I like Sylcount Gold. Has tons of counting options.
Posted By: my 2 cents on 2006-02-02
In Reply to: Can anybody tell me what type of - 2teens
nm
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How do you compare this to Sylcount IV Gold. nm
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Tons and tons of stuff in the archives. nm
Sylcount
Downloaded the free version and couldnt figure it out even after printing out the entire thing. Too complicated. Use the free one with MS Word, very easy.
You sure you have the Sylcount set just so? sm
This is my experience with Sylcount too, though I have not used it since I worked in WP5.1.
I know that relative to other counting programs, Word is not as generous. I can't think of the name of that one I am thinking of, sorry! Are you sure you are counting punctuation? Be sure you are counting everything you are allowed to.
If everything on a line is a line, that is gross lines, not characters. Depending on the font and pitch a gross line can be good or absolutely rotten. Of note, the line count as in gross line count in Word includes blank lines, so it is harder yet to compare.
I'd hate to think you are being rooked around here.
I guess the best thing would be to get Sylcount and be done with it. nm
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Does anyone on here use Sylcount line counter and can you tell me how you like it. nm
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Sylcount vs. MS Word count . . .
I recently started working for a company that uses Sylcount, counting by line, everything in a line is a line, but compared to counting in MS Word, 65-character with spaces, I am getting way lower counts with the Sylcount. Anyone experience this. I was under the impression that the count would be little higher than doing it MS Word, but it's been much, much lower. I'm so disappointed. It seems that counting this way, if the font is smaller, the line will be smaller, it really makes it inaccurate and count so much lower.
A heart of gold, there. :(
.
Gold star for you.
My pay was constantly screwed up, constant IMs, they didn't tell anyone I quit and I got IMs/emails demanding I log in for my shift, the owner is unpleasant to say the least although she does put on a good I'm your friend, we're a team show. The insurance as an employee is extremely expensive. As an IC there you also have a set schedule. Hence, not really IC.
There are 2 tiers-Silver & Gold sm
Silver is less, I have gold and I want to say it's about $75/pay period. $500 deductible, low copays. I believe 90 days is the waiting period but you'd have to ask the recruiter--I've been here a long time.
Hospital accounts can be worth their weight in gold.
I work for a hospital, and I'll never go back to a national again. However, I do believe I work for the best hospital on the planet, too.
We are on production, but if we run out of work, we're still paid (they value their MTs). Great benefits, fantastic incentives, Planetree philosophy, conscientous dictators, life doesn't get much better than this.
Strongly consider working for a hospital rather than a service. I think you'll be happy.
TT - ext text. Why are some voice jobs gold/yellow instead of white? nm
yes, Blue Fox Software out of Illinois. Microsoft partner, Gold Standard, etc.
they make White Tiger, a business intelligence system, and their top programmer is Tom. I'm sure they can make something very nice for you. Tell them Jo sent you! link below
I thought the deductible was 500 vs 1000 (gold vs silver) but I guess I better go check! sm
As for policy levels, yes, you can get coverage as a single; as a couple; and self / family, with concurrent cost changes. Dental is great too.
Now, where did I put a copy of my BCBS plan... hmmm!
I wish I had those options.
I wasn't exactly fired, just let go from the account. The lady who said two other people used Vista now says she never suggested I buy Vista (?) There's no arguing with her. But she knew I had Vista, and never notified me to take it back before I tried to start work. In fact, I was put in touch with a computer tech to work with my Vista. She may be under pressure to keep her name clean. They didn't offer to loan me a computer, only that I buy XP to install, but I'm honestly leery about working with that computer team now.
Your options
1. Stop working for free immediately. DIT still has to make good on your checks, but giving them hours they are not paying for is useless.
2. Find another job. If someone has bounced multiple checks, they are not someone you want to work for.
3. You have to contact authorities in their state, have you?
4. Contact the hospital/client for whom you typed and tell them you want to know where to send the bill for services you have rendered. (They don't have to pay you but this will put more pressure on DIT to come up with monies owed.)
