I work as a tv videographer for an affiliate in DC. PLENTY of people try to give us stuff; food, gifts and otherwise, small to large, in an effort to sway our coverage or get free press. I accept none of it, with the exception of a boxed lunch at a sporting event (since shooting sports is long hard work, and it will not effect our coverage.)
For the record, local major venues treat the media as such; Baltimore Ravens - excellent, Washington Senators - good, Baltimore Orioles - fair, Washington Redskins - meh. And this is not a reflection of the employees, but ownership, which calls the shots. And by ‘treat the media’ all I’m asking for is let me in and let me do my job. The more hoops I have to jump through the harder it is…
I’m not one (nor do I play one on TV) but one thing that seems to be common is that cops get to ignore the rules that the rest of us plebes have to live by. Like “BATHROOM FOR EMPLOYEE USE ONLY” signs, for example. Or “NO FREE REFILLS”.
I’ve seen both ignored blatantly by cops at the local 7-11, and the employee’s just grimace and ignore it.
Being in electronics retail, we get the chance to score free stuff if we go to Product Events nights and so on.
Closer to what the OP had in mind though, is the unspoken agreement that if a customer asks about Product X, and you don’t sell it, but know that Bob’s House Of Electronics down the road does, you tell the customer that they can get it from BHOE. Similarly, if someone at BHOE wants Product Y, and they don’t have it but know you do, they’ll send the customer to you.
Also, it’s considered Bad Form to push extended warranties on people employed in the Electronics Retail business as well…
Oh, to be part of a plutocrat’s family in the '20s and '30s; my great-grandfather, who a was a senior official with a large northeastern railroad, would receive dozens of free passes for unlimited travel on other rail lines each year. Not mention being able to use the company’s private lounge car if it wasn’t needed on official business.
In my oilfield-related work, most of the large companies we deal with have fairly strict rules banning gratuities of significant value. There do tend to be a lot of exchanges of logo-imprinted hats and shirts and suchlike. I’ve gotten a few engineering manuals gratis, and a whole bunch of trade-show swag over the years, but otherwise that’s about it.
There is a deal between the university that employs me and the transit company. All salaried employees who choose not to park on campus can get a free monthly bus pass. It took five and a half years for me to get on salary, during which I took the bus every day. Now I get a ride to and from work and I don’t need a bus pass. Go figure.
I’ve always understood “professional courtesy” to refer to doing favors for those in the same line of work as yourself. It’s one of those “I know how it is” things; you’re not necessarily giving something away - you just don’t make the other person’s job any more difficult. So I wouldn’t consider some of the things listed here to be “professional courtesy”.
For example, I’ve been a cook for most of my adult life, and I have noticed that when cooks eat out in a different restaurant they are extremely unlikely to send something back to the kitchen unless it is grossly wrong, or flat-out terrible. We know what it’s like having to stop and fix a minor problem in the middle of a rush. So if I order a cheeseburger with no pickles, and the cheeseburger arrives with pickles, I will just take the pickles off myself rather then send it back to the kitchen. (Speaking of which, cooks will tend to order their food the way it comes by default. None of this “I’ll have the cheeseburger, but no pickles or mayonnaise, and can I substitute Swiss cheese instead of American? And the lettuce on the side? Oh, and on whole wheat toast instead of a bun”) Basically, it amounts to an “I won’t be a pain in the ass in your restaurant, if you won’t be a pain in the ass in mine” arrangement
My PCP gave me free health care when I was a medical student (and had no health insurance). Otherwise, that’s about it as far as professional courtesy.
As a freelance cameraman I’ve not had a lot of chances. Sometimes if another crew is in the studio I normally worked in, they were clearly “visitors” and we would go out of our way to make life easier for them. Not sure if that’s professional courtesy or common courtesy really.
As a former E.M.T., you betcha. Other medics, firefighters and to a limited degree, the cops would keep a kindly eye out. I sped like a muthah for 6 years and never got tagged for speeding as long as I had that green courtesy light on the roof of the van. I never assumed it was a pass to speed, but I have a heavy foot.
I know I was treated differently, and so were my kids, when I would go to the local E.R. while I was actively involved as a medical type. Like most other groups, we look out for our own.
I publish a business newsletter and provide mutual comp subscriptions to the publishers of related industry publications. I also give comps to people who have done me big favors, really good friends, my sister (who isn’t involved in the business, but likes to see what I’m doing), and people who write articles for me.
I’m not really sure that this counts as a professional courtesy, but sometimes I’ve needed a lawyer to do some work, either for a family member or for my homeowners’ association. I’m a lawyer myself, but there’s some types of law I just don’t want to touch. I generally find someone by asking around at the firm, and someone will refer me to a friend, who generally will help out for no charge, as a favor to the coworker who referred me. The one time it turned out to be a big deal, involving a lot of work, the lawyer cut me a deal. I paid maybe 10% of his rates to get the job done.
When I was a kid, I worked in a dentist’s office for my after school job. When I needed my wisdom teeth out, the dental surgeon did it for free. After the surgery, the dentist I worked for called my parents to see how I was doing. I was apparently feeling pretty bad and couldn’t keep anything down. Five minutes later, the oral surgeon called my folks to ask for directions to the house so he could come check on me! My parents (well, mom) said, nah, she’ll be fine, no need to come over. But mom was very impressed by that.
