MDIer
Posted By: fatcat on 2009-07-20
In Reply to: Hopefully it will get better soon then. nm - MDIer
Today, for the first time in 6 weeks, I was able to make my lines. Like you, I am on an account that has no plans for VR. I hope that the new people go onto their new accounts soon. This past month has really been tight. I am going to keep my fill in the gaps job on the side, just in case.
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to MDIer
Thank you so much! I really am looking forward to this. My company is soon to be outsourced and I want to get a feel for what other companies are like, as well as to supplement my income in case of a drop (which seems almost inevitable). Thanks again!
MDIer
I had to get another MT gig on the side as well. I am the breadwinner and I need to have steady income. Others are depending on me. I am not asking for a lot, but I do need to be able to have the work I am counting on. I have loved MDI so much. I really do hope that whatever is causing this slump will be cleared up soon. I don't like working two jobs but it's better than foreclosure. I wish all my fellow MDIers good luck. It's a great company and I hope we can all get enough work. My second company wants me full-time but I do not want to leave MDI completely.
MDIer
I agree. I am lucky to be able to get some extra work from a friend who is a small MTSO. She would love to have me come on full-time, so at least I have a place to jump if need be. I really do think things will straighten out at MDI, hopefully sooner than later. If it doesn't, I will have no choice. As much as I love MDI (and I truly do) I cannot let myself get into a financial crunch. I am concerned when I read posts from others who have already left because of lack of work. I will stick it out for awhile more and hope for the best. Good luck to you, too!
MDIer
Once again, I did not make my lines today. (Surprise, surprise.) Although I will retire in three years (and hopefully move to Florida where living is cheaper) in the meantime, I am still the breadwinner for an extended family. Long and irrelevant story, but I must make my lines. I am seriously thinking about leaving MTing all together now and just getting whatever work I can. A paycheck I can count on is needed. I used to cook (not gourmet food, just good old diner cooking) and I would rather be cooking for people than sitting here looking at a blank screen. I am giving this situation until the end of this month and if it does not improve, I am afraid I will have to look at other options.
MDIer and anyone else
How about we all trek down to the Santa Monica Pier for some sunshine and a burger? Why on earth not? There's no work to be had today.
MDIer
I had a friend who got transferred to Bakersfield. He said it was the toughest two years of his life. As to the work, there is still no work on my accounts. Pretty soon I am not going to be able to afford even a burger. Seriously.
MDIer
I have tried to get answers from several people at MDI, but could not. That is what I find very strange.....If they would just be straight up with us about what is going on, we could deal with it. I think most people on here have rent or mortages, etc. I doubt anyone is indpendently wealthy and just doing this work as a hobby. (Or if you are, good for you.) But the rest of us need to work. A little reassurance from management would really help a lot of us.
MDIer
I don't usually do this, but okay, sure, go ahead.
MDIer
It picked up yesterday. This morning it ran out on my primary but my secondary has work. No telling for how long, but I am doing it while it is coming in. Good luck!
Another MDIer
No, I don't think she would ever outsource, either.
Another MDIer
Bummer. I was hoping you and everyone else would have enough work. I am on my break now, have been cranking away all morning. There is no telling how long it will last so I have to crab it when I can. Good luck to all.
Another MDIer
How is your work load today? I am just amazed that all of my accounts are packed with work. Tons of jobs. Of course, I started two hours earlier then normal (not easy to do on this coast, as we are way behind the eastern folk time-wise) but I have been chugging along all morning and there are tons of jobs in there. I hope the same is tru for you and the others.
MDIer
Not so yet, but I am not giving up yet, either. (I am on the West Coast, so it is a little earlier and I can stay up a couple of hours extra if need be.)
MDIer
I have a side gig and if not for that, I would be in deep water. Thankfully enough, there is plenty of work on the project there for now. Isn't it sad that in this day and age to feel any degree of security in MTing you have to keep two jobs going? My niece wanted to go to MT school and I told her absolutely to not do it, no way, no how. She is 24, newly married, and needs something for the rest of her life. She became an emergency medical tech instead.
MDIer
The mere fact that they would not answer questions we needed answered tells us they regard us as machines (what a surprise) and not people. Of course they asked these things, and they know the answers. They are just not going to bother to tell us. I think the frank disregard this company has shown for its MTs in the last 2-3 months (no addressing of the issue of why the work was low, etc. etc. and lack of answers in conference call) ought to tell us volumes about what they think of us.
To Ex-MDIer
Like you, I bailed immediately. I did so because I felt that, as a loyal American, I simply could not support any entity that supported offshoring. I WILL agree with you that MDI was very supportive and kind. I am truly grateful to them for many good things. This morning I was thinking about what has happened and, now that the smoke has cleared, these are my conclusions for what they are worth. Companies are bought and sold every day. That is just the way our system of capitalism works. I have absolutely no argument that an owner can buy or sell or enter into any other kind of an agreement they want. It is THEIR company and have that right, with which I will not argue. Where my personal disappointment comes in is with the way it was handled. For weeks I sat in front of my computer with no work and when I asked (many times!) why there was no work, no one knew. As a result, I lost a good bit of time, which translates to losing money in our industry. I know that companies cannot warn employees or others in advance of mergers or it would throw the whole thing off. Intellectually I DO understand that, but I also think there HAS to be a more humane way, a more fair way to do things. There has to be a way that people do not sit without work for weeks. I wish I knew what that way is. Sadly, I do not. Our entire industry is changing in ways I do not like. Many of these ways are ways I cannot accept. I am grateful that I will retire in the not so distant future.
