I've tried to quit 6 times in the past 6 years but
Posted By: Getting older on 2006-09-15
In Reply to: OK, if you'll admit to it. Are you a smoker? sm - MTPuffer
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.
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Over the past 33 years, I've often wondered sm
the same, is it worth it? I guess it was for me, as I really don't know what else I would prefer to do (besides crafting, my pets, gardening, and other hobby stuff). I don't think I'd consider starting out now as an MT with things the way they are.
As far as the depression, anxiety, etc., I don't think being at home alone causes these. I think these problems are inherent in those particular people who eventually turn to this type of work.
What I'm saying is (put out the flames) not all or even many of us have these problems, but those who do would find this kind of work attractive.
I think it's important for those of us at home to pursue outside interests to get us in the world. I'm delighted to be able to be home all the time. Sometimes I don't leave the house for 4-5 days at a time. My pets provide a lot of company. When I want people, I email some, or go out somewhere.
I've done a lot of WAHM jobs in the past 15 years.
Is it the typing that's getting you or the subject matter? Maybe try general or insurance transcription? I did secretarial work at home for a while, bookkeeping, typing, resumes, insurance typing, databases, mail merges. I did mystery shopping, but couldn't make any money at it.
I sold on eBay by going to yard sales in the hot afternoon and offering people $1 a box to haul off their leftovers. Or go early in the morning so you can snap up the collectibles. Run an ad in the paper that you're buying certain collectibles. Estate sales and auctions are good sources of stuff, too. I once paid $12 for several boxes of junk that I sold for $800. eBay does get tiring quite often between finding packing materials; finding inventory to sell; answering people's emails because they can't bother to read the auction instructions; nonpaying bidders; blatant liars; driving to the post office every day, etc.
I've done some other WAHM jobs but, again, eBay and transcription make the most money for me from my home.
Well, it seems the norm to me! I've tested with at least 4 co's in the past few years and
the tests were not dictations that I do on an everyday basis. I know they pick and choose carefully what they will test you on because there are always kinks in there where the doc either stumbles, mumbles, or you know you would have to be a genius to figure out what they are saying.
Besides the fact they've had a freeze for hiring transcriptionists for the past couple years.
The MT I know works a few hours, is required to take 2 hours off, then come back and finish her shift. Plus she has to work 4 hours on the weekend. They do work at home but keep to a strict schedule. I wouldn't want it.
I quit once for 3 years, but then started again. (Quit cold turkey when I did)
Yes, I'm a smoker. Have tried to quit a couple of times but can sm
never seem to get it done. Would love some to hear success stories and how people have quit. HELP!
That is how I have been doing it for the past 2 years -sm
My husband has 2 exemptions, but Married as single, so it is taxed at a higher amount. Covers my taxes (so far) and we still get about $1400 back. I plan to pay some taxes though this year via the electronic Federal site. Have not started yet though as finances are tight at the moment but plan to get on the stick by June with any luck and pay in a couple thousand.
I have kept 1 for the past 4 years but have - sm
moved about a bit trying to find a good FT gig. Have worked for 3 other companies in 5 years trying to find a good fit, no set schedule, good accounts and pay. So far no luck. I do like my PT job now, do about 6000 lines every 2 weeks but would love to find what a few others have, a good account, easy lines and good pay, but those are few are far between I think. I cannot work a set schedule as I have way too much going on, so it makes it harder to acheive nirvana.
for the past 5 years...
i don't pay a thing until i do my taxes, then i pay it all at one time. so i will not pay 2007 taxes until i see my accountant next month.
q.4h. for the past 15 years
I don't remember where I was working when they made us start using that format, but every place I have worked for the past 15 years at least has used that format.
Personally, I think some people at AAMT have too much time on their hands. There are millions of transcribed medical reports out there and there is no single way of doing things that is better than another.
Transcription survived pretty well before AAMT came into existence - we used to be paid a lot better than we are now and we had respect of the doctors.
