I'm with you - I once wrote a letter to the makers of Sensodyne (sm)
Posted By: me2 on 2006-04-11
In Reply to: Anywhere I see an error it bugs me. I've seen the fast food - ITA
toothpaste, as on the box, it said something about "receeding gums." They wrote me a letter and thanked me (I was hoping for $) - but they told me they had enclosed a coupon for a free tube (BUT IT WASN'T IN THERE!! - On my son's high school graduation program, it listed the class song and the class "moto." That one killed me. To this day I ask him if he remembers his class moto. I notice it everywhere - drives me crazy. What about street signs - there is one around here for the "bussiness district."
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Do you like this letter I wrote
to an attorney there at Cohen & Grigsby??
Lawrence M. Lebowitz
Cohen & Grigsby
Attorneys at Law
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
June 20, 2007
Dear Mr. Lebowitz:
I understand you are an expert at helping foreigners get jobs in our country.
I would like to start a company that helps foreigners come to this country on temporary visas to work as attorneys.
This will be good for America because, although we have many attorneys here already, they are too expensive for the average American, who is unable to find a good job because companies like yours are getting temporary visas for foreigners to take their jobs. These unfortunate Americans will now be able to afford attorneys to sue attorneys who help companies find loopholes in the system to be able to hire cheap foreign professionals.
My other idea was to get the laws changed so that we can hire foreigners to be our politicians. I understand they require much lower salaries than domestic politicians. I did an unofficial poll of some nice illegal immigrants in my area, and many of them believed we could hire a President of the United States from their country for a mere $25,000 a year. Think of the savings if we can assume we could hire foreign senators for $17,00 a year. We just need to change a few laws that our forefathers put in place for the protection of this country! But this idea might get a little more complicated and time-consuming, so I thought my foreign attorney idea might be implemented more expeditiously.
Can you please help me with my new business idea?
You might want to buy a nice home in Mexico now, because you might have to change your citizenship in the future in able to be able to find work in America!
Xxxxx Xxxxxx, NC
(How do you sleep at night?)
Sombeody actually wrote a really good letter to Advance a few issues back. sm
It was in the Jan. 12, 2009, issue, letter to the Editor titled, "What Good is Change for MTs?" by Wendy Keller. She does attack AHDI in a very intelligently written letter.
to all you pro cookie makers
How do I get my sugar cookies to look like the pictures?  Mine keep spreading out and the Christmas trees look like a big blob. Thanks!
Ops and ERs -- my fastest money-makers. NM
.
ERs. Really easy money makers. sm
If only we were all so lucky to have just ERs.
If it's a business letter you use a colon. if it's a personal letter you use a comma. nm
:
Yep! But once I lay down.... that's all she wrote!
I'm done for the day whether i've reached my quota or not.
Thanks to all who wrote sm
 Thanks to all who replied. I appreciate the kick in the gluteus maximus and the kind words as well. Everything just came down at once on me and I won't go into detail. We all have those days if we stay on this planet long enough. Just a little overwhelmed. Bought a new computer last evening and the keyboard is very "tinny" and smaller, will just switch it with my old one, take a break and go back and try again. They also did not load all the things on that I asked for and I had to carry it back myself. They saw me struggling with the door and just watched me struggle. I believe in "paying it forward" and wanted to "give away" some things with no information on them to clear out my work space as well as study my new reference books before I tested. I should have done that before I went on line to test. I was dog tired. Seems everything is made of cheaper and smaller plastic. No, I don't want to go back to a typewriter, thanks for asking though, sweet of you to make that comment. I did "donate" my typewriters and my reference books to students years ago, along with anything else that could help them along in this business. I also "gave away" very lucrative accounts to those coming along when I had enough work for myself. I never asked for a dime and never looked back. Yes, I did do acute care and some of  those accounts would scream at the new "BOS" styles in the 2nd Edition, they hate change. I do not. They want it done "their way" or will mark you wrong and "fire" you. They also insist on allergies being bolded and underlined or it gets thrown back in your face. In one instance, if you number the diagnoses, they do not allow it.One doctor called me a name because I asked him not to abbreviate in the final diagnoses. I have had the "f" word used on me by some of these dinosaurs. In another instance, writing "continued" at the end of the pages got me almost fired. So there's a lot to think about when you "test" for people who don't know what a good Transcriptionist can do for them. You have to have two mindsets, one for the testing people and one for the accounts who just won't budge on their rules. I'll do just fine, just having a bad day. Thanks again. Over and out. Karma
No..not at all. Somebody wrote me SM
out of the blue from MTStars (no hellos or introductions) and asked me to send her my ShortHand dictionary. I worked months and months on it and have 48,000 entries. I felt selfish too not giving it to her, but I was stressed that she would even ask me. I thought about making a mock dictionary (Mary Morken's abbreviations) and stuff I gathered from ProductivityTalk.com so that if people in the future ask I could send them that.