Ex-MDIer
Yes, I got a very gracious and kind note from D. I am glad I worked for MDI but as a matter of conscience I cannot work for anyone who offshores, nor do I want to work for any company as large as Transcend. And I am fortunate in that I do not have to. (I have no personal experience with Transcend, so cannot say anything good, bad or indifferent, except that I was on the conference call and I felt that it was extremely evasive and disappointing.) No matter. It is in the past now. I wish the best for everyone on this board. All of you are in my prayers.
MDIer
Let's see now, why else would they reduce your pay rate? I bet it so THEY can keep more of the money you earn for them. It's called expoitation. Do you honestly think the bigwigs at Transcend give a big rat's patootie about what bills you have to pay? You are only a machine that they can plug in until you burn out. But they don't have to worry. There will be more to take your place. This is not an issue about having hope and not panicking, but rather one about being realistic. The first place to start would be with asking why we could get no clear answers to pay issues on the conference call. It looks to me like someone is dancing us around. We will see what we will see.
Thanks MDIer
I am very new to blogging and just found this site last week. I have read countless posts only to make me feel worse about every aspect of my work. I have not looked for work elsewhere as I planned to hand in there and hope all goes well before I just give up or leave in a rage. Speaking of rage, that is all I have seen for a week on here...glad we don't all work side by side in-house LOL. I am feeling a little better today; never was too mad to start with, just more shocked than anything. That's what most of this is, shock. I am trying to be hopeful here and I feel you are too so thanks for your post to change the air on the blog. Negativity only brings negativity.
MDIer
Want a suggestion? Send out your resumes two weeks before January 1. Yes, I know, that is a dead season work-wise, but it would put you ahead of the legions of people who will undoubtedly have discovered what a bill of goods they have been sold and will be creating a second wave of job seekers as they try to escape. My heart really aches for everyone caught up in this and I wish you good luck.
MDIer
It is the same for us, we are being grandfathered in.
MDIer
Just the fact that you are unable to get a straight answer should be all the answer you need. Does that make sense?
Fellow MDIer
I'm with you on this one. I have never worked for a company that had as much integrity as MDI.
MDIer, just another thought
I just have this feeling (no way to prove it, as it is a feeling only at this point) that some big accounts are going to VR sooner than we thought. Again, I emphasize that this is just MY theory. I have nothing to base it on, just my instincts. Anyone else?
MDIer, I agree with all you say and yet
I am totally puzzled. My personal opinion of the owner of MDI is that she is the most honest, ethical, decent person I have ever met in this industry. She genuinely cares about the MTs and has always been honest and fair with me. What I found especially disturbing was that I tried through five different avenues at MDI to get some kind of explanation and no one had one. I can deal with anything if I know what I am dealing with but this deafening silence is really giving me a headache. I already do several different hospitals and, like you, I do not want to be assigned yet another one if that takes food out of someone else's mouth. I am doing the same thing you are. Lucky for me, a friend of mine has some on the side work for me to do right now, so if I really pinch pennies I can probably make it. But I am not willing to continue on in this silent, no answer mode for too long. I have always given, as I am sure you have too, my highest and best to the company. I have worked when they needed me to work, and have really gone the proverbial extra mile. Am not sure how to prepare for the worst in the long-term. I think the kicker in all of this for me not knowing what the problem is. I wonder how many people are leaving because they simply cannot make ends meet? Mortgage companies will cut people a little slack, but not too many times. They expect you to get it together and not have to ask for favors each month. So I am just stumped. My liaison does not know what is happening, either. Strange......
Response to MDIer
Hi there. I would be happy to answer your questions. For part time you are required to gross 450.00 a pay period. We make a few exceptions for p.r.n status and that is people who work valuable schedules, like a third shift, or a weekend or something that is very helpful to an account. We have ICs, but it does require you obtaining an EIN #. No pay rate reduction in exchange for benefits at all, I guarantee you that. We are pretty flexible with schedules, especially knowing some people need to split, have small children, have obligations, etc. We do like to hire Tues-Sat or Sun-Thurs for fulltime, but we have part time people who work shifts valuable to us and do not make that mandatory. As far as holidays, you just ask for the off in advance and you get them. I hope I can help you more - email me at my email - debbie.marlow@trcr.com
Reply to MDIer Take Two
Quite the opposite. You can maintain flexibility. If you are saying you have a 24 hour window to do a certain amount of line, that is doable. As long as this arrangement is made in advance with your manager it's fine. Working two weekend days a month works to. Tues-Sat, Sun-Thurs is not set in stone, it is just most people like it and it works for us. We are big on flexibility, but like I always say, it works both ways. In other words if an acocunt is swamped and we ask for extra help, our MTs are always willing to do that if they can, because we are flexible too.
MDIer with a headache
Believe it or not, I woke up with a headache, too! I have been in this profession for four decades and I just have this gut feeling that someone somewhere is trying to pull a fast one. Too much old soft shoe and double talk. MQ was a past master at that old song and dance and my BS detector is going off bigtime.....
philosophical MDIer
I am with you. Company owners can do anything they want to do with their companies--they own them. However, what really steps on my corns is that I was lied to for months, they did not know where the work was, yet I was expected to keep checking in for work. D or C would not give me an answer to e-mails about where the work was going. My liaison said she did not know (and she probably didn't). I always expected the highest level behavior from MDI because that is the reputation it had and that is what attracted me to it in the first place. I guess I need to look at myself and my own lack of good judgment.
To Current-MDIer... as Liz says -- put the ULD on your next payroll....
Pretty easy to get things solved, huh? It's amazing what happens when you just ask....
No experience on radiology, but also a happy Tr/MDIer. nm
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