What we have done in the past 8 years - sm
You can pay it all at the end if you so choose, but you may owe a penalty if you made more than you did last year. No, SS is definitely not optional unless you want to do jail time, LOL! Remember, you being an IC pay both portions of SS yourself (normally employer pays half and you pay half). You can lump it all together in the end moneywise, but it will be broken down on the tax forms themselves. Hope this helps some. 
After 37 years I am mostly past that...
... but I remember in the old days, when I would "work all night in my sleep," as we always said, and when I got up in the morning, gee, none of that work had actually been done! Now THAT is not FAIR!!
I've tried that the past few nights
it gets WAY too frosty!! :)
What company uses this? I've only had ADT or ADP in the past. nm
s
some of us have been pointing to this for the past two years
and there will be others who will reply "plenty of work for GOOD MT's" which I wish they would have posted that for the 150 US Heartland MT's that got canned. You might say "Come ON people! Offer more than that! We are WORTH it!!!" Apparently we aren't worth it or they would offer more. As they say in Economics 101, "the market will only pay what the market will bear." Offshoring, EMR and VR are eating away at MT, the only thing left will be the junk ESL....
Where in the world have I been for the past 40+ years?
I have never, ever been paid for my gas money to come to a job. Where do you live that they do that? I have lived in 2 different states, been working at jobs since 14 and I am amazed to hear someone say this. Totally AMAZED. What planet did you get off of?
CMT-me, I am QUITE informed, have sat on the board in past years
I do not believe getting the CMT is as worthy as you say. I believe that it is overrated when it comes to getting paid more my by services and I do speak from experience. I had the CMT for many years and I let it lapse because it was a waste of perfectly good money. Money I choose to keep in my pocket rather than spend putting in AAMTs pocket. No, I am quite happy not having the CMT and earn a living wage even without it. As I said previously, I can say as an informed MT (former CMT) that a good 90% or more transcription services do not care if you have the CMT. All they care about is that you can get the job done and at the cheapest rate of pay possible.
Ex-CMT
There have been lots of changes over the past couple of years (sm)
What kind of info are you looking for specifically? Are you asking about posting a resume on the MT Stars site? - or the JLG site? If the latter, I believe JLG takes applications on their web site.
I've had problems with Abacus' accuracy in the past.
.
I've worked for attorneys and doctors in the past and ...
I can tell you that attorneys have way more heart. Docs are stone cold. Personally, I can't stand working for them.....
A ballpark figure I've seen in the past is 90 minutes +/- for an
s
Here's their revenue for the past three years and other financial data.
MQ's debts are not high either.
http://news.biohealthmatics.com/PressReleases/2005/08/19/000000002719.aspx
My goal every year is $52k, which I have done for the past 2 years working sm
for Keystrokes. I do radiology only, I should mention. I took the amount I wanted (actually needed) to make in a year, divided it by 52 weeks, divided it by 5 days, came up with $1000 per week or $200 per day. I divided that by 8 hours and by my report rate ($1.25). I know that I need to transcribe 20 reports per hour on average. I keep a tally. Some days, it takes me longer to do than others, but I sit down and do my 8 hours every single day. I use my Expander a LOT (literally for all but a few words). I am on one account, so I know those doctors inside and out. If I am short at the end of the week, I ask if there is work available on the weekend for me to do. The most I end up with 2 hours to make up what might have been short during the week.
At $40k, you would need to make $153.85 per day, or $19.23 per hour. At $0.07, you need to type 275 lines per hour, or 2200 for the day. This should be very easy to get with using an expander and sitting down with a set schedule.
It takes a while to get used to making sure you hit your internal quota every day. I have to think of it daily and make it up on Saturday or Sunday so that I never start a week behind my personal goal.
I also take an incentives that are handed out (for instance if they are asking for help in a backlog situation at increased rate) and work at least a partial shift on holidays. If I am ahead at the end of the week, I carry it to the next week and know that I have some lines in my internal quota bank.
I know this sounds weird, but it works for me. I have helped a few others to get to their goals as well, and this seems to work for them too.
