Belts, then regular cassette tapes...
Posted By: Spooner on 2009-03-25
In Reply to: belts - ej
then mini, then micro...an IBM Selectric then magnetic cards, then magnetic tapes...those were the days! 
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I'd have loved tapes when I started...we used belts! nm
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Micro cassette...
I already have my machine. Do love that ebay though! 
Cassette charge
I do the same, micromini casettes and I pick up and email the work back. I charge .15 per line.
What is the best micro-cassette transcriber? SM
Believe it or not, some docs still use tapes. I have a Sony transcriber but the tape fades in and out. If I let off the foot pedal and then play again, the tape will get louder and clear and then gradually fade again. It's really annoying and I'm thinking it's the transcriber. Is there a machine out there that will play a tape with more clarity and consistency?
I have a broken cassette tape - where can I get it repaired
I tried doing a search on here, because a few years ago there was a post about a place that repairs broken cassette tapes. I kind of remember it being in Florida somewhere, but I cannot find the thread. Does anyone know where I can get a cassette tape fixed??? RAdio Shack says no, they don't fix them.
mangled mini cassette tape
I have a sony mini-cassette tape that is bunched up on the inside to the point where I can no longer pull it to straighten it out. It is just stuck. This has a full day of dictation on it. Anyone know a gentle way of trying to pry this cassette apart? It's the only way I can straighten up the tape. I did it once before over a year ago and it took 4 hours, but it worked, but I don't remember what I used. I don't know how it happened. I just want to fix it because I'll have to be the one to tell this doctor he has to do his dictation all over and it won't be pretty. Thanks.
belts
Same here. Then went to IBM MTST (sort of like a computer. It was huge and had a desk of its own. I could not even use one now if it existed. To me, it went down when the big companies tried to take over more and more hospitals. When the small companies or individuals had it things were much better. Also they were on tapes. I used to drive up to 120 miles for one hospital to pick up overflow. Yes, I would love to go back! Even then you never knew when you would have work or some one would undercut you, but it was better.
Are you referring to a cassette tape that has dictated material on it?
I would try to spool it back with the eraser tip of a pencil, but I wouldn't waste alot of time doing so. I've had this happen in the past, and fortunately for me, I returned it to the physician, explained the problem, and he said, "no problem"...I'll just redictated it.
I am again stating here that the single most important thing one can to do to ensure the quality and lifespan of tapes, is to keep them in their plastic case when not in your machine and being transcribed.
LOL. Used those belts in 1978. sm
IBM Selectric III and everyone fighting over corrective tape. One PDR, Dorland's, and Sloane's Medical Word Book for the whole office. No such thing as school and a wide variety of medical terminology books.
I started in the 60s, before belts even. SM
We used wax records and had a press to smooth out the grooves and reuse them. The stat machine was down at the switchboard and we used to walk down and get our records a couple of times a day. We were using Royal typewriters, four carbons, all different colors with carbon paper and different colored liquid paper. We had two reference books, Dorlands and a red surgical book, which I still have somewhere.
In a pinch I have played the cassette in front of my computer mic and recorded using the sound playe
Mine is located by going to the start menu, to accessories, to games, to sound recorder. As long as it is quiet in the room, the sound quality is excellent.
I remember the belts. Dictation was clearer on those than sm
the cell phone and/or digital garbage available today.
My first job out of high school, we had those belts. That was in 1964. Whoa!!
Vinyl belts. Thanks for the memory, Mine was legal, but all the same.
x
Geeze, I remember the wax belts, and the red surgical book that was waxy, too! nm
x
I did legal transcription using the old vinyl belts. A LONG time ago. LOL
x
OMG I did too!!! Remember the raunchy equipment and "blue belts". People these days should
.
In the "old days" of dictation on vinyl belts, the quota was do to 15 minutes an hour. sm
To me, it seems realistic, but then again, each situation is different. On account I know, I can usually do 30 minutes an hour, although being money-oriented and paid by the line, I usually gauge things by lines. I do 250-300 lph, but those little dinky reports ARE an irritation -- no argument there -- hardly enter the header info and *poof* the dictation is over. Would be hard to make a decent line count that way.
But ... surely your employers understand there are variations on such things. Maybe you average 8.9 one month and 12 the next ... I would think it would even out.
Anyway, i'm into that gray zone where I know nothing about, but I wish you good luck. To me, in the days when I was supervisor, if I knew someone was doing the best they could do, that was all that mattered to me.
no way they can keep us at regular pay with VR
but our regular every day tax is
9.25% -- Bought some clothing yesterday and the subtotal was $159.97. The tax was $14.80. Total bill: $174.77.
They get us in other ways.
