henry is right, Abo is not the PC term, but Aussies do have a fondness of, shall we say, abbreviating words.

:wink:

6

If it’s a while since you’ve been here, then GST is probably the biggest change you’ll notice. While most places quote their prices inclusive of GST, not all do so always check whether the price is inclusive of GST when you’re contracting for services.

Tipping is regarded here as a token of appreciation for good service, not as an entitlement.

I will generally round up the cab fair to the nearest dollar or give the guy delivering my takeaway food a couple of extra bucks, but I will rarely tip otherwise.

Many places practise “pooling” of tips, and you should be aware of this if it’s your intention that your tip goes to a particular member of staff. Watch out, too, when paying by credit card at the more expensive restaurants - it’s not unknown for them to fill in an amount for the tip before even presenting you with the bill and credit card voucher.

In general, tip only if you’ve received better than average service and it seems likely that the staff who’ve provided that service will actually receive the tip.

Things are pretty polarised here politically, so you might want to “lurk” while you catch up on the issues.

Where are you going to be based this time around?

7

Oh yeah - if you’re going to be in NSW, our laws relating to knives have changed in the last few years so if your profession or your hobbies involve you carrying one, you’ll need to familiarise yourself with the new laws.

8

Just a note from a hick in country Victoria… I have never tipped anyone here for anything, and never will. By the same token, I have never been tipped and have never expected it. This isn’t the US where minimum wages are lower because tipping is expected to subsidize them. I catch taxis from time to time, and the drivers don’t expect tips either (in fact, most of us would get uncomfortable about it - it just doesn’t feel right).

Pokies are like digital slot machines. They’re all over the place here in Victoria - in pubs and clubs - and they are a little controversial. They’re best avoided unless you need to shed some excess cash and are easily amused by pretty colours.

You’re right about the enviroment and Aboriginal issues - it’s best not to discuss them because they’re such touchy issues, also Australians don’t like “bloody Yanks coming here sticking their noses in and telling us what’s best after 5 minutes in the place”. I know that sounds mean, but that’s the kind of attitude you will face in a lot of places. Also, offer no opinions on immigration detention. It’s just not worth the grief. Remember that no matter how much you know about these issues, some of your casual aquaintances will be convinced that you can’t have an informed opinion because of your accent. Pick your audience carefully and you’ll be just fine.

Perhaps we’ll get a chance to meet while you’re here? I’m sure the other members of the Teeming Handful will be keen to get together a Dopefest in your honour in whichever capital city you’ll be nearest to. Ahhhh… an excuse for a Dopefest. You’ll be most welcome around these parts!

9

Not much to add to the good advice already given.

Sydney and Melbourne people are slightly different. I’ll probably start a debate amongst the Aussies, but here goes with my (hopefully unbiased) obsevations:

Sydney is a more international city than Melbourne, and attitudes reflect this. Tipping isn’t especially common here, but waiters, taxi drivers, and the like won’t refuse one, especially if they hear your accent. Sydney people don’t give a toss about your socio-economic background (in most circles), but don’t expect the Sydneysiders you meet on the street to be overly friendly either. In a pub of course, you will usually be able to strike up a conversation (whether you want to or not). Expect to talk about real estate a lot.

Melbourne, on the other hand, is Australia’s “old money” city, and is still where most of our large corporations have their HQ. It also considers itself, with no little justification, to be Australia’s cultural capital. This is reflected in its people, who will pay much more attention to the “old school tie”, and which club you are a member of, than your current economic worth. In Melbourne, it’s who you know rather than what you know. Having said that, you’ll probably find the average Melburnian friendlier than the average Sydneysider. Being smaller than Sydney, Melbourne has traditionally been slightly more parochial, but that is disappearing. It’s quite stylish in its own way.