I would also look for something that is more in the 0.08 to 0.09 per line range. Ask your lead for production tips. Ask other transcriptionists. It is very possible for us to make good money, we just have to focus on our goals.
I have a sales background, which involved sales quotas. This is easier as I am in control of my daily production, not on someone else's decisions.
Good luck!
I've done this many times (sm)
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've done it, many times...sm
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.
I've seen the idea several times,
x
I've responded to this many times
Look through the archives.
I just don't want to subject people here to the information ... again!
I've heard this a few times- maybe you have too
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.
I've used them several times w/o any probs at all. nm
s
I've had it a couple of times.
Doctor gave me a sheet of exercises to do on my own which just amounted to moving my head and/or eyes around in different positions. It can be just a horrible thing to have. Yours is probably worse than mine if you have to "have therapy."
Any job I've been on has used Times New Roman at 12. nm
s
Yes, I've called many times and they
tell me the same thing, that it is being reviewed. I havent'sent any money because they want the entire amount, and the mtg payment is more than I can afford. I figure I'd best try and save half of that to go toward deposits on apartment and moving truck and such.
quit 4 years ago
I tried unsuccessfully to quit about 10 times, but I wasn't really mentally ready to quit. I was smoking 1 pack to 1-1/2 packs per day when my now husband told me he wanted me to quit smoking. That was all the motivation I needed. I quit cold turkey. When I first quit, I carried around ink pens and pencils and held them just like a cigarette to keep my hand busy, and I kept lots of Lifesavers and gum with me at all times. I set aside the money that I was used to spending on cigarettes and instead used it for a vacation. I'm just like a little kid--the reward system works pretty well for me, so I just set little rewards along the way for myself so that I would stay smoke-free. Even now, I stay away from situations where I will be tempted to smoke because I still have cravings. Quitting is hard to do, but you can do it! Just focus on your specific reason for wanting to quit, and you will get there. Good luck!
I quit them years ago when they came out with ....
the TWS system. Prior to that I made a LOAD of money, very good pay. I'm talking the mid 90s. Then came TWS which was develope with one purpose in mind (I am convinced).... to rip the MT off as far as line count goes. That's the only reason they EVER come up with new software or platforms IMHO, to make more money for them and less for you. I had to leave. I couldn't abide by it.
Quit for 1.5 years and was....sm
Gained 30 lbs., BP went up, retained fluids, blah, blah. Smoked for so many years, I'm just not sure it's worth it. I know that sounds foolish but feel the damage is done anyway. Why be miserable???
In the past when I've needed extra work could get a response from co.'s within a week and be w
Now it's like zip, zero, nothing. No responses whatsoever from my emails to the companies here and on mtjobs.com.
At first I was looking for specifics regarding hospital work, clinic work, days, hours, etc., and choosing those but later got desperate and even with 16 years experience have been applying for 7-cent-a-line clinic jobs.... STILL no response from ANYONE! Well, actually, I get responses but they are automated emails stating I've passed the test(s) and will be contacted in X amount of days/weeks/months. Then I never hear back even with a followup email. In the past, I could get a new job within a week or two.
I don't know. I was thinking maybe they're thinking that with 16 years experience it would be easier to go with someone with less experience (for whatever reasons), so I'm considering just putting down 5 years or so as my experience instead of the truth. Could be they don't want to deal with this old dinosaur and want new blood, I don't know.
I've already decided to quit.
I'm just waiting for the phone call to tell me what my MT/ME reward plan will be. Then I will tell them to take a flip flying hike.
I can't handle my base pay being lowered to 7 cents per line for ASR reports.
What is a TROLL! I've asked many times, no ans.
Thank you!
RE: What is a TROLL! I've asked many times, no ans.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In internet terminology, a troll is a person who posts inflammatory messages on the internet, such as on online discussion forums, to disrupt the discussion or to upset its participants. The word, or its variant, "trolling", is also used to describe such messages or the act of posting them.
No big deal. I've done this a few times, can't be helped
nm
Yes, several times. I've learned to listen to them. (s/m)
A very long time ago, I once had a dream that my dog got hit by a car - the exact time, place, etc. And exactly one week later, to the day, place and hour, she got hit & killed by a car.
