This is good to hear. I am hoping that I can hang in

• Say WHAT???? No work during training?? - 5 piddly jobs?
  • Happened to me at Medware - no msg
  • Hving had experience with MDI-MD for over 1 year (sm) - mtmtmtmtmt
  • I'm in the same boat. - MDI MT
    • I have been here for 4.5 hours today. Only got 1 job. - mT2
      • I can second that.... - mtmtmtmt
        • have you asked your supervisor - about this?
          • Not yet... - mtmtmtmt
            • So, you won't ask your super for a week but - come here and get others riled up?
              • That's not what I said... - mtmtmtmt
                • Also.... - mtmtmtmt
            • Me too. I did e mail apologizing I did not - mT2
              • these are the kind of things - that
                • Thanks. I definitely will. I just don't want to be jumping the gun. - mT2
                  • Don't go yet... - mtmtmtmt
                    • Support - MDI MT
                      • Reassurance... - mtmtmtmt
                        • Oh, I can understand that - MDI MT
  • Another perspective.... - sm
  • Listen please. I've been at this many many - sm
    • Being with MDI-MD for only a few years, there is not - Indy-MT
      • This is good to hear. I am hoping that I can hang in - mT2
    • Thank you for this post. - MDI MT
    • I was just wondering last night if I should hang in there... - mtMOM
  • MDI- no work. - RJ
    • sm - uh uh
    • I understand. I don't think you're understanding - Clarification
  • Diskriter is doing the same thing..sm - anon
  • Your post regarding MDI - anon
    • I know, but below the MTs are saying they have - No work for 5 piddly jobs!
      • It's true. At least on my accounts, it has been - Sigh
        • I think - sm
          • MDI low work - HappyMT
        • Can you give any hints as to your primary? - s/m
          • I have - Sigh

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Which accounts are you working?  Do you like them?  Are you making alot of money?  Does Hils pay on time, every time? 

Thanks

I'm glad to here that.  I am starting on 07/10/2006.  Everyone has been super nice and very accomodating. 

it can come back.  Posters like the rectum person need to be banned.

But the way things are going in transcription now, people need a place to vent.  There are some negative people who are negative by nature, but when everything is going to crap it's hard to be positive, and we need to be honest with each other.

If there actually was a place to send all of our legitimate complaints -- and there are many -- and someone would take us seriously and help -- maybe the situation could eventually be turned around.

And, one more thing, really bad things are actually happening to many transcriptionists today - they are NOT just WHINING.  We need a voice.

So, if you have a job that you are happy with, keep it as long as you can.  But, really, try to have some empathy for your peers who are facing REAL hardships.

place to work.  I wasn't working there full-time, but from what I saw, they have a nice benefit package, and the staff is very helpful and professional.  The only kinda scary part is that they require 99.5% accuracy (or maybe 99, cannot remember).  Fortunately, on my first QA thing before being released from QA, I did manage to achieve that (a little more actually), so I was relieved.  I guess I just do not have enough confidence in myself.  Unfortunately, they lost the account I was hired for, but they were looking for another one.  In the meantime, though, my personal life kind of took a different turn, and I ended up moving from Kansas to Colorado, so I decided one job was enough for now.

As for eTransPlus, they are also very friendly, although much more disorganized than some companies.  I was put off for a week and a half past the date I was hired to start, then when I did start, there were tech problems, then I did 4 jobs or so and ran out of work ... that kind of thing.  Again, when I decided to move, I just decided it was not worth the extra aggravation.  Still, I would recommend either company.

There are still some good companies out there, although I hesitate to comment since my experience is not recent.  I used to work for MDI-MD, and they paid VERY well at the time because you had to supply your own LD, and that was before the days of unlimited LD.  I had 5 accounts, so managed to keep myself busy, but now I read posts about people running out of work, so I do not really know.

I have heard good things about Axolotl, and I applied, but the only opening is 3rd shift with 80% ESLs, so I decided not to do it.  Their benefits are great, though - no deductible for BC/BS!  And there is a $500 sign-on bonus too.  Oh well ...

I talked to Acusis, and if you can overlook their heavy overseas connection, they have a nice benefit package as well.  The pay is so-so.  I guess no one ever pays me what I know I am worth. 

If you run into a company you are interested in, feel free to ask me.  I have been an MT for about 100 years now, so I might have worked for them! 

Good luck -- hope you find something wonderful. 

The thing with eTransPlus was not a good fit for me either.  I think it is probably a good company, it just didn't work for me as my start date kept getting pushed back, I was running out of work, there were program glitches, etc.  Sometimes some things are just not meant to be.  I hope you get on with Keystrokes again.  I know it sounds kind of gushy, but I have found them to be truly wonderful people.  I don't need someone to constantly sing my praises or anything -- decent pay and plenty of work is enough -- but it is kind of nice to hear thank you every now and then, and know that if you have a problem arise, someone will listen and try to help you. 

Again, thanks for posting -- great to hear from you!  Good luck! 

I can understand the employees who want everything and give very little back.  Very frustrating.

But then you have the situation described for the employee where there is no job satisfaction, no family/personal life allowed or frowned upon by management and no chance for promotion.   And then being compared to an Indian who has a completely different social environment. 

I know mothers who are IC and while they do take time off during the day for their kids (how dare they make dinner for those kids and hubby) but then they work long into the night after kids and hubby have gone to bed.  There are no weekends with their family either.  And the work reward is the pay will be lowered because the client wants to pay a lower rate.  It is not exactly incentive to work hard without any breaks and ignore the family in favor of what the company needs.