In a (rough) US analogy, Sydney is LA, and Melbourne is Boston.
As for commiting a Yank faux-pas, you should be ok. There are folks all over the world who dislike Americans on some sort of principle, but generally, we like you lot. Express (or feign) an interest in cricket and our local football codes, keep saying how wonderful Australia is (we never get tired of having our collective ego boosted :smiley: ), and don’t be a “loud Yank” in a Hawaiian shirt and ten gallon hat. Play up your accent, and you can expect to be flirted with a lot.

Oh, and make sure you have a beer with the Dopers.

10

Nowadays, the majority of Pokies are video slot machines. See this for a bit more information.

IIRC, there is a ‘be responsible’ public awareness effort, referred to as harm minimisation on at least in NSW, where it’s becoming illegal to even advertise one’s hotel (a bar, which may have a restaurant and/or a gambling room as an adjunct can be called a hotel) as offering pokies or gambling. Or alcohol specials, like ‘happy hour’.

Not-for-profit service clubs, like Rooty Hill RSL, offer pokies, lodging, and entertainment - returning their profits to their members (you usually have to join!) and especially their local communities (RSL is for Returned Services League - equivalent to what in the USA would be the VFW or the American Legion). Clubs have no live gaming (i.e. no 21 tables or Roulette).

Casinos or Hotel/Casinos, like Star City in Sydney or Jupiters in Brisbane (Qld), are IIRC part government-owned and have live gaming. Thing is, there’s only a maximum of one of these in any city. Very strong on the community relations, harm minimisation, and security.

I’m sure if I got any of this wrong, I’ll be corrected, and Good Luck!

11

Basically what everyone else said about tipping, pokies, issues, etc. Avoid discussion of Aboriginal issues, refugees, environmental issues, anything to do with the governor-general, republicanism, the war against terrorism… hey, I’d steer clear of politics generally, to begin with at least. There is a lot of emotive stuff going on around here at the moment. You will get a better idea of it after you’ve been here a couple of months.

My other big tip would be… come West! People who visit Sydney/Melbourne and don’t come over this side don’t know what they’re missing out on. The south-west is beautiful (beaches, wineries, some native forest still left thankfully), and the north west is unique and amazing. If you have time and money, you’d be mad to miss out [sub]oh, and, uh, i’m here and i’m pretty cool…[/sub]

Just use your common sense, keep your sense of humour switched on, and avoid acting as if the USA is the centre of the world, and you’ll be fine :slight_smile:

12

I should warn you that in NSW poker machines accept notes up to $50 and it’s possible to play combinations of lines and credits which make each press of the button very expensive.

Some venues also require you to call an attendant to “cash out” - meaning that people will often choose to play off the last $5 of their credit than wait 10 minutes for an attendant.

If you live outside the 5 kilometre zone surrounding a club you can enter without joining or being signed in by a member. The advantages of joining are usually cheaper tickets to events, cheaper meals, and members only promotions.

Rooty Hill RSL promotes itself as “the Vegas of the West”, which should give you an idea of how tacky it is (it’s also one of the closest clubs to me, so I forgive tacky for convenience).

13

Bleh, pokie machines. I can never tell when I’ve won on one of those. We went to the casino the other night, and my boyfriend put $1 in the machine. Apparently a seal and an eskimo together is good, but two fish next to each other is not. And a snowflake makes a very loud noise, but gives you no money.

14

Chioose an AFL (Aussie Rules) team that isn’t Collingwood.

15

Oi! Absolutely nothing wrong with Collingwood… (except the fact that they lost to Freo… *sob)

But if you’re not interested in AFL or cricket, don’t let someone drag you along to a match. It’s understandable for you not to like our sports.

16

With all due respect, I never encountered one cab driver who was uncomfortable with my tip. They seemed quite happy with them, really! :slight_smile:

17

laughs
Oh don’t get me started TLD :slight_smile:
I don’t think I could have much else to add to the OP other than where in our fair wide land are you headed Inky?

18

BalmainBoy’s tips for the peripiatic Yank:

(1) Retire the word sidewalk. In Aus, everyone walks on a footpath. Refusal to use this word smacks of cultural imperialism. Stangely, the only word so proscribed.