Be VOCAL. Be a VOCAL as you can. STAY FACTUAL. Don't editorialize. On every MT site post the FACTS.
Take an ad out in their local newspaper.
Contact the local news media in their town and share your story.
Three weeks of being screwed on your pay isn't a mistake. It's theft.
There are options
....other than MQ. I was having a hard time finding a company that paid equal to TT, but at this point I'll take a penny less a line to get a full days work.
keep your options open
nm
As a mentee, you may not have many options, but check out some other
companies to see if they have a mentor program in the works. I would try to avoid OSi if at all possible. Very unstable at the moment.
Legal options when shorted on pay?
I am an employee of an MT company and was not paid according to what I was told I would be paid. I am wondering if anyone can tell me what legal options I have. Thanks for any help.
They are going to work with everyone to move them to FT. There will be other options. sm
Keystrokes treats their employees very well, and would never just eliminate someone. PT positions will be redefined and changed, not eliminated completely.
Why does every post on here have to be negative? If you don't know what's what, you should not comment or read more into it.
I was just letting the OP know if they did not like Meditech there were options - nm
x
Point taken, but for some options are limited
That's one of the reasons I hate how judgmental some posts are (not you, per se, but in general). Above is the post telling the non-working TT'ers to go get 2 or 3 jobs, whatever it takes to make ends meet. And that's what I'm doing. I live rural- the Walmart is 34 miles/45 minutes away. There are a couple of jobs in town (15 miles away). In addition, depending on the work, even at slave wages for transcription, I would still make more than the town jobs pay, not to mention the added expense for gas, work attire, etc.
So I understand your point and it's valid, but there is a divide between what some people say (with your knowledge of the wage of a Walmart greeter, perhaps you?) about working 2-3 jobs if necessary and holding out for the wage that MT is truly worth.
Frankly, there are some that would look at one's decision to work for Walmart as a bad moral choice, too, considering what they've done to local wages and small mom-n-pop enterprises.
Working and not getting paid?? What are the options?
Hi,
I have a friend who is a newer MT and has been working very hard for a particular company. This company has not paid her and they owe her over $1000.00 at this point. She is a newer MT and would probably have a harder time finding something else so she is caught between a rock and a hard place. The owners of the company will NOT return her calls or emails but yet they still have her work. She does not know a lawyer and does not have the money to hire one. Does anyone have any advice for her on what she should do? I have been in a similar situation but I was finally paid and I did not work much. My family kept telling me to quit but yet I needed the experience. Any help would be appreciated. I really feel for her.
Thanks!!!
Working and not getting paid?? What are the options?
THANK YOU to all that applied. I have let my friend know to read your messages. Great suggestions!! Thanks again everyone!!!!
I switched to flexible to keep my options open. (sm)
So far I am finding the platforms others have out there are not allowing me to make as much money as I did with MQ even with the cess pool. I work for a great company now, truly fantastic people, but their platform is slow and often down for one reason or another.
I am going to give it a little longer, but may be calling to crawl back to FT with MQ when I am eligible to change classifications again. I switched from FT to PT and then flex so I am sure I will have to wait a year before I can swap around again.
I would think now is an extremely good time to at least call them and check it out. What have you got to lose?
Sure, go to Tools, Options, Save, and then look on the bottom....sm
There at the bottom you have options of using a password to modify, password to open, and read-only recommended. You can also do the same thing under File, Save As, on the border of the Save As box on the far right there is the Tools option and brings up the same options, tools, then general options. I would recommend just adding the password to it. Then when you open it, it will ask you for the password to modify or open as a read only.
Keep your options open, keep your ears to the ground
X
Mind if I ask what you're going to school for? I'm looking at my options and
am thinking about going back to school. Trying to decide what might be a good career change that would still utilize my skills or at least be an interesting line of work.
