I have to admit my line count has improved since reading the board

• Dear TransTech - TT employees
  • A lot of sharing - Happy at TT
    • I have to admit my line count has improved since reading the board - mt4ever
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signed off the report I was typing.  Those lines didn't add immediately, but sometimes they do that.  What concerns me is that when I signed that job off and the next one came up, not only were the other lines not added in but they were LESS than they were before I signed off previous job.

I thought I noticed this happening the other day, but figured I just wasn't paying attention.  Today I definitely noticed it.  For some reason it changed it's mind and took 8 lines off my line count.  What the heck? 

Am not really ecstatic with the way things are going anyway  and then this confuses me. 

Please, someone have a realistic explanation so I don't feel paranoid and cheated here. 

After reading all the posts about recruiters, hiring on for more than one company at a time in order to weed out the undesirables, and ESL percentages at various companies, I have to say I am more than a little disappointed in some of the opinions rendered here.  I make no apologies for what I am about to say because I feel it is long overdue. 

Recruiters are hired to bring new talent into a company.  Yes, that is the way they make their living,  and yes,  there are probably some out there who grossly misrepresent their respective companies during the interview process.  However, there is no absolutely perfect job anywhere, be it as an MT or anything else.  My mother taught me from a very early age that we must accept the good with the bad and that the good generally outweighs the bad.  As long as you look for the bad in any situation, that is all you are going to find.  In the interview process,  it is up to you to ask questions, even worst-case-scenario questions, and make the determination of whether a company meets the majority of your needs and make a decision on whether to work for them.  Bear in mind, however,  that no one company is going to meet everyone's needs and please everyone, just as any one MT could fulfill the needs of a particular company with regard to skill set, dependability, production, etc.

For those of you who think you are beating the system by hiring on with multiple  companies to test drive them and decide which one to stay with....SHAME ON YOU!  I find this highly unethical and am appalled that anyone would even consider such a thing.  And if you think for a minute that your name won't be circulated in MTSO circles as an MT without scruples, you had better think again.  Many companies go to great expense to train MTs, ship equipment, process payroll paperwork and do other hiring process duties when hiring you.  Not only are you painting a very undesirable picture of MTs, you are causing our line rates to be decreased because of your wasteful attitudes because companies must either cut costs or raise prices to their clients and most companies would rather choose the former (cutting our line rates) over the latter because they would suffer greater loss by losing a big client than a few MTs who feel they are underpaid. 

As far as ESL percentages, ESL is here to stay, folks, and the sooner we learn to develop an ear for their accents and quit complaining about them, the better off we will be.  I have been an MT for almost 20 years now and I have found through my experiences at various companies that a good portion of the ESL dictators are more conscientious than a lot of the EFL dictators.  It probably does make a difference that I cut my teeth on 5 rather difficult ESL doctors as my first accounts when I got into this business, but I digress.  There are still ESL dictators who drive me to distraction, but through careful study and development of my ear, I  can usually figure them out.  Yes, it does slow me down, but I find that I have great satisfaction when I conquer a tough ESL.  I would just say to you to work hard on developing your ear and learn these ESL dictators, because this is the trend for the medical profession.

MT is a great profession of which I am proud to be a member.  It just plain disgusts me when I come here and read all the whining and conniving and complaining that goes on.  We are supposed to be professionals and professionals do not behave in the manner I have seen here.  If one wishes to effect a change in the MT industry, I would suggest that person make the necessary changes from within.  Otherwise, it is never going to happen.

I know I have probably insulted some sensitivities here so I will step down off my soapbox and let the chips fall where they may. 

I know that there are a lot of you out there who are owed money.  Some of you are owed LOTS of money and Deb just spends it on herself.  You'll likely NEVER get paid, but together you can all make sure she never runs an MTSO again.  But, what needs to happen is ALL MTs screwed out of their paychecks must come together for this to actually happen.  You all can email me at flagfootballcoach@gmail.com and we will pull together and bring down the hammer on this woman.  She has had too many different businesses, taken people for their hard earned money, and needs to be shut down for good. 

I have had the same accounts for up to 15 years.  On my surgeons with even charging 12 cents a line I can often make $50 to $60 an hour with their consults.  I think it is fair.  They pay within 48 hours, never a bounced check, got $500 Christmas bonus.  I can do them in my sleep.    They never question my line counts.  It is 60 characters to a line and gross lines, not character count.  On a consult for breast cancer, that is 3 to 4 pages,  probably type 50 lines as the physical is so standard.  If I charged more I would feel like I was ripping them off.  I make a decent living and so  pass it onto them.   I gross over 11,000 lines per month with them and work 5 to 6 hours per week.   They like the smaller amount per line.   My other is a clinic that I have a lot of auto corrects set up and still make $35 an hour and so why charge them an arm and leg when I am making decent money.  My sub's make close to $25 an hour as they aren't quite as fast as I am and don't use as many quick corrects but at 8 to 9 cents they average 250 to 350 (psych reports) per hour.   So we are all happy.     Half way through the year I myself  have made $26,500.   And that is with a slow June. 