So, in short, no--I do not think it is unreasonable for you to not want to send out your brochure at all.
Chickadee
I love what you just wrote
Right this moment, my almost 15-month old boy and my 5-year-old niece are playing and fighting over the toys. It does require a lot of skill and patience to do two jobs (one that is 24/7), but I have never regretted giving up my old career for my little baby.
I transcribe and while the file downloads, I do the laundry, wash the dishes or play with my baby - yep - multitasking is the key!
What are you talking about I WROTE THEM....some of them!!!!
They arent bad I PROMISE. Now you HAVE TO READ THEM.
I know. I wrote this before you posted the other.
She also stated that she has not had any time away from the kids for 8 years. I hardly think that is needing so much time away from them. Just my opinion though. You might think you should take your kids everywhere you go, but it is healthy for a relationship to have alone time, even if your kids are perfect angels.
I personally am looking very forward to this buisness trip. This is about as close as me and my husband have ever been to a honey moon. I will miss my kids why I am gone, even though I will enjoy the time away. Everyone is entitled to a little "me time."
What we did 3 years ago was we wrote
everything down from least to most. We took the smallest bill first and put everything we could on that bill and paid minimum on everything else until they were paid off. I even settled on a few cards just to get them paid off. Yes it shows on my credit report that I settled but 3 years later my credit score is well over 750 and we are debt free. We have NO credit cards. If we cannot pay by cash, check or debit card we don't buy!
Doing it like we did, settling with the companies or working with a credit agency does not look half as bad as going BR.
I wrote here last week.....
About my incompetent lawyer, if you can be so kind as to call him that. To recap, I paid for my divorce to be filed in January and he never filed, and so my ex-husband filed around April or so. I had to take out a loan in order to pay him, to get things up and going. Two different times, I made sure I told him to include my vehicle, my VIN number and all on my divorce decree, so I could get the ex's name off title, because he takes the title to the pawn shop and my car gets repossessed.
At any rate, my hearing was in July and I never so much as got a copy of the decree, so I went to the courthouse and got one myself, and guess what? the car's not on there. I spoke with him to BE SURE right before the hearing, and my mother was in my presence and can confirm this.
I called him 4 times during the course of the 7 months, wondering what was going on with my case (since he hadn't filed it!), and then just recently 2 times about the car. I got a bill today for an extra $116 for him having to amend the decree about the car, and for the phone call I placed to him regarding it. I haven't gotten any paperwork about the car being put on the decree yet (which I'll probably have to get from the courthouse myself), and indeed, once I do, I'm going to file with the chamber of commerce and state bar, a complaint, but is this bogus or what? I shouldn't be charged extra for something he should have done for what I initially paid him, should I? I kind of wonder if he'll hold onto the stuff until it is paid, but I think this is baloney.
Thanks for any input.
PS: See article - AND the name of the guy who wrote it!
On ''Asian'' and ''Oriental''
By Alan Hu
OK, so a long time ago, people in Europe used to refer to everything to the east of them as the Orient, including for example the Middle East, since orient means "east". So far, so good. This mysterious area was the source of all sorts of wonderful things like silk and spices, so the Europeans attached also sorts of exotic, mysterious connotations to the Orient. As Europeans gained a better concept of world geography, they eventually used "the Orient" and "Oriental" to refer to East and Southeast Asia, where people look "Oriental" in our current usage.
Anyway, that usage of "Oriental" has survived a long time, and it still frequently carries all of the exotic/foreign/inscrutable/mysterious connotations. These connotations happen to coincide with many of the stereotypes held of Asian Americans. Furthermore, by definition, the word "Oriental" is Eurocentric, referring to things east of Europe. For these reasons, some Asian American activist types decided that "Oriental" was a Bad Word, and that "Asian" was more accurate, less Eurocentric, and less loaded with strange connotations. No big deal, right?