I remember years ago working for a start up company and the manager did not want the single girls to date at night and instead work late.  She thought they should be devoting their time to their career in transcription.  Well a Transcriptionist could do that but whether she worked harder or not the pay would be the same and she would always be a transcriptionist.  The manager on the other hand if the company did well would receive promotions and raises I am sure.  So that is the difference....management perks vs worker bee perks.  It was easy for her to give up a social and personal life because the rewards but the transcriptionist typing straight for hours and hours would see the same pay day in day out, no advancement or recognition for working harder other than not having a manager angry. 

However after reading that post I will be aware  and really give it my all. I do understand the need for a better work ethic.   I see what the management wants and needs.  Especially when managers are spending Thanksgiving with their families and the transcriptionist is working for 7 cpl with no break.  It is the American way of doing business.

Tookie Williams

It is hard to adjust to new rules, but you will catch on.  Reading over material/samples provided by the part-time employer is a great way to familiarize yourself with their ways of the trade.  Also, do not argue with QA.  Let it go.  If they let you go because of your QA score, then it was not meant to be.  There are plenty of others who would appreciate your intensity to learn.  Do not beat yourself up about it.  If you have a full-time job, then you know that you are worthy.  Keep trying, you are definitely playing it smart.  Never give up what you have until you find what you want. 

I'd like to address something that's really bothering me as I see it expressed so frequently -- It's what I call THE GRATITUDE TRICK.

First, I am not trying to find fault with what you wrote.  You sound like a fabulous mom and a very dedicated MT.  I really admire you for the sacrifices you've made to accomplish what you have -- and that goes for everyone out there in the MT world who has done the same.  I mean this sincerely.  I am amazed at what some of you have managed to do and how you continue the struggle now.  Hats off to you all!!! 

But I have to question why do MTs have to make such sacrifices in the first place???  It sounds to me like this has been the case for many years now.  If we are the professionals we claim to be, we deserve the same standard of living that any other professional gets to have who works out of their home.  The perks go across the board for everyone who works from home, no matter what profession--gas savings, wardrobe, etc.  We are no different.  This aspect of what our job is worth income-wise is only a small part of the equation.  The difference for us is that we are not fairly compensated for our work as other professionals are for theirs.  THAT is what sets us apart, not the perks.  

I think this is a way the services have used to keep us in submission for years, and it's dirty playing.  I do not feel grateful to my employer to be able to work from home.  My gratitude goes to God for the technology that allows me to do this.  Heck, I'm saving them money in overhead from working from home, buying and maintaining my own equipment and reference materials, paying my own Internet service fee, etc.  No, THEY are making money OFF OF US.  Yes, businesses do that.  They have to earn a profit.  But it is wrong for them to tell us pretty much to go away and be quiet and count our blessings because they are so kind as to let us work from home, thus making us feel that we should be ashamed for wanting to be paid more.  This is nothing but a mind game.  They are using this way of responding to us to shut us up and we're falling for it.  Next, it will be but at least we hired you and didn't send the work to India!  Little by little we are being demeaned by them as they reduce benefits, demand more in production, etc. all the while telling us how lucky we are to be able to work from home and we're falling for it. 

If our profession (and I keep using the word profession because that is what it is) goes down the drain because of technology, etc. then we can't control that.  But let's not help it along by buying into a mindset that says we're not valuable.   Anyone who has the knowledge and skills to do this job well should see their worth reflected in their paychecks, bottom line.  All the other stuff is just icing on the the cake.  

I think we as a body of professionals and as individuals need to have a much greater sense of self-respect, self-worth to begin with.  We are not the cast-offs of the working world!  If you can do this job well, you are no idiot.  And all of us know, this is anything but an easy job.   Many of you have invested most if not all of your working lives doing transcription.  Companies should be grateful to YOU for working for them.  A qualified MT only increases the company's image. 

Now how to become fairly compensated is a whole 'nother can of worms given what we are up against today.  But I think we need to start valuing ourselves more before we expect to be valued by those for whom we work.  This gratitude to our employer trick they use on us has got to be exposed for the dirty trick that it is and it needs to go!! 

I think a lot of our frustration with this profession comes from such mind games.  If you can keep your employees confused, if you can keep them from feeling they have no right to complain, you've got it made as an employer.  They're under your control.  But in the end it weakens employee morale which results in frequent employee turnover which results in loss of production while new people learn the accounts, etc. so it really backfires on them and is a stupid (to put it nicely) way to run a business.   You can run it right into the ground this way.

Even the benefits packages are somewhat of a joke if you can't afford the insurance.  I'm sure the companies have ways to write off those expenses to their own benefit.  That's another trick they use on us.  My dental insurance won't pay the rent.  Pay me a decent enough salary and I'll get my own dental insurance!

If we have any hope of turning our situation around, we need to be able to see the tactics that are being used against us.  Just trying to point out some red flags here as I see them. 

I'm do a different platform/client, but I also hired in this summer, and went through a rough time at first.  I talked to my supe, and after changing my schedule a bit and taking on two secondaries, things have become much better, and there's actually been OT on my accounts for the last few weeks.

Check the backlogs on the community page.  Some accounts regularly have OT approved (its in the little box at the top left, who's approved for OT and for how long).  Maybe you can get trained on some of those.  Are you willing to change your schedule at all?  My accounts consistently have certain heavier days than others, and before I was off during the heavy days.  My supe asked me to shift my schedule and it has made a very positive difference.