So you believe offering 2 options to clients is impossible? It's pretty cut and
dried to me. You offer Option 1 as a money-saving low rate with offshore transcription and editing. Sorry, we can't guarantee quality, but hey, you save big bucks. You then offer Option 2, quality-minded American MTs and editors, the gold standard. The rate is higher, but so is the quality of the work. Of course, you then have to make sure you hire only those who can actually maintain high quality.
You are probably right though. It wouldn't work as there no doubt are far too many companies already offshoring without the client's knowledge reaping the benefits of using low-paid foreign workers with nondiscounted line rates. Silly me.
Shapin - PT/FT schedule options, min line count??? Thanks! nm
nm
Who would you choose, Medware, Golden Isles (GIMT) or Mag Mutual? Weighing options and offers etc..
IWho do you think would be the best to work for??
450, not 100. Not counting MDI.
nm
counting me blessin's
I was feeling all abused and unappreciated. I work for a hsp system from home and work on productivity -- making in the 50k + range. Great, inexpensive insurance and double time for holidays. All the OT I want or none at all if I want. Anywho, I was unhappy with a few minor details and thought about quitting in a huff. After reading about life in the world of national co.'s I have regained my appreciation for my employer. I spent over 9 years out there frantically searching for a decent line rate, less than 95% ESLs, and affordable insurance. That's all I wanted 'cept maybe for QA not on a power trip and enough work to complete 40 hours a week.
From what I am reading, things are still the same out there. It looks like line rates are stagnant or decreased from before. Companies are still overhiring. Insurance is ghastly. I wish you all well and once again,
thanks for the cold water in the face! 
Counting lines
Don't forget to mention that they altered the WAY they count lines, no headers/footers. It seems more like they way MQ counts their lines. My overall production dropped about 20%, which is why they lowered their requirement from 12,500 per pay period down to 11,000. The incentive is pretty low, and only draws in the fast fast fast MTs. I'm not a lightening ball of speed, so I never qualify.
A pay cut is a pay cut, is a pay cut, is a pay cut!
Counting lines
I am not sure how to either than to go up to tools and then scroll down to line count. I think a lot of other things factor in when it comes to line counts dropping or even increasing. When I am extremely focused and don't get interrupted I do a great deal of lines. When Im in a snail mood I just can't seem to get it together, take lots of pantry and potty breaks. It is definitely hard to work on production because every minute counts. Soooo. to rack up those lines, I know I definitely need to glue myself to the chair:)
Line counting
Just wondering, was this company TransTech. I have recently left them. The management is great, but as far as i was concerned the work was awful, every account they put me on, and I had to really struggle to get my lines in. I asked them to unblock the control I function so that I could see my lines and they won't do it. They more or less said that they count the lines the way they want and we have to use the website to find the correct lines. THIS IS BS!
Just wondering. You don't have to respond if you don't want to, but just curious.
line counting
I work for TT and we had a problem with the ichart which counts our lines but I would just wait a couple of hours or until the next morning to get my count and then mark it. It was always available in time for the end of the pay period. Transtech is a great company to work for and yes management is great. They also let us know whenever there were issues with the system and we knew that we would need to wait. I've been there long enough now to kind of get a feel for the number of lines I have for what I've typed. I'm typing on the TransNet platform now. I was on PowerScribe when I started but like this system much better. So far, there's been no real problem with availability of work. Can't complain! 
line counting
It really depends on the length of report. It usally takesme about 70 reports. You get a better line count of you get some lengthy normals and that helps. My account doesn't have a lot long reports. We have nuc med and occasionally there are normals and you get a decent count then.
Some do pay more because of not counting spaces. (nm)
x
8 days and counting....
and I'm outta there! 