(2) Kiss your icehockey, baseball and gridiron goodbye. Aussies know more about the Serie A and gaelic football than American sporting leagues, due to the source of our immigrants. Not many Yanks; plenty of southern Europeans and Asians.

(3) Leads on from 2 - you will see plenty of non-Caucasians in the big cities - 30+% of Sydneysiders are born, or have a praent born, overseas. But you won’t see many (any?) aboriginies unless you venture into the inner-city slums or into rural and regional Australia. They only comprise 2% of the population, and unfortunately our history has been “outr of sight, out of mind”. I do encourage you to learn up about our indigenous situation; read up about the Mabo decision and the ‘Stolen Generation’ report to find out about the current hotspots of reconciliation debate (did anyone else see that reporter doing a piece to camera, with a banner reading “Mabo Day”, and keeping her head fixed in front of the ‘M’? Deliberate?)

(4) Forget about writing a check at a shop. No-one will accept them unless the shopkeeper knows you personally. Get a Visa card or a savings account with an ATM card, and this will suffice for any transactions over $10, if you don’t want to use cash.

Which brings us to
(5) Learn to love our currency! All notes are polymer, not paper! All different colours and sizes! Go back and convert your countrymen!

19

Just to add to the whole tipping thing - I would tip in a restaurant for dinner, but probably not for lunch, unless it was a nice restaurant. Tipping is appreciated, but not expected. Wouldn’t tip for drinks, taxi, pizza delivery etc.

Pokies (short for poker machine) are a very political issue, and the social impact has been significant in certain parts of the community. But, they are a huge money spinner for government, and it’s unlikely to change in the near future. Go for it if you’re into that sort of thing, don’t worry if you’re not.

As a born and bread Melbourne girl, I’m not going to argue with TLD too much, but they are very different cities. From my observations, Sydney tends to be a more lively party city, whereas Melbourne is much more cruisy and laid back. It’s telling that Sydney hosts the mardi gras and Melbourne hosts Moomba, as these festivals reflect their cities rather well (in my opinion).

And I’ll second what BalmainBoy says about the money. It looks fake because it’s all plastic. But it’s great stuff when you’re used to it - you can tell exactly how much money you have in a quick glance (eg two yellows, an orange, a blue and a purple =$135).

I would recommend, however, getting out of the cities. Australia is a huge country with an amazing amount of geographic diversity, and beauty. One of my favourite places is to stand on a sandy beach which stretches as far as the eye can see in either direction and there is not one other person visible. Australia is one of the most sparsely populated countries on earth, and to me, that’s part of its beauty.

Inky, where were you planning on going?

20

Just to add to the whole tipping thing - I would tip in a restaurant for dinner, but probably not for lunch, unless it was a nice restaurant. Tipping is appreciated, but not expected. Wouldn’t tip for drinks, taxi, pizza delivery etc.

Pokies (short for poker machine) are a very political issue, and the social impact has been significant in certain parts of the community. But, they are a huge money spinner for government, and it’s unlikely to change in the near future. Go for it if you’re into that sort of thing, don’t worry if you’re not.

As a born and bread Melbourne girl, I’m not going to argue with TLD too much, but they are very different cities. From my observations, Sydney tends to be a more lively party city, whereas Melbourne is much more cruisy and laid back. It’s telling that Sydney hosts the mardi gras and Melbourne hosts Moomba, as these festivals reflect their cities rather well (in my opinion).

And I’ll second what BalmainBoy says about the money. It looks fake because it’s all plastic. But it’s great stuff when you’re used to it - you can tell exactly how much money you have in a quick glance (eg two yellows, an orange, a blue and a purple =$135).

I would recommend, however, getting out of the cities. Australia is a huge country with an amazing amount of geographic diversity, and beauty. One of my favourite places is to stand on a sandy beach which stretches as far as the eye can see in either direction and there is not one other person visible. Australia is one of the most sparsely populated countries on earth, and to me, that’s part of its beauty.

Inky, where were you planning on going?