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I am an independent contractor.  I have always done my line count with my Instant Text Pro V line counter that works within my expander.  Recently, my MTSO told me that I am doing my line count "wrong" and are therefore billing her "wrong". She said that she pays by characters and spaces / 65 = lines and that I am to figure that by going into MS Word Tools and using their Word Count tool and looking up characters and spacesand then dividing by 65. (I am NOT to use "line count", I am to use characters = spaces / 65 = lines) 

Well, I have a little problem with that.  First of all, that ONLY counts characters and spaces.  What about hard page breaks?  Indents?  Returns?  Why should I not be paid for a return just like I would be for the letter "k"?  That's why I use a professional line counter. 

Just to show you how it adds up, I just did one small document using the different approaches:

Line Counter: 5167 characters = 79 lines

Word Tool: 4763 characters = 73 lines. 

At my current cpl rate, sure...  That (as she pointed out) "only" adds up to .48 cents.  For that ONE document.  Over 20 documents in a day?  That's $9.60 for the day.  For the pay period, that's $96.  That matters to me. 

What should I do?  I have done it this way for years.  I know that doing it her way means she pays me less because I am giving away "free" work, but I am going to stick to my guns on this one.  What would you say? 

( I am asking for opinions, whether you agree with me or not.  I truly want your opinion.  However....  Flames?  I discount flames as coming from an unstable mind, so please save your time if you're just looking to flame.  Sorry, I hate to have to say that "disclaimer", but too many of these boards have gotten to be like high school catfights over nothing, and I graduated from high school 17 years ago and am SO over it...)

This is a public forum.  While there is certain language that will be not tolerated, we are not going to delete every post that deems another post "stupid", "idiot", "moron", "hag", "retarded", etc.  If I removed every post that had such petty name-calling in it, more than 50% of the posts would be removed.

The fact is everyone's opinion of abusive or hateful is different.  We try to moderate as little as possible.  I am not the board police or kindergarten cop.  Neither am I on this board 24/7 trying to watch for every single offender in order to slap them on the wrist and shake my finger in their face and make them play nice.

Simply don't read posts that are offensive to you.  If there is swearing, hate speech, vulgar language, threats, by all means report those posts.  However, please consider that this is a public forum and that there simply has to be some tolerance here. 

No one is forced to post nor read.  Everyone should look for the posts that are of interest to them.  Yes, it would be nice if all posters were mature in their discussion; however, they are not. 

If anyone needs or wants to discuss this policy, please do e-mail me. 

Goldbird

Unless you are quite computer savvy, it does not pay to just blindly follow advice you may see from MTs who are also computer gurus as to configuring your computer for efficiency.  These so-called efficient programs are not always easily compatible with the platforms services use.  Always call your company's IT help department and ask before making a change.   

For instance, my company uses ExText, and I was not too smart to switch over Mozilla Foxfire.  I'm sure it is a great program for independent MTs who can set up whole systems with their eyes closed, but it has caused some headaches for me in my fairly computer ignorant state. 

Then when my computer got slow I figured it was a virus, so I downloaded this "highly recommended" software, PC Doctor.  Again, I'm sure it's an excellent program, but it disabled all sorts of things on my computer that I need.  And it wasn't even a free program.  Grr.  My IT person told me they use a free program.  Wish I'd done that one instead. 

And to think I do these things to speed my computer up!  I'm such an id-iot.

How 'bout we let the Indian transcriptionists have all the thick-accented, impossible-to-decipher INDIAN DOCTORS to transcribe, and leave the American-born docs (whom they probably have more trouble understanding, anyway) to us?

Sound like a plan?

when we work at home. This is *not* a benefit so we can be more comfortable. It's all about the $. They also have a wider labor poor to choose from. They do not have to set up training programs at the community college, hire a trainer, go through MTs in training who quit, with a wider labor pool. I have no idea how much working at home as an IC saves them over working on site and an employee. I'm sure its big $$$ though. Working as a nurse, cna, rt if you give up benefits they usually raise they pay a few dollers per HOUR. 

 Hosptial square footage is usually big $ and they can rent it out to a doctor's office paying rent if MTs are not there!

Many women *need* to work at home. We should not be taken advantage of because of it. We are saving them money, using our own computers, internet, keyboards, paying for our breaks, errands, and office furniture. They should give an incentive to work at home and an even bigger incentive to contract vs work as employee.

Has anyone else had trouble installing Winscribe?

When I try to install I get the install prompt and then a progress bar, but no progress is made...I can get it installed on other PCs, but not the one I need to work on.  MTSO is no help and I am out of suggestions...I have rebooted, changed web browsers, checked popups, checked security settings, checked firewall settings...I'm at a loss.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated!!!

I have worked with a company for over seven years as an IC.  I work part time and whatever work I do that morning has to be turned in at 3:00, which gives me around a six hour turn around.  I have two young kids and another account that I work on that has stats that I have to take care of too.  I have only gotten one raise in seven years, and a crappy one at that.  Every other company I have worked for gives me at least about 24 hours to get it back to them.  I am trying to get my kids ready for school and I also have other things going on at the moment.  I get an email in all caps "I NEED THE WORK NOW."  I am just so fed up with this.  I don't want to quit because the work is easy for me since I have been doing it so long, but I feel the need to put my foot down.

