I've tried to go back to the office a number of times and

I never can make the transition.  One consideration is your wardrobe.  You have to start dressing in office attire which is something I don't miss and found irritating when I went back into the office.  I also found that after working at home for as long as I have done it, it's kind of stressful to get out there and try to be social and friendly.  Office politics is another negative.  Offices are very much like high school, very cliquey and filled with gossip.  There is more to working in an office than just doing your job.  At home, it's just me and my PC.  I do the work and I get paid.  In the office, there's you, your PC, the person who shares the desk with you, the person who sits across from you, the person who sits next to you, your supervisor right across the hall, the doctors knowing you by name and seeking you out to complain about their dictation, the constant ringing of phones, chattering of voices.  The people you share office space with, one will always be hot, one will always be cold, one thinks it's too bright and there's a glare on her screen, and one thinks it's too dark.  You can't wear perfume because the girl next to you is allergic...

I could go on... 

• Need some input from MTs who transitioned - from at home to in hospital positions.
  • Thank you all SO much for the input! sm - Original Poster
    • consider it a well-timed experiment ... - Susan
  • Going to work inhouse again - grasshopper
    • but, but, but... - Original Poster
  • Hospital work - tt
  • What I miss and what I don't - after 2 years at home
  • I've tried to go back to the office a number of times and - SM
    • Are you my twin? - marilyn
    • Those are all very good reasons why I left the office, - sm - LowlyMT
  • I'd say go for it! If you don't like it, you can - sm - LowlyMT
    • Leaving work at work is nice,but - unless you are working in a large
      • There's a way to get around all that stuff - - it's called LYING. ;) - sm
        • Hahhaha. YOU are my new best friend! - Dazey
      • office politics - ugh
        • I totally agree with you, but as much as I value my - sm - Lowly MT
          • I make more now at home than - I ever did or ever would on-site.
    • Do it and don't hesitate. - MSMT
      • me too - Sue
        • Aaaahhhh! That's the best of both worlds! - nm - Lowly MT

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I have to admit that not everyone I've interviewed with knows what "CMT" stands for, but when I've explained it (the continuing education part is the point I stress), it is usually received well by the interviewer.  Employers want to know that you care enough to make sure you stay educated enough in your field.

I'm not knocking anyone who chooses NOT to become certified, and I've certainly seen my share of people who are certified who are crappy MTs.  But, I've seen a lot of crappy doctors, too, and they still have their certification in their area of specialty. 

To me, a CMT just means that you care enough to want to align yourself with a professional organization, stay updated in the field by continuing education, etc.  Does it guarantee someone that you are an awesome MT or employee?  Certainly not, and there are plenty of non-CMT MTs who keep themselves educated and up to date in the field, but they can't prove it.  When you are a CMT, you have to get the continuing education credits in order to keep your CMT, and you have proof to a prospective employer that you've done that education.  That's why it is important to me. 

My hubby used to travel around the country a lot for his employer and we used to stay in places from anywhere from a few weeks to as long as a year.  We used to just make sure that we stayed at one of the business-friendly hotels, i.e. the ones with high speed internet and a separate work area.  If it's going to be long term, try to get one of the suites if you can, because you'll be surprised at how quickly cabin fever can start to creep in when you're working out of a hotel room.

As far as the C-phone, other than being a pain to lug around with you, just plug it into the hotel's line, but do NOT call out directly.  Most hotels will charge their guests an arm and a leg to make anything but local phone calls.

What I did was to get an account set up with onesuite dot com (very reasonable low cost prepaid minutes), and I would use that to call out with.  Just make sure that your hotel doesn't charge for making 800 number calls, because an 800 number is what onesuite uses.

Many hotels do not charge for outgoing calls to 800 numbers, but be aware that some of them do.  In which case, neither onesuite dot com or a prepaid calling card will work.

All in all, the only real inconvenience of it all was having to dial all of the numbers, PIN numbers, etc., that were associated with using onesuite or a calling card each time I called out to connect up.

If you have any other questions, you can email me if you'd like.

I know after 3 days if the job will not work out.  Let's face it hon...we need to make MONEY and if I see the platform is ridiculous, NOT MT friendly and is a waste of my time, poor training, training done by someone who is NOT a MT and has NEVER worked as a MT....HUGE RED FLAG!!!...That means that the company probably just wants "fingers" to type and type and type.....One company who is always hiring on the boards....I gave it a while, and today I was offered a nice position with someone I used to work for!!!!! it is awesome!!! and I quit that other hot mess today.  Good luck!!! Don't feel bad if you quit...hey, we gots to make a living here. with the economy and everything being so bad...you have to look out for number 1 and your family.

