Doctor Archive
Thread: Doctors Bill
A group of Overt Rebels came into Anchorhead all with serious wounds. So I dispense many good wound packs to heal as many of them as I can (Getting a TEF along the way) and only 1 of them even thought to thank me.
When 2 or more new people enter a Med Center I'll spurt one of my 3 phrases designed to encourage tipping (eg. "It takes time, effort and money to craft Stims/Meds, so please tip the Medics!
) This almost never works.Sigh.
I'm going to be a little more aggresive with my tactics.
From now on, those that don't even thank me, I'll be sending them a personalised mock-bill via e-mail, listing the resources I used to make the Woundpacks and their cost.
================================
"Hello, my name is Milo and I healed you today in the Bestine Medical Center.
I used 4 Health Woundpack B's, 2 Action Woundpack B's, 1 Strength Woundpack B and 1 Constitution Medpack B.
Woundpacks (With Advanced Components) (Stack of 20-30)
-14x Inorganic
-14x Organic
-1x Advanced Solid Delivery Shell
Ingredients:
--16x Dolovite Iron
--16x Domesticated Oats
-1x Advanced Chemical Release Duration Mechanism
Ingredients:
--16x Class 4 Liquid Petro Fuel
--16x Herbivore Meat
-1x Advanced Biological Effect Controller
Ingredients:
--18x Tatooinian Fiberplast
--18x Lokian Wild Wheat
That's 128 units or resources (100 of which are very specific and at times hard to find)
Average out the resources at 5 credits per unit, divide that by 30 and that's aprox 21 credits per wound pack.
I used 8 Woundpacks on you, costing me a total of 168 credits.
All my components are hand crafted and take 30-60 seconds to craft. Total aprox. time of crafting 1 stack of Woundpacks (average 40 seconds per component) 160 seconds (almost 3 minutes).
Divide that by the total in a stack (160/30) aprox 5 seconds per Woundpack.
I used 8 woundpacks on you totaling 45 seconds.
There is a 20 second delay between healing wounds.
With 8 Woundpacks being used that's 7 delays totaling 140 seconds.
Total Cost of your Healing: 168 Credits
Total Time involved in your Healing: 185 seconds (Aprox 3 mins)
And that's with me breaking even, and assuming there are no failures during crafting.
You get the picture. Please, when a Medic, Doctor or Combat Medic heals you although they are getting XP, they need to make their money somewhere.
What's a few hundred credits?
--A ticket to the next city/planet?
--The reward for 1 low level destroy mission?
--The loot from a low level NPC?
All things you take for granted like they are nothing.
How long will you last in your next fight if all your stats have wounds above 100?
Who helps you stay alive in a hectic battle, possibly even resurrecting you after being DB'd?
Please, don't take Medics of any type for granted.
If you can't tip then at least say so, often it's the thought that counts.
-Milo, your friendly Doctor
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Or something to that effect
I'm deadly tired so I probably worked out prices and numbers wrong (I've only started using Advanced Components today too)I'll probably only send the full thing to those that REALLY annoy me or are really rude (eg "HEAL ME!" then run off with not a word of thanks afterwards)
However I like the ending, that will be sent to many of my non-tipping patients.
I'm going to bed, and hope all you Doctors/Medics/CM's put the word out, we can't (no matter how hard we try) pull woundpacks and stims outta our asses, so people better start realising we provide an essential service to them worth paying for!
Oh and BTW, I'm only going from my personal experience, but both in group hunts and sitting in busy Med Centers, only about 1 in 20 people (on a good day) tip me, and even then only when I use my "Please tip the medics" prompts. Other servers/locations may be better, but I doubt it.
Rant over
/sit
/logout
I really like that ending part and may 'borrow' it from ya 
But you should note that not all of us get xp from healing, some of the MMs and MDs out there, who have mastered the profession they want, no longer receive nor need xp and are just trying to help
However I don't want to have to spend my time doing solo missions for little credits to make ends meet. In a perfect world I'd be paid enough to cover the costs of my crafting, upkeep of a house/vehicle, shuttle tickets and enough left over to buy a few bits and bobs.
Don't get me wrong I love what I do, I just want to make sure people don't take us for granted, I always tip people for services whether it be Entertainers or people that train me in a skill, and I expect the same in return.
Bloodburn wrote:
charge up front. problem solved.
Sounds simple, but it's not. You end up opening a whole other can of flames with that, even though it's what I personally used to do.
They always seem to get an attitude change when you put them on "your list" and then explain to them that incourteous behavior now nets them no buff or heal which= lost time and frustration for them.
Personally I don't even hang around AH anymore since so many ppl lends a sense of anonymity that seems to make people think that you won't notice when they run off and don't bother to tip.
i understand it is frustrating.... but if u need xp hang in there until you hit master after that do like i do... i stoped carying any woundpacks..
i finaly have peice of mind
i understand not every one agrees with me but this is how am dealing with this
cheers
I have been a medic since I started and I just went the Doctor route a few days ago as I was told to by my holo...