Well, a lot of people didn't want to change their language usage. Some people grew up using "Oriental" and saw nothing wrong with the word. Others came from other parts of the world, where hip-activist-American-English-linguistic-evolution hadn't hit. Still others never encountered anyone aware of Asian American politics, so had never heard of this word usage change. Some people were exploiting the exotic mysticism connotations and resisted change. (Very early on, you would see articles about business and trade in Asia, whereas the travel articles would talk about visiting the Exotic Mysterious Orient.) Finally, some people were convinced that this was a typical case of left-wing-politically-correct-thought-police-mind-control (which it was) and decided in typical right-wing-politically-correct-knee-jerk-response that the word usage change was intrinsically evil and had to be resisted at all costs.
For a while, therefore, you could identify a person as being an American who was aware of and sympathetic to Asian American politics by his/her word choice. Now, however, many exploitation-types have realized that saying "Asian" instead of "Oriental" is the cool thing to do, without changing any of their stereotypes and misconceptions. (You can force a person to change his/her behavior, but you can't force a change in thought.)
The upshot is to use whatever word you feel most comfortable with, or that makes your listeners most comfortable, but don't be surprised if someone takes offense. And in the time you save by not worrying about word-usage, try to make the world a better place.
LOL - I couldn't have said it better myself. 
By law...you wrote it, they are yours period
Those belong to you, end of story. The law automatically states that if you wrote it, it is yours. Registered copyrights cover if someone distributes. The link below provides the forms.
http://www.copyright.gov/forms/
Wrote the book on this sm
When advertising for someone to take up some of my slack, these are some of the calls I got, will not use quotation marks - I can do that, I've been sick a lot. My Dad was a pharmacist, so I know those terms. My wife can type and I'm looking for a job for her. I have been approached by people I buy gas from, groceries, etc., they all have a cousin, an aunt, a relative who can type and they're going to send them over to me. A former boss sent his wife who has never had a job in her life but because I used to work for him (in retail) she just walked up to me and said, "Okay, when do I start?" Unbelievable!!! One person said, "Oh, all you need is to know how to type and you have to buy the paper." Another neighbor bought a medical dictionary for her computer and immediately sent out brochures, undercut me by 1/2 and actually docs tried her out. When docs offices called, they always asked, "What do you charge?" They never asked me what kind of experience I had. As you can tell, been doing this for years. The whole situation disgusts me.
I had that problem but i wrote it off ...sm
on my taxes as a deduction for each expense. My job was for a nonprofit homeless shelter clinic so I felt okay about it, like it was a charitable thing to do. I posted below regarding employee status vs IC because I am so confused about how many IC jobs I see on job listings on this site. I was employee x8yrs, then IC x16 yrs, then employee again x8yrs, but I thought the IRS/courts had become really restrictive on this issue. Now all the companies seem to be drifting back to IC but still telling you when to work so I'm stumped. In fact, I'm almost afraid to post this less I get "flamed."
I was also appalled and wrote the manufacturer
.
I could have written what you wrote, but I have 1 more thing to add..
I find that most of the MTs where I do QA are so very nice and take their feedback very well. They try so hard at the difficult ESLs (which is all of them) and I too know that it has to be grueling to do some of them knowing my take-home money depended on those dictators. We have a wonderful group of MTs, some good, some trying, but they sit there day after day and endure. I will give them credit.
I have also seen very poor quality for no reason, but I won't go there. Those folks should not be in the profession at all. I have seen that at many companies.
Hats off to all of you MTs who endure the hard work and continue to hang in there. You are recognized for what you do at least by some.
I could have wrote your post in the past about my ex..
Believe me, I am so glad he is my ex. Life is just to short to spend it feeling that way.
I wrote the Lifesaver company once (m)
and asked them if that was true. They responded with the history of Lifesavers candy and did not mention the hole being there for that reason. They also sent posters and a bunch of other stuff. I always thought they probably distance themselves from the hole being a lifesaver thing because of liability issues, but FWIW, they don't admit to the truth of that story.
What an excellent post you wrote! (sm)
Everything is a hit-the-nail-on-the-head ACCURATE description of the mess the MT industry has become today. If the doctors & hospitals truly don't care about such gross mistakes in their dictated LEGAL documents, I wonder why they even bother at all.