Do you think anyone would ever be on their death bed, surrounded by loved ones and say, "I wish I had spent more time working."  Doubt it.  My kids are grown now, and the good memories for them are the ones I didn't think were so great.  Like the time we lived in an apartment building in the Northeast, had all our Christmas decorations in the storage room in the basement, and someone stole them.  We made all our own that year with aluminum foil covered cardboard and strung popcorn.  Not even any lights, couldn't afford them.  They to this day call that tree their Charlie Brown tree.  That's just one of many "little memories" that may not seem like much when they are happening, but it's the things they remember.   

To try to answer your questions.. Whether your foot pedal will work in your laptop depends on the laptop that you buy. When you're looking to buy one, try to find one with the correct kind of port for your pedal.  The one I recently bought doesn't have a serial port, so I bought an adapter at Circuit City that plugs into my USB port, and then I can plug my ergo keyboard and mouse into that.  In any case, your laptop will definitely come with at least a couple USB ports, so you could always buy a USB pedal to use with it if you have to.   As far as the headphones, every laptop I've ever used has had a place to plug in a pair of headphones so that should be no problem. The thing is...if you're going to buy a laptop specifically for this, then look at the ports on the laptops and make sure it has what you need.  I would say if you don't mind buying a USB foot pedal, though, you're not going to have problems because every new laptop will have USB ports, and I'm sure a place for your headphones.

If you're staying in hotels, try to stay in places that have free high speed internet which so many of them have now.  You can plug right into that and work.  If not, I know Verizon has a wireless broadband service now for around $60 a month you could check into.

I hope this helps some.

always went back to it. The longest I've quit was 3 weeks. My mom died from COPD and she had smoked from age 16. She really enjoyed smoking and although we kept trying, couldn't get her to quit until she was on 24 hour oxygen.  She told me if she couldn't enjoy anything in life (smoking), why live. She died 3 months later.

I started smoking at 13...you know, the "try it, you'll like it" phase. We both tried to quit when I was 19 but we only lasted a day. There was only cold turkey then.

I've tried the patch (3 weeks off cigarettes), cold turkey, herbal meds, hynosis (only lasted 5 hours), you name it. I've used all the suggestions possible to no avail.

With a cigarette dangling from my mouth, I told my boys never to start smoking because they'd never be able to quit easily. Two took my advice, one didn't. He also tried to quit smoking but failed. He was on Wellbutrin for it.

My husband started smoking at 8 while working in a coal mine. He quit cold turkey 19 years ago. He was smoking almost 4 packs a day and one day he got so disgusted with it, he  just threw them out the window of the car. Never touched one since and smoke from other people doesn't bother him.

He told me you really have to have the willpower and just get disgusted enough to quit. There's no other way. I guess I just don't have that willpower.

we got this new manager who I disliked immediately.  She couldn't spell every day words, she had absolutely no background in MT and figured she was doing somebody to get the position.  We had been promised an MT as our next manager.  She said she could type 85 wpm and she believed she could handle the job - HA.  We had an MT come in to interview and test and she had to ask me how to turn on the computer and how to print the report.   They company lost the account and it closed down that office and the manager couldn't get another job and had to move back home with mom and dad.  

I had a man looking for his wife to be able to do something where they could work and travel and he said his wife had a business degree and he felt she could do the job too.   I also had an associate whose husband got fired AGAIN and she called me wanting to know how she could do what I do, like she could start tomorrow.  

I've decided I'm going to tell people I'm a medical langauge specialist from now on and when they ask me what that is I'm going to say I'm a translator.  

Hello everyone.  I wanted to sign in and thank everyone for all the info that has been posted on this board.  It was a very important web site for me during my short transcription career.

After being laid off from a company in Michigan 3 weeks ago, I have searched for and found an office manager position in a non-MT environment.  I'm going back to my routes in Admin.  I tried to make a career change a few years ago.  Maybe it was not the financial environment to make such a change or maybe it is just not for me.  What ever the case is, I'm leaving.  I have invested a large amount of time and money into this dream but sometimes you have to know when to "fold 'em."  Lucky for me hubby is on board and not making me feel bad about our investment or how this dream of mine drained our finances. 

So, again, thanks for all the help and good luck to everyone. 

Beyond that, I have no idea.

Switched to working for services from home for a while and now I work for the same hospital I started out at, but I work from home now.  So I guess you can say I've come full circle and now I'm back where I started.  I much prefer being an employee of a hospital versus an IC or employee of an MTSO.

It may be that your user profile in EXText is not set up to allow you to add normals.  I've found with services they don't give their MTs a whole lot of freedom with their software.