Another time I was driving on the freeway, and suddenly in my mind got a very clear picture of a pickup truck on fire. Yet there was no truck on fire where I was, and no smoke or anything. About 10 miles up there road, I came around a bend and there was a truck exactly like the one I'd seen in my "mind-flash", and it was on fire.
Go figure, but yes, I definitely DO go with my hunches and premonitions.
I've traveled and worked many times
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.
Yes, about 65K and I've given all my tips multiple times.
no message
Hey, I've had them stumble over their OWN name (3 times in 1 report). nm
nm
I quit doing that years ago. It has never been worth it to me. SM
I think, though, that one reason is this. I worked for 15 years on a hospital platform that had NO spellcheck, NO NOTHING. I had to learn to proof as I went along. It gave me the terrible habit of backspacing when I make an error - something I've not yet learned how to avoid - I'd really like to type and have the spellchecker catch the errors because I think I'd be more productive, but it's turned into kind of like a facial tic, something involuntary!
I would never relisten to anything - unless it's something that gave me trouble while I was doing it - and when that happens, I leave blanks, go back to the first and listen.
I quit for several years and started again.....
I'm a moron. I hate it and I hide it from my kids. It stinks.
I quit in 1997...almost 10 years!!!--sm
I quit with the help of a subliminal tape which advertised being able to quit in three days with the aid of the tape and diet. I quit in one day and never looked back. I cannot seem to find that product any longer (dang!) but wish I could. I wish my mother would quit too. she returned to smoking after not having smoked for five years, the very day my dad died...he was not even cold yet and she had a cigarette in her hand! He had kept her from smoking because she had had a stroke prior and he wanted her to live. He died from esophageal cancer complications. I detest the smell...it makes me ill...and I can't stand being around people who do smoke because they smell like an ashtray too, as well as their clothes, hair, house, and car. it is gross. no offense to those who do, I just don't want to be around it. good luck to those who want to quit! by the way, nicotine is addicting, but it is not that chemical that keeps you going back...it is the other *drugs* they put in it to KEEP you addicted...almost like heroine. cigarette junkies. no one will control my life and death that way! JMO.
Quit 10 years ago because I ended up in the
hospital with an asthma attack. If you have asthma, you will not smoke. The way I did it was very short term use of the patch and 13 months of a low dose of Paxil. It kept me from having panic attacks from not having a cigarette. You probably know that there is more nicotine in all brands now than there was ten years ago.
I just quit this morning after 1.5 years...
... at the pay you mention. But it was a good education. Good luck!
I feel your pain and I've already QUIT! s/m
After 17 years in this field, the last 10.5 being at home, two weeks ago I just "quit." I have zero discipline, am so burned out, and my whole family has been begging me to get out of the house. I'm a people person, am very out-going, and being cooped up in the house day in and day out, working all night at times has made me irritable and depressed. I actually had to start taking Adderall about a year ago just to try and stay focused. My doctor actually told me that if he had my job, he'd be taking it. When you have to take a drug to do a job, it's time for a change.
I have grown to absolutely detest transcription. Not only has it affected me mentally/emotionally, I am receiving radiofrequency ablation from C2 to T4 due to several back/neck problems. There's no challenge and it's just brain-numbingly boring!
I actually qualify for disability, but I'm only 37. So, I could go back to school with the government paying my tuition. I guess they'd rather pay for a few classes than give me a check every month for the rest of my life.
Even with tuition paid, my husband isn't at all supportive of me going back to school because he wants to build a house...jerk. So, I guess I'll try and find a job in a doctor's office. At least it's M-F, no holidays or weekends.
Good luck to all of you taking that brave step of tossing away the headphones!
I've heard people have to try a new food 10 times before they know for sure they won't like it
I heard that somewhere.
I had a SIL who actually SAT on her young children and force-fed them new foods if they refused them at the table. We were appalled, but weirdly, the kids often got up from the floor and happily ate the food they were just force-fed!
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