Just thought I'd share this site in case some of you haven't seen it.. Turn your speakers up and enjoy! I thought it was cute!

http://www.msn.americangreetings.com/view.pd?i=382219626&m=1652&rr=y&sou

1. Laundry.


2. Dusting and vacuuming the house.


3. Cleaning bathrooms.


4. Cleaning the kitchen after meals.


5. Lawn chores.

For our house, my husband & I split the laundry chores, he does the yard work, everyone pitches in for the dusting/vacuuming, the kids clean their bathroom and my husband & I alternate cleaning ours, and we rotate who cleans the kitchen after meals.   The kids also don't get an allowance - this is part of their "living" experience; however, if they want to do extra work like clean extra areas that aren't theirs then they can make some money.

i used to love doing transcription.  now i hate it.  hate it. hate it.  i work in a hospital and it is one of the only hospital jobs left around here that has not outsourced.  the manager/team lead are two of the dumbest pieces of work anybody could ever run into.  if they were not purposefully put here to make us quit and they really are this dumb, i would hate to have to come to this hospital if i ever got sick.  what other kind of dumbbells do they have working here (like duh...guess who works here....me!!!!).   i put in an application for the community college.  tomorrow is registration.  classes start may 11.  i am going over in the morning and signing up and paying for a class.  what to take, what to go into?  i have been doing this for so long i don't have a clue.   but i gotta get outta here, for my sanity and for the sanity of the world.   this tooth and dagger stuff has got to go.  i want somewhere that treates me nice.

I'd appreciate any recommendations from folks living in central or north-central Oregon and using satellite for transcription.  Thanks!

While she was in poor health since having her heart attack and stroke a few months ago it's still sad to see a legend pass away.  I'm sure that her kids fighting over whether or not they should try to get the government to buy the King Center and 2 kids stealing money from the center didn't help any.  

May she rest in peace.

My husband will be going to Morocco for 2 months for his job.  I would love to go with him but I would probably have to work while there.  So, is it possible to work overseas?  I have no idea how the internet/phone lines work and if this would even be possible.

Thanks

Hi Anyone/everyone.

I need some frank advice about this  profession.

I  have relatively easy dictators.   I recently purchased Instant Text and am learning it . . My QA is good and I have not yet had any report/dictator I am unable to do. Yet I struggle daily to make my line counts. I feel like I am working all day every day.

Life circumstances prevent me from working outside the home right now. I know I am blessed to be available to family members at a  very difficult time.

Does anyone have any advice? How long does it take to able to produce 1200 lines daily without struggling?

Thanks for any/all suggestions.

I transcribed a dictation earlier with the word salpingo-oophorectomy in it.  Now, this is not a new word for me, I have transcribed it many times.  The funny part is that later in the document the dictator said the word "chunks"...and then spelled it out!!!!  All I could do was laugh.  It just makes you wonder about their thought processes sometimes. 

Hi everyone - new to this board and fairly new to at-home transcription, although I've been a Transcriptionist for more years than I care to count.

I have a couple of computer questions - 1) Is there any way to convert files that are normally received by C-phone into wav, mp3 or other voice files? And 2) Is there any way to set up your computer so that your headphone is separate from your speakers? In other words, so that you don't have to unplug your headphones when you want to listen to music?

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

I have windows pro on my computer but would like to install windows xp...so my question is: If I uninstall pro and install xp will I lose everything in my word and everything that I have installed on my computer (DocQscribe)?

TIA

I have a question regarding how many lines per hour does the average Transcriptionist type. I found 150-250 lines, but am wondering if this is correct. Is there a site that I can go to find this information. Thanks Carla

I actually need advice on two matters:

1.  My doctor's office received a file that is too big to send by email - and I only have dial up, so even worse.  They are planning to send this to me by USB flashdrive.  I need advice on how to work with this when it comes.  How will I get it into Express Scribe so that the foot pedal will work?

2.  I am starting my planning to set up my laptop for traveling.  I have a desk PC now and will be using both, depending upon where I am at.  What do I need to do to get Express Scribe, etc. to accommodate this.  Any details are greatly appreciated. 

TIA

I've been doing some research on here and checking out various links and such regarding setting up my own accounts but am finding myself more confused than ever!   I've noticed some talking about things like mydocsonline, bytescribe, wav player, Olympus, etc., but how exactly do these work?  I'm assuming there is a system in their office or on their end and then I use some sort of system or connect with that to get jobs? How does this all work?

I've been looking into this and trying to understand how it works, as when I recently went to the ENT office they asked if might be looking for some work .  I didn't feel comfortable talking about it in depth because of my lack of understanding.  They are a mid-sized practice with 2 offices and probably less than 10 physicians.  Any info or advice anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated.  Please feel free to email me also if you'd like.

I have the need to go out and find some more private accounts. The one I have is too erratic to depend on, and I fear will dry up shortly.

What information should I put in the brochure? Do I just say "experienced" or list the local places I work for and have worked for?

Bright color paper to bring attention to my services or good business quality?

Send to the office or the office manager ?

I have so many questions. Does anyone have any good suggestions, or even samples you might be willing to share with me? I have always gotten work by word of mouth. All suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

If you had a client consistently dictate Friday or Saturday and ask for a large volume of work to be returned by Monday, would you charge a rush rate?  What percentage hike to your normal rate would you give?  This particular client dictates the majority of the material over the weekend and always asks for it back ASAP.  I have reiterated my work week consists of Monday through Friday.  I have decided to implement a weekend or rush rate so to speak and I am seeking opinions or experience.  Thank you.