You’re right, I wasn’t thinking about that part of it. I was just thinking that with my high deductible plan the doctor is not allowed to charge you more then the price they’ve negotiatied with the insurance co. So if they would normally charge the insurance company $132 for something they can’t assume they can get away with charging the patient $234 just becuase the patient is picking up the entire bill.
The professional courtesy from drug reps isn’t anything like what it used to be. They can still buy really nice dinners, but only if there’s an approved academic program, and only for the doctor himself (no guests). Still lots of pens and stickies, though.
I’ve met probably a dozen cops who all told me they never give tickets to doctors. As one of them put it, “I figure I have a better than average chance of being the one brought in on a stretcher one of these days, so I’d hate for the doc to look at me and say, ‘You’re the bastard who gave me a ticket last week.’”
Being a small-town doctor brings plenty of perks. The drugstore next door doesn’t charge me for any of my own prescriptions. Lots of people understand that I have a tough schedule, so they work around it–the ladies who cut my hair will stay open a little late, the guy from the oil change place will come get my car from the office for me, etc.
The oddest one is that the local McDonald’s gives doctors a 10% discount.
I get those copies of procedures from company A that the people who wrote them are not supposed to keep when they leave but which they do keep - sometimes with company A’s written permission, the ones I have that I wrote, I kept with permission; the ones that came with the logos of some company I’ve never worked for… well, I didn’t ask to see the legal paperwork. I’ve de-logged and neuterized my documents, so I can pass them around without anybody knowing where I wrote them.
It’s kind of interesting sometimes, rooting around the old .docs at whichever consulting firm I’m currently freelancing for. You’ll be at MyConsultingCompany and they have documents with the logos of the half-a-dozen BigConsultingCompanies where so many consultants spend their first two years; a lot more with those logos than with client’s logos. And you compare them and can see which one got adapted from which other…
Sorry for the quick hijack, but there are SO many questions I’d like to ask you about your experiences as a cook. Rather than rattle them all off here, could I persuade you to start your very own “Ask the Cook” thread?
We are all bound to all manner of oaths and whatall shit, and I can’t take so much as a rubber band home, let alone get free postage or anything. We used to be able to post things directly into the system, and whilst we still had to pay for stamps, the items might get thrown “accidentally” onto a plane instead of a long-haul truck, but those days have gone.
The government uniform gets some cred though. I’ve had an easy time from fellow official uniform-wearers such as cops, railway ticket inspectors, and the like because of it. But I’d never count on it, and nor would I expect it.
To answer the OP, I work for national chain of bookstores and we get perks a-plenty. Publishers are always sending us proofs of forthcoming titles or free copies of books that have been recently published. I got a copy of Bill Bryson’s Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid just by calling up my contact at the publishers and asking for one. Ditto for World War Z by Max Brooks, Black Dogs by Ian McEwan, and several others.
I have a manuscript of Ian Banks’ latest book The Steep Approach to Garbadale at home. Not a proof - an actual manuscript loosely bound with one of those office binding machines. I have signed and numbered limited editions of some major current authors that are already worth a fair bit now but which I’m hanging onto for a while.
There are always launch parties going on, and one time I was invited to the launch of Lisey’s Story by Stephen King. The Man himself was making an appearance so I’d been eagerly awaiting the event for ages. When the big night finally came I got stuck in traffic and missed meeting him by half an hour, but the publishers very kindly sent me a signed first edition to soften the blow.
When we get our benefits booklets every year they give us a list of all of the prescription drugs that our corporation manufactures. It’s an odd case where we need to be wary and ask for name brand instead of generic at the pharmacy, because then it’s free.
Of course, I wouldn’t want to need any of our fancier drugs.
Movie theaters
Back in the day when I worked as a projectionist, there was an agreement between all of the major theater chains in my corner of Jersey where any employee of any theater could see a movie at any other theater for free, regardless of the chain.
All we had to do was have our manager call the other theater’s manager a few hours before the show. It was very comparable to the cops-free-food thing: some folks would use the privilege responsibly, while others would call up at the last minute and try to get in with fifteen friends and ask for free soda and nachos all around.
Between the free films and the 100+ films I showed, I think I saw more films during that time period than I have seen during the rest of my life.
I agree 100%. I’ve had a few restaurants in my life. (Sold the last one 3 months ago) When I eat out I try to be an easy customer and unless something is terrible won’t often complain. I am however critical of some things - like cleanliness and service. Also poor excuses. Coming from the industry you just know when someone’s bullshitting you about something. All my friends from the industry are like that too. Although we generally go to places we know or that have been recommended so we’re seldom dissapointed with the general food and service. Restaurants and hotels also often help each other out with things like stock or by passing guests over.
I also do a lot of consulting work to hotels and casinos and get very good rates (sometimes free) when I travel. I’m also part of an international hotel club so I tend to get very good rates at hotels all over the world - especially Europe and the east. Oh, and free drinks at the bars.
I am the lead technician for a small fire alarm company. It is a rather small industry, and most techs from all of the companies are more than willing to share info. I get calls occasionally from a competitor for technical support for the types of systems we install, and I will call for the same support when I run into a system I am not familiar with.
There is more than enough work for everyone and at the company level, the competition for accounts is pretty tough, but at the technical level we are all glad to help one another out.