Something said before about it not counting spaces, but maybe that's
s
Oh, not even counting the emails sent, on and on
and just an IM for a stat dictation. That is really laughable as so many were actually hounded about their work, not an occasional but looking over your shoulder constantly, the emails were endless as were the other notes. Milner flipflopped back and forth on the same formats, 1 day like this, the next day like this, the third day oh back to where it was in the first place. The work I did was for a huge client- did that make any difference as like you say to not being bothered, that the work needs to be done? Nah. They needed the work then but instead made everyone that worked there miserable. I know for a fact as I talked with others (the ones originally hired on and the ones who all quit- quite a lot of them also.) Another thing, don’t even think about asking for any kind of raise- impossible and no one there wants to hear that. There was a meeting called at Milners and the other MTers and I laughed about the fact 1 of the head guys came in to let us know how he was especially picked to come back there, called out of retirement in fact and how much he was offered. Oh that really made others feel good! I along with the others could write books on this.
TT Line Counting
You know, sometimes I find these posts comical and sometimes they just really tick me off. Maybe because I have been doing this nearly a half century, I don't need a line counter to tell me if I'm being paid accurately. I don't go wasting my time looking to see how many lines I've typed during the day or running my work through another line count program. I KNOW approximately how many lines I have typed at any given time...I just KNOW and I am seldom off more than a few lines just with my head count. There is no way I'm going to waste my valuable time worrying if I'm being cheated out of a line here or a line there. Checking line counts takes time..........so does posting on these MT forums.
Let me say that if my in head count was off, I would know it and I would not work for a company where I had to constantly worry if I was being cheated. Maybe there is something to the old saying, it takes a thief to catch a thief.
As for line counts varying, mine is varying at the moment also. My primary account often runs out of work and I know exactly WHY it runs out of work although no one has actually told me. Okay, I have a backup account (or several) and I can either jump on those and make the line count I want or I can sit around whining about not getting my primary account, which by now is a piece of cake for me. The backup accounts have 50,000 physicians on their list, maybe not quite that many actually, but bunches. It takes awhile to get familiar with all of them as it does to build my normals and expanders.
Sometimes I have to laugh when I read these petty comments. I think to myself, if they would get off this forum and actually WORK, they probably wouldn't have so much whining to do.
As I've said before, those who have nothing better to do than bash TT should just move along and leave the rest of us in our blissful ignorance. I'm chuckling to myself right now because there are posts on this forum at this moment about 2 companies for whom I have worked. I don't feel it necessary to post derogatory comments but sometimes I do hope that some of the people who love to beat up on Transtech actually go to work for them and learn what it's like to work for a bad (at least in my opinion) company. Some people deserve it.
Now I'm off my soap box and going to type where I will actually make some money....yes, for TransTech. They treat me fairly. If they didn't, well, I was looking for a job when I found this one.
Five jobs and counting!!!
I am glad I started this thread and I keep racking up the jobs and I will see who is on the up and up.
3 Jobs and Counting...
Yep, yep...One full-time job transcribing Radiology from home for a local hospital from 4 p.m.-12 a.m., five days per week; four hours transcribing pediatric clinic notes from 12 a.m.-4 a.m.; and four hours doing acute care transcription for a hospital in Texas.
I look at the positive side of this...I never get bored, and I'm far too busy to get into too much trouble (and my boyfriend is very understanding and supportive, which always makes things easier).
Now if only I could find a way to get Starbucks delivered to my front door, I'd never have to leave the house....
OSI line counting
OSI question?
Have recently talked to an MT who just started at OSi within the past 3 months. Line counting does not seem to jive with Word. A great difference. Word counting lists 100 lines, OSI counting of the same report lists 40 lines. They claim they do not count spaces, which I find rather surprising, because the last time I checked, a space is a keystroke.
Any input? Thanks.
Line counting changes
In my method of calculation, used to be 11% subtracted for headers/footers (and whatever else). Now it comes out to 15%!!!! Gosh, I forgot, the headers and footers have steadily gotten larger - BS. Oh yes, we the transcriptionists must tithe to work on this particular software, if you know what I mean.
7 years, 10 months and counting at -
:)
How many MTs?? Not even close to 400 unless you are counting your offshore MTs.
Tell everyone how many MTs and QA Specialists you lost in one months' time.
documed line counting
Is there anyone out there who works for Documed? Do you know how they count lines? I would appreciate any information anyone has. Thanks very much.
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