(AKA: Mark E. Lodge, USA)
Tipping in Second Life ®, the coin of the realm. I think most of us get sick of tipping, until WE are on the receiving end...then our whole perspective changes. Life is funny that way. You can have a very firmly entrenched viewpoint or opinion about something. Many people can try to tell you that you are wrong, and you will defend to the death your stance, your opinion. No, the best way to cause someone to change their opinion, is to change their role.
For example, I used to hate the constant calls for tips at dance clubs. It seemed obnoxious "Don't forget your hostess tonight who is doing such a rockin' job for you, and don't forget the dj who is BRINGING the rock, and don't forget the owner who is Housing the rock, and security that is Securing the rock and the janitor who is Emptying the waste cans for the rock, and the floor mopper who is Mopping for the rock, and the builder who Built the place for the Rock, and the scripter who Scripted for the rock and me too for Writing about the rock...open up your wallets and show us some linden looooooooooooovvvvvvve!!!!!" I used to be a confirmed tip-hater. "Why should I tip for these folks who decided to open a dance club? That's not my problem. Shall I close my ears and not enjoy the free music?"
But then I became a host myself. Aaaaahhhh funny how fast the opinion changes. I changed my role, and my opinion changed.
"These people...I labor for them for hours on end...make them feel welcome...tell them how to dance....shout and whip them up, welcome them in 10 languages, tell them where to find better skins and feebies, give them links to great sims, answer their endless noob questions, and what do I get? This lousy Club Sex-Me-Up T-Shirt!!! Who's in charge of this joint?" *dis-grunting* On top of that, I found out that most hosts are not paid and kind of salary, only their tips and many clubs KEEP 20% of their tips....some as high as 50%, though that is a real rip off. And what hot club in any city in the world does not charge a cover fee of at least $10 U.S. Dollars just to get in? That would be the equivalent of paying a 2500 linden cover fee just to get IN to a club....not counting how much you tip the staff.
Most hosts will tell you "I'm not in it for the money, I'm here for the music." Yeah right, tell me another fairy tale. Sure you love what you do, but you are in in for the money, don't kid yourself. I often hear new club owners say the same thing, "I don't care about the money, it is the music that is important." They too are deluding themselves. If the money does not come in, they will soon close. No one can work THAT hard to get a club off the ground without seeing some financial reward from it. There was once a new club called Trance Nation, and the owner proudly declared that he had paid all land fees for 6 months in advance...and besides...he adamantly declared..."The music is what is important!" He closed in less than a month.
Honestly, I feel sorry for business owners in sl. It is sooooo hard to get something going. I ought to know. You may read my blog for all of ten minutes, but it takes me hours and hours and hours every day to get it to you, seven days a week. There are certain things that have to be done EVERY day...then there are endless administrative details to take care of. And I lay awake at night trying to think of ways to make it run better...how to get more readers. Especially I worry about how to get more business for my advertisers. I want the blog to make them money "hand over fist" so they will pay some of of it to me. lol. So I am constantly trying to improve the look and feel and distribution of the blog. Often I have trouble sleeping; I will sleep but 4 hours, then go back to my office and work on the blog until I am too tired, then sleep for another 4 hours. But of course it is my "baby" and I love what I do. It is the same for club owners.
Noobs...sorry, ahem, NEW people are often confused as to how much a tip should be. I remember when I first came to sl and I really had no idea what was considered a good tip. 10 Lindens? 20? I really thought 20 lindens was a good tip ....hahaha such a noob I was. I soon learned that 50 Lindens is pretty much a low as you should go. A tip of 100 to 200 lindens is much better. 250 lindens is good. When you consider that one U.S. Dollar is equivalent to approximately 250 lindens, it puts tipping in better perspective.
I've given out 500 linden tips several times, and 1000 L tips on a few rare occasions. I remember when I was a host at Dance Island receiving $1000 tips on a couple of occasions. I about fell off my chair. But I always divided it up among the other crew members that night...the other hosts hostesses and security people. The dj's usually made a killing, so I did not worry about them. But I knew that the security usually made nothing....and yet I could not do an effective job as a host if I had to do the security work too. The security at a large club is vital. They do all the unseen work of rousting out the jerks.
Sometimes the noobs would give us tips of 1 Linden. One. One linden. HAHAHAHAHAHA we would always have a big chuckle among ourselves, but we always thanked them profusely. We knew they were broke and 1 linden meant a lot to them. Shoot if you camped all day for 6 lindens an hour--or less--then you would appreciate that 1 linden they parted with too. And they may have given 1 linden to each of the staff members present....maybe an hour's worth of camping for them. Ya gotta love em. They meant well.
The best tips for me came when I did professional Male Dancing, aka stripping. Several times I went home with over $2000 lindens after two or three hours work. The ladies made a lot more I think. And of course the escorts put us all to shame. I hear they often do 5,000 or 10,000 in a day. During the heyday of casino gambling in sl--before gambling was outlawed--it was not uncommon for escorts to make 50,000 with ONE client.
But those days are long gone. Now we working stiffs are scrambling harder and farther to make a couple grand of lindens a day.
Seems kinda stupid doesn't it? We could work in RL for an hour and easily make the equivalent of 2500 lindens...$10 US...but instead we slave away in sl for far far less than that. Hmmmmmmm I wonder if a newspaper around here is hiring blog writers? Lol! But like I said earlier, the blog is my baby, and I love what I do.
Bye the way, seeing as how I mentioned my former days as a male stripper, I just want to to mention that:
"A tip of 250 will get my top off!
500 will get my pants off!
And for 750 I'll go totally nude!"
Too bad YOU won't see it though...I'll be sitting in my office with my big bare butt stuck to my chair. I'll be totally nakie and going "Woooo Hooo!" while I write my thank you note to you!
In the end (so to speak, *wink) it's all about delivering the goods. For a club, it is about "delivering" a hot, jumping party; a place to hang out and have a good time socializing while rockin' to hot music. For the blog, it is about "delivering" side-splitting funny stuff. I know today's piece was not all that funny, but hey, I wrote a good one yesterday. I try to "bat one out of the park" every time I sit down to write a blog, but realistically, you can't hit a home run every time you step up to the plate. Some days you strike out completely, other days you just get to first base.
But, I'll keep swinging for ya...that really is the whole point, isn't it?
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Did you like this post about "living" in Second Life ®? If you did, would you take a minute and leave a comment for me below? Your kind words keep me inspired! Thank you! --Marco
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