I do but don't use it on a regular
basis. It's a computer I can take with me and work, if I have to. So far, it's been great. I paid a pretty bit more for it than I wanted, but I guess that's a Sony VAIO. The screen is fantastic. I had a 17 inch HP, actually two of them, and both were quirkly and so I sent them back (I ordered them online from HP). The battery on the Sony VAIO I have runs down very quickly, but I use it plugged into a wall outlet with a surge protector anyway. The keyboard is nice -- I like the touch, but I have a spare keyboard that I use with the laptop as I can't type for beans on any laptop keyboard. The Sony's really need more USB plugs (mine has three, the HPs I had had four) but you can always add a hub if you need to.
Just filled up with regular at $2.87
 Felt like I got a bargain!! Luckily, my car mostly sits in the driveway. Love working at home.
regular old headphones
I wore the plug type but ended up with such an ear infection that it turned into cellulitis. They had to lance my ear and face area near the ear. Now I just wear the plain old stereo headphones.
Regular pay on a holiday? (sm)
I wouldn't do it. No offense intended but I'm wondering how many places do that? I've never heard of not getting 1.5 on a holiday for working? Hey, if I could, I would give you mine since I'm not using it. Have been an MT for a long time (16+ years) and have never and will never work a holiday for straight time. As I mentioned when hired it was agreed I would not work holidays and I plan to stick to it.
Also, you might want to take a regular keyboard
Not sure if you are used to transcribing on a laptop's keyboard, but it is very hard to do. I use a laptop to transcribe, but have a regular keyboard plugged into it - much better!
Starting or regular pay?
We as MTSOs absolutely have to start the pay lower and I'll tell you why. Hiring and training is expensive. We are paying editors by the hour to proof new hires 100% so we actually lose money on every report a new hire does. 3 out of 5 people we hire lie about their experience and are not qualified to do the work so it requires extensive editing and in a lot of cases, total retyping. Over half of the people hired do not do their required lines or hours per day, some are scheduled to start and just do not even show, do not contact us or anything. I get emails from people saying they are losing their home, their children, etc., and are desperate for work and then do 100 lines a day. It is not cheap to advertise, it is not cheap to pay man hours to test and train. So we start lower, and in the 20% of the time we get somebody who 1) does have the required experience, 2) really does want to work and does the required hours or lines, and 3) proofs their own work so it's not a total wreck when we get it, THEN we give raises, and good ones.
You want to know where all the 10-12 cpl pay per line went? Get out your map and look at India, Phillippines, and Pakistan. On the 11 facilities we have, the highest paying to us is 13 cpl. Try renting an office, keeping the equipment updated, paying employees, etc., on that amount of money. If we try and get a raise, they talk about other companies who have already contacted them and how they can outsource and pay only 8 cpl total. I understand now why companies are outsourcing. We can't find qualified workers or those who even want to work so it's easier for companies to outsource and pay to have the work proofed before being sent on to the facilities. We do not outsource at all, but we have hired so far 19 people for FOUR positions and only 2 remain. That's how bad it is for us.
Starting or regular pay?
The company I work for pays 11 cents a line...so they are out there! They also do not outsource and they need good transcriptionists....contact me if you want a good company to work for.
*EDITED* - NO E-mail posting allowed within message. Post it within the E-mail field/box while posting message.
No, it's a regular work day.
As a matter of fact, our company is making us work on Labor Day and as if that's not bad enough, Thanksgiving too! We get half of Christmas day off and that's it, But it's a good company that pays us well overall, 6 cents a 75-character line, plus if you type over 4000 lines a day, they'll pay you 2.7 cents for each line thereafter the 4000. I can't complain! After all, things COULD be worse! I COULD be picking lettuce or strawberries for a living so I count my blessings!!
These are regular admisions.
I have also done H&P in a rush before surgery. But they are telling me they need to be done within 24 hours of admission for a regular hospital stay. When I started this years ago, it was 24 hours from dictation and did not worry about them on the weekends because was told as long as they were on the dictation system and the doctors had access to it, it was alright Well, the weekend thing changed several years ago and the 24 hours changed a few years ago and I provide weekend coverage for H&P (although from my understanding, they still do not get placed on the chart). The hospital is telling me this is state regulations.
Thanks, I did not think it was, it is on the regular "natural" one though - nm
ss
I feel the same way. There are several regular
names that I haven't seen since all this mess started. Glad you are still here Hayseed.
Me either. They just look and sound like regular people to me.
I think the story might be getting a lot of attention because of the situation - cute teenager lost while on a trip in an exotic place . . . . .