I heal people all the time. If I was in a group, if I was bored, or if I needed XP... I rarely get people that aren't thankful in some way. Everyone always says "Thanks" or tips me. My opinion is that it is all based on how you are towards them. If you demand a tip, or even bother them about tipping, they feel less inclined to. I know... I don't tip entertainers in the cantina that macro "Please tip the band / dancers". That gets annoying. Just heal em and ask em how their day is going. Be nice, and they will be nice back. And this is comming from BLOODFIN! It works people!
-Ladoss Tyraus (SCUM): Bloodfin
There are many people that are genuinley thankful for my speed in healing etc, and they are really nice people. I'm just going to encourage these people to thank me with a tip
This isn't just for my benefit, it'd help all starting Medics a lot if they were tipped now and then.
You've gotta charge up front. It's really the only way to go. I've had very few people complain about it -although I did have one guy start swearing at me. I'm sure he had a nice long wait looking for a novice medic to heal him when I only asked for a couple hundred credits. 
Relying on tips is just going to lead to more frustration for you. The customers will take the service and run off. Very few of them are thoughtful enough to give you a tip.
I've run into all sorts of situations. I told one guy that he needed to pay be 400 credits to heal him (he had very nasty wounds) and he started screaming that he couldn't get healed because he didn't have any money. Honestly, folks, was there anything stopping him from getting up, running two inner-city delivery missions, and coming back with the cash? There's no reason people can't come up with the money to get healed except that they don't want to.
Do doctors give away buffs for free? No. Everyone pays for buffs. In fact, no one even asks me why they have to pay for buffs, yet they ask why they have to pay for heals. Why is that? Well, simply put, it's because there are so many people out there healing "for tips."
If you don't want to get "the shaft" when healing, charge up front. If they decide not to be healed for your price, don't sweat it. You'll find more people will pay than won't. The hardest part for me is to not feel like the "bad guy" in the situation. You're not being greedy. Do you consider an armorsmith greedy if they ask for money for a gun? Of course not. We're offering a service, which is just as valuable as many items in the game. Asking for something to compensate you is not greedy, it's justified.
It's funny actually...when I was really in need of the xp I would go around with my surgical droid....just looking for people to heal up...most of the time i'd get a thanks..once in awhile a tip..and of course a few times...nothing at all...
Had a guy just last night that sent me a tell cuz he did a search and found me...I traveled 2000m to get to him to heal him up...he did tip me..only 142cr...but that was all he had on him...we also have to understand that some of these people don't have the money cuz they are doing theme parks or just going to the POI's so they don't receive any money for them.
Don't think there is ever going to be a way for us to get money unless we can have it set up that when we heal....money is automatically transferred to us, kindof like a vendor thing set up in the heal command! And if they don't have the money...they don't get the heal unless we override the cost. Which I don't ever expect that to happen!
AlainnNoquisi wrote:
Don't think there is ever going to be a way for us to get money unless we can have it set up that when we heal....money is automatically transferred to us, kindof like a vendor thing set up in the heal command
No. Just set up the price ahead of time. If you want to heal for free, that's your perogative. However, if you want to get paid to heal, you need to make an effort to set the price ahead of time. Then, it's up to the patient - your customer - to decide if he/she would like to go forth or not.
I think the current system is pretty good. Sometimes I'll get a 5,000 credit tip for just a few hundred wounds healed, and other times I'll get zilch for even more healing.
I don't blatantly ask for tips, but I am sure to say something like "Well, you as good as new, Joe. Hope I've helped you in your adventures!". At least then I'll always get a verbal thanks, and it really increases the odds of getting a monetary tip. It also lets them know that I was the one who healed them.
Like you said, even 200 credits is nice, and it's drops in a barrel for most people. Sometimes when a new player comes in with some wounds telling me stories of howdifficult Vynocks are, and they tip me 50 credits, I'll tip them back ten-fold just for being so generous with their limited funds .
But for really ungrateful folks, like Master BH's with 50% wounds who don't tip at all, I think I'll use that last part about "a few hundred credits" :-)
"IVE GOT WOUNDS"
or "HEAL ME"
gets "I WANT A TIP"
or "TIP ME"
Anyone that asks nicely, tends to get healed. I'm as guilty as the next doctor of healing anyone that walked under my nose to get XP.
Right now I'll heal the biggest wound block on a target because it's easier for me. When you cure 400 wounds per attribute in 6 goes, I find you tend to get a tip.
Any attribute with under 30 wounds I tend to ignore. It's not worth my time.
I'm not in the market for XP anymore. I think I'm quite free to point out a tip is expected. Even 100cr goes somewhere to paying for the 6 charges on Wound-C I just used.
/say I'm a master doctor, if your medical insurance is paid %TT we'll take a look at you now, otherwise you'll need to wait for one of the junior staff members to be free.