I also wonder how long MTSO's really think they are going to get the most experienced MTs out there by continuing to chip away at their pay and benefits. I'm expected to turn out perfect medical reports, which means, even with 30+ years of experience, that when doing difficult accounts, I can't blast away at Mach II on my reports - I have to spend a little more time looking up state-of-the-art treatments, drugs, etc., and then extra time proofreading each report afterward (which is difficult when you're proofing your own work). And yet in order to earn what would normally constitute 8 hrs. worth of pay, I often end up working 12-hour days. And yet my rent (which is way below-market, I might add) still consumes more than half of my income each month. (I went to school for WHAT??)
Hi, Nissa, I am also with you, Elle wrote...sm
a fantastic, heart-felt, and very knowlegdeable note to you; it really can be hard, and one of the biggest stumbling blocks to production, when you are constantly switching huge accounts, all fields and ethnicity of strange (to you!) dictators, little feedback from QA, as is the case with many larger nationals...I also have been doing this close to 20 years, in all capacities, and the shortcut/expanders are great, all the on-line technology with dictionaries and references, all the new transcribing platforms can be great once you get proficient with them....but the very best money I made was always either with a local service or clinic, even though there were ESLs or specialties I was not all that great with, or when I worked in-hospital and of course got used to all the many docs over and over again, all their "normals" and phrases they usually used, etc. In short, if you love this field, as most of us do, if you are dedicated and organized, then many times if you go with a smaller company with less accounts, less dictators, and most importantly the ability to truly get thorough feedback from your supervisor, MTSO, or QA person, you will be learning and getting quicker by the week!! Have faith, and e-mail me anytime for a pep talk, we all have to stick together!
Can't you read? I specifically wrote...
"..for us, the MTs.'
I wrote the post and I am not offended, I took it how you meant it.
and like I said.... I love warm milk, drink it almost every night.
I don't care who wrote it either, be it Paul Harvey or anyone else.
and the way the majority of people apparently feel in this country who are sick of being made to feel that for some reason we must tip-toe around minorities and disregard our own culture.
I'm sick of it and the person who wrote this article apparently is too.
MEATLOAF wrote and sang that song
Celine Dion did it close to 20 years later - Meatloaf has always been like he is - even when he was younger.
Actually READ my post. I wrote "A GOOD COMPANY"
Thick, thick, thick.
I wrote it down! JK Lasser's "Small Business Tax Guide," and see msg.
The other was 1001 Deductions and Tax raks for Personal Deductions. I don't have an author for that one.
so what if they wrote the check to feed their kids that were starving, would you buy them some groce
some people just can't make ends meet. what i see as wrong with that is our government.
He wrote the song, but it was sung by Celine Dion...around 1996 I think. nm
x
Of Course Endiqua read your post. It is irrelevant to her what you wrote and she is fully prepared
Hush and take notes. Endiqua is the authority on all things and doesn't need to read your post or even understand it. She's got an opinion and by gawd you will listen. QA is annointed boss of you.
Yes, he was peaceful because he was so whacked out on drugs. He was a drug addict who wrote songs.
Pure and simple - no big thang...
Love it. I wrote it down but hope I can remember it. Would lose impact if I had to look in purse for
nm
What letter
Did only certain offices get a letter. I work in the southeast and have not received a letter.
No letter here either (sm)
I am a SE, were these mailed to employees and SEs?
Also, have a question. Signed up for Qnet - activated I-mail account, on the Q-net I don't get any memos or even show an icon or heading to click on. Can someone enlighten me. I know I can call 1800dictate, just thought I would do better asking here.
TIA
Letter
Is the letter you are talking about the one talking about preserving documents and telling us not to throw anything away, or is this a different letter?
Here's the letter...
medquist has always prided itself in doing business ethically. As part of our
continuing efforts to ensure that we maintain very high standards, we have
enrolled you and many of your associates in an Internet-based Ethics training
course in the area of Code of Conduct.
All MedQuist employees will be paid for the time spent taking the training. All
Transcription Operations Hourly/Production Employees (Medical Transcriptionists,
Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Customer Service Representatives, Clerical)
should schedule time in advance to take their Ethics Training with their
Supervisor. All hourly/production employees will be paid for the time spent
taking the Ethics Training, which is expected to take 45 minutes. MT employees
will be paid the equivalent of their "benefit rate" for the time spent
completing the training, up to a maximum of one hour.
To begin the training, click the link at the bottom of this e-mail. Please write
down and keep your User ID/Access Code, also found at the bottom of this e-mail,
since you will need it to enter the training. If you need any technical
assistance please send an e-mail to: mailto:support@integrityatwork.net.