Happy at MDI with my regular pay (see inside)
They do not give standardized bonuses on a regular basis. There are some weekends or holidays that they give bonuses based on workloads at certain accounts. I am not sure what you mean by not coming to MDI for "the bonus"? As stated, there are times they give "a" bonus. Hope this helps. Sometimes you have to be flexible to move to certain accounts that are busy.
As a full time employee, I get 16 paid days off per year and I get paid more per line that at Spheris or Medquist. (I was at both). Birthdays recognized? At Medquist, I only got Christmas as a paid day off.
For the person that was at MDI for two years, I'd love to hear from you by e-mail. If you were actually there two years and never saw a bonus weekend advertised, never got a Christmas card, etc., I would find that odd. I would also like to hear what has happened to make you so aggravated to post on this board now. Send me an e-mail, I have been with MDI a long time and your post just doesn't sound right.
She admitted below that her name is DixieDew. She is a regular
where I post
$2.39 for regular in Boynton Beach, FL.
x
you do realize regular broadcast TV will be gone soon...
the only choice will be satellite or cable. Believe it is starting in 2006, but you will have until 2008, or something like that.
There will be no more signals, it will be all changed over the HDTV (which I really have no idea what that is, or why we will have to have it). The government will also own, I think it is 10 channels, or something like that...
It is kind of an odd thing to think there will be no more 'free TV.' Everything we have known and grown up with is changing, and nothing seems to be free anymore.
how will you know what you type is ASR and what is regular transcription?(nm)
x
I do VR and regular dictators and I must disagree
with everyone who says only the good dictators are on VR and bad on regular, I get pretty much an equal mix of both on both.
do you get a lot of standards with your regular dictation?
I used to make $25 before going on DQS, now struggle to make $12 or so. Do you sit 3-1/4 hours straight? I can't do that, everything starts to hurt after about an hour.
No way would my kids be in regular school
It was bad enough years ago when I was in public school, but nowadays with all the drugs, sex, guns, knives, etc., in school, there is no way any kids of mine would be in a public school. I remember my study hall when the kids were totally out of control and the teacher was afraid of them-- it sure isn't any better now. If I could not afford a private school, you'd better believe they would be home schooled.
I'd just use a regular /baby shampoo until you can
flea shampoo for puppies, then get some Frontline or Advantage....just check what the age is for it, pretty sure you can use those puppies. Keep her away from the other dogs obviously, especially if she has worms as just about all puppies do.
There is a palm demo but I don't see a regular one.
http://www.fitaly.com/
In our regular grocery store.
x
I have one. I switched back to regular but still have the old one.
email me if you need it.
LAPTOP VERSUS REGULAR PC
I have had MAJOR problems w/Dell and would NEVER purchase one again. We bought our college daughter a Compaq thru Office Depot or Office Max. The thing w/laptops is that they cannot keep them on 24/7 and all college students do. We sent our daughter to Italy for a semester, thus she needed the laptop, but at college back in the states, cause they leave IM on all day, she is going to use her regular PC. Think about that instead of a laptop. The mother boards on Dell do not last.
I have probably 30 dictators that I get on a regular basis, usually
the same work type, but depending on the workload I may get all different work types, and lots of dictators I've never had before, but that isn't the norm. My company has very high standards and I think they realize in order to retain the good MTs they have to make them productive and they try to do that as much as they can by keeping them on one account.
I've had accounts in the past where it was rare that I got the same dictator more than a couple of times and they were all very difficult ESL dictators, which makes it harder to learn them.
I NEVER type on a regular keyboard and neither does my son.
have used MS ergo since I quit typing on a typewriter.
It had to be done during our regular shift and we were on production
Plus, as I said, we initially thought we'd never have need for it.
If you read further into my post, you'll see where I said it had in fact been an excellent idea and I was glad I received the training. Just initially couldn't see beyond losing 4 hours of pay in exchange for something I initially felt I'd never use.
I never have used it, but it's nice to know if I had to, I could.
Not to mention doing it on a regular basis
I could maybe, maybe, if the stars were aligned properly and all the factors MTinNC mentioned were in place, type 3000 lines in a 12-15 hour day. But it would be one day. I couldn't do that everyday, and it probably would take so much out of me that I'd end up slowing down in subsequent days, making it all balance out. Of course, I'm no longer in my 20s, but I think it would still take a quick toll.
$2.58 for regular in Central Valley, Calif. (NM)
dd
Our regular Walmart was fine. Then they built the SM
Super Walmart. It is disgusting. The toiletries department is small, smaller than the other one in the original store. Lots of absolutely horrible clothes and I am not a snob. The quzlity of the clothes has gone done, if that is possible.
The worst part is the food section. I don't buy food there, but it is dirty, broken boxes of FOOD lying around. Few name brand items, it is truly awful. The produce section is about 2 feet wide. Damn shame.
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