I currently work for an oncologist and I do not get paid by the line, but rather a straight salary every month. Can some one tell me about how much typing is involved if expected to type 1800 lines per day??

Thanks

Tammie

see not really being the 1 that you get? 

Then you need to be doing more than  1000 to 1500 lines per day.  So work on getting you line count up.    If you want to make the big bucks, gotta put in the time and effort.  Or like you say get your own accounts but it takes time, dedication and hard work to have your own accounts like the poster below says.  Good and bad to both but bottom line is get your line count up -- if you can. If you can't you need to go somewhere else where you can.   

I figure my own line count, I am an IC.  I use gross line count now, so the 65-character line count is a new thing for me.  I know they divide the characters by total lines and just wanted to make sure that was the correct procedure to figure -

thanks for the help too!!!

Thanks but I'm really not awesome.  The main trick is to sit down in the chair, buckle up and WORK.  Reminds me of one of my stories (everything reminds me of a story in MT).HAHA:  Once I changed jobs...ddi, inc. actually...and I was telling my husband I was about to go job hunting again and I was fixin' to call them up and give them what for because I had never worked at a job where I absolutely could not get a line count.  Being the Wise One that he is, he suggested that I write down every time I got up and make a log so I could use this to tell them how hard I was working for how little money.  I was hoping he would forget about suggesting that but nooooooo....when he came home from work he just had to ask me how my day had gone.  To my shame I had to fess up that while I was signed in to work 10 hours out of that day, I actually had only 2 hours of actual working time!!!!!  I corrected that little problem and poof....my line count soared.  Just as an aside I ended up working 7 years for ddi (until they sold out to the big M) and I made great money and not bragging, but I'm talking $50,000+.

BTW my production won't be so good today....let's see...I've had several long phone conversations, cleaned house, done a couple loads of laundry, taken care of my surgically impaired husband, fed the livestock, piddled around on the MT boards.......and typed.  BUT I've been signed on to work all that time since 7:15 a.m. and my line count is right around 700 anyhow....good enough for P/T I reckon but I agreed to 4 hours a day and I'll make up the lost time that I spent doing other stuff besides being buckled up in the chair.

I don't do 3000 lines consistently...matter-of-fact...I do it seldom because I am P/T.  The only reason I do it is when the account is out of TAT and I try to be a good employee and help any way I can....including working weekends because most people don't want to work weekends and I don't care....otherwise, the accounts go somewhere else and there you go....then we all have something to complain about.... like no work at all.  My point is, I CAN do 3000 lines and so too can anyone else, it's really no great feat.  I'm fortunate that I'm at the point in life that I do MT because I want to....it actually cost me a good bit in taxes this year too, so financially I'd probably have been better off not working.

The first suggestion I would make toward increasing the line count is see above.....check how you're working...it may surprise you.  Second no matter that it's easy to make corrections on the computer, it wasn't so easy to make corrections on a manual typewriter with 7 carbon copies, so work to improve the accuracy of your typing.  May not seem like much but every time you have to correct something either by backspacing or with spellcheck, you're using a second or two and those seconds add up to minutes.  Then, of course, make full use of the ShortHand program......this from the person who was the last one dragged screaming and kicking to learn to use the computer.

Happy typing!

I'm a regular reader, seldom post.  This discussion seems to go on and on and keeps popping up.  I'm in a  mood this morning so here's what I have to say about that.

A little background.....I'm an old MT;  ya know, social security queen, so I work P/T.  I've worked for so many companies I can't remember all of 'em and I've been MTing so long I forget how long.  I've been paid by the character, by the line, by the page, by the 1000 words and maybe some more ways I have forgotten.

The above being said, it is impossible to cheat me on a line count.  I know pretty much what I've typed before I check my line count.  When I check the line count if it is significantly off, I have a problem with that.  That happened once with TT when I started working on a new account, which was the ichart thing.  I immediately said, HEY??!!!!??? and was told about the problem with Dictaphone.  Problem fixed, problem solved.  No problem.  And, not bragging, but I'm one of those folks who has and can pop out 3000 lines in a day; that is an 8 hour (or more likely 6 hours working time) day.

Now.  Is TT perfect?  Nope.  My only real complaint is many times emails go unanswered but hey, I'm a smart cookie and if I don't get an answer....well, I just figure out what to do and DO it.

As for the line counting........if I felt the line count was unfair and had to waste my valuable time re-counting with TT or any other company well...color me gone. 

My advice:  Get off this board and get on the TT platform...you'll make more spendable cash..... which is where I'm going right now.