The course will take you about 45 minutes. It is important that you finish this
course within the next several weeks. Please contact the human resources or
legal department if you have any questions about this or any other compliance
issues.
Thank you and enjoy the training.
About letter -- don't have it -- was that
the ENTIRE contents of the letter? What else did it say, please?
rec'd letter
yes i rec'd the same letter as the posts below. they are paying 2 different rates; the rate you are currently rec'g for typing will remain the same, the ASR or edited reports will be paid at 20% less than your current typed rate
MQ LETTER
The letter also states that in a few weeks we will get information about a new MT/ME Rewards Plan that will go into effect in early 2006. Why don't they just tell us what it is now. Is this supposed to be a dangling carrot strategy. It had better be a big carrot. Oh well, it's probably not anything that will improve our checks, just theirs.
Letter from MQ
Yes, would you PLEASE post the letter you received from MQ? I have to drive 8 miles one way into town to get my mail and with the gas prices, I only plan on doing that once a week. I would like to know what that letter said as well.
letter
I got mine today, and I am really upset. My production has gone down or stayed the same since doing ASR reports. I have to practically retype the entire report. I often delete everything and type from scratch. I'm gonna quit. If I decline ASR reports, they will give me a really crappy acount, I just know it. My base rate was 0.875 (after 9 years with no raise excempt when I made CMT) and now it will be 0.700. That is so pathetic. I'm finished with these greedy Bastards!
MQ Letter
I got my letter last fri, my last name is at the front of the alphabet. My base rate is being reduced by 0.175 cpl for ASR reports. So now on top of my already reduced pay when starting DQS, it will be reduced further. I figure I will lose about $200-250 per month. I am going to reply to the corporate heads who sent the letter, and give them my 2 cents. I challenge all MQ MTs to reply to the letter and give your input on their unfair pratices. I will soon be an ex-MQ'r. I won't allow them to reduce my pay once again. I don't make 25% more in production on ASR reports. I have to re-type almost the entire report except for the occasional dictator, where I only proofread and make minimal changes. I had a contract once upon a time that stated what my pay would be. I never gave anybody permission to change that. Isn't this illegal? I am going to get legal advice and see what my options are. I am not going to take this lying down. I'm tired of being kicked around. Thanks CM for enlightening me about the F9 feature, what an eye-opener. Now I have proof that they are cheating us out of our pay.
ANOTHER MQ letter,
 this one about new pay plan............ "Pay rates based upon experience, skill, and work difficulty" is the first 'highlight'....... I have been asking for a raise since MAY and I am level 3 typist, highest level MQ has.... Supposed to be contacted personaly by someone in the future. Hmmmmm, wonder what they will offer.
will I get a letter?? probably not
Well, I have 36 years experience and can transcribe anything..gee, wonder if they will contact me..They cut back my pay when I went to DQS by one half penny..Mmmm..hope I get that letter..Sure havent gotten the letter for DQS line count discrepancy and a check for that..
One more letter
A lot of good that CMT classification did for you. You would think the company, which claims to be short on able-bodied transcriptionists, and with all the new technology they are developing to make our job easier, that they would want to increase our pay to do ASR reports. Totally makes no sense. I sense a massive exodus.
Letter
That's the way I understood it also.
I got the same letter from SBC (which is AT&T LD)
using onesuite.com. I called when I got their letter and canceled my LD immediately. LD is only 2.5 cents a minute at onesuite.com. You have to pay in advance and then you dial an access number and then the number you want to reach. I liked unlimited better because I could dial direct, but for now I guess I'll use onesuite.
I got the same letter. sm
last year from SBC so I switched to MCI. I was completely honest with MCI and told them what I needed it for becuase I did not want them coming back at me telling me I was not using it according to their guidelines. MCI is expensive though. By the time you pay for taxes and everything else my bill is around $80. I wish I could find a job that is totally internet based. I started to check into Vonage but I could not understand how that worked when they kept telling me I had to pick a phone number or a different area code than the one I have and you can't speak to someone who speaks good English to get an accurate explanation. I also would like to know what everyone else does or how they get away with it. I wish the hospital that I work for through the company that I work for would have a 1-800 number for the transcription. I would even be willing to pay my employer a $10 long distance fee or something just so I do not have to pay out $80 every month.
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