I was reading about the Cops getting free coffee thread, and thinking about some of the unspoken laws of “Professional Courtesy”.
Like Doctors not charging other Doctors, or Bartenders being allowed to give free drinks to other bartenders, or rural mechanics working on farmers trucks first,and so on. Being a Computer nerd I have never been in a job where there were rules like that. I’ve never walked into Microcenter, flashed a secret geek sign and gotten a hard drive for free.
What courtesies are given to other jobs? Or at least were once, I get the feeling they are rapidly disappearing as everything seems to be under the corporate spyglass these days.
Medical: Don’t see too much of it. I’ve never had a co-pay waived because I was a doctor. It’s common enough that my doc will accept whatever my insurance pays and waive the rest of the fee, but that happens to many, if not the majority of, patients these days.
I’ve had offers of reduced surgical fees for cosmetic work in the past. 20% off for tucks, etc. But I didn’t opt to have the procedures. It would have been surgeon’s fee only, which is a small fraction of the total bill (also includes anesthesia, supplies, OR time, recovery room time, prep, etc).
Otherwise, I get a lot of free pens from drug companies when I go to conferences. And free stickies, too. But that’s about it.
I believe that’s the law. Well, at least it is with UHC. A doctor cannot charge more to a patient with insurance then they would charge the insurance company for the same thing. Whenever I get my explination of benefits it says what the doctor charged ($473), amount allowed, as in what was negotiated with the insurance company ($379) and what the patient must pay (varies, depending on your insurnace plan). It then says that they want you to report any doctor who tries to charge you more then that amount.
The only professional perk I’ve ever gotten was the chance to get free copies of any textbook I was considering for a course. Publishers would also send us copies unsolicited, especially when I was teaching a course with high-volume sales potential, like intro Psych. Then there was this shady-looking specimen who would tour our offices and buy unwanted textbooks for cash, which came in handy a few times. Nothing like getting paid for what was, essentially, junkmail. I don’t know how legitimate that was, though.
Now, I got nuthin’, except that our project manager seems authorized to buy drinks and snacks for any meeting lasting longer than 15 minutes.
Once in a while a client will send me a free copy of a book I’ve copyedited. I also recently received a sample jacket of a novel from a best-selling series that I copyedited. Makes a nice decoration for my office wall.
I get invited to a lot of the hobnob’in events in town because of the committees I am on and the position I hold…But as far as anythign else…not so much.
Writers often get free books. Since I vote for the Nebula awards, I have access to most of the stories and several of the novels on the final ballot (as free e-books). Also, some publishers and authors will send out books to Nebula voters, some upon request; others out of the blue (I get one or two a year without asking).
This doesn’t include the SFWA circulating book plan, which sends out books that are then mailed to others to read; the only cost is that of postage. Also, at publishers’ parties at conventions, a lot of books are handed out (or were – there are fewer of them than when I was starting out).
Free textbooks whenever adoption time rolls around. Oh, and the Sizzler next door gives a 10% discount to teachers at the high school. That’s about it.
I have free access to gobs of education related databases. The access is essential to demonstrate my companies product fully, but it is still cool to be able to look things up after hours.
Inter-winery discount at most wineries in Napa and Sonoma and a few in Mendocino/other parts of the Bay Area. Given to winery or vineyard employees and independent growers. Standard is 35% off of wine and other misc. items (clothing, accessories, etc.), but I’ve been to a few that offer 50% off and some that offer their ‘club member’ prices, usually 20-25% off.
Also, free tastings at wineries that charge for them, and free or reduced rates for special events (For example, this weekend is barrel tasting in the area. My husband and I will pay $5 each instead of $10.)
Depends. If the insurance only covers 80% of the doctor’s fee, then the patient is liable for the rest of it. Some operations have a policy of obtaining that other 20%, others may be a bit more laid back about it.
For some procedures, some docs still request the money up front, then let you collect whatever you can get from your insurance company.
Not my courtesy, since I’m a corporate financial analyst, I don’t get jack squat, but the wife gets some good stuff. She works on Broadway, and there are often free tickets being offered by other companies. This is how I was fortunate enough to see Suzanne Somers one woman show… bleah. I also got to see Fiddler, Lion King, and Martin Short’s show, so it’s not all crap.
I work in marketing. I get lots of magazine subscriptions for free (because they hope I’ll place an ad in them) as well as cool promotional items from ad agencies and other hoping for business (such as Mr. Potato head dressed in Baltimore Ravens colors). Sometimes a publication that gets a lot of our advertising money will get us into the suites for ballgames.
When I was dating a private investigator and she got a ticket for speeding.
In court the officer saw her badge and mentioned quietly to his buddy cop.
“If she had shown me her badge, I would have let her go”
It was for 20 MPH over, quite a bit of money.
As a government attorney I could have gotten tickets fixed (or avoided) if I’d flashed my badge (when I had a job with a badge, which was cool but really a BS thing, what the hell did I need a badge for?). But I wouldn’t have done it, I wouldn’t think it was right.
In my current job I can’t accept any courtesies because of the appearance of impropriety – it could be misconstrued as quid pro quo and is strictly forbidden.