I must say, I haven't laughed so hard in a long time
Posted By: Ada on 2005-09-14
In Reply to: This stuff is funny, I wish I worked for MQ just so I could come on here and have something to compl - FrankXXVII
The above "Frank" conversation is a classic.. You guys have made my year with this one. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo FUNNY! You two are in the wrong line of business. Thanks for making my day. I laughed 'til my stomach hurt.
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ROTFLMAO. STOP!!! I haven't laughed this hard for a long time.
Can you imagine 10,000 MQMTs just wanting to show Frank a personal touch? He will be one tired guy.
Haven't worked for SS for a long time but they do have the best
sound files of any company I have ever seen. They have a very decent platform, as well. I think it is just management is a little off-balance at times.
When that first came out, I laughed so hard I pee'd my britches!
//
I laughed so hard I was almost crying! nm
.
I don't know why I laughed so hard at this post! Guess I needed it.
x
I agree...tooo funny...first time I laughed out loud all day!
thanks!
ks
I haven't been there that long so I can't say for sure, mostly because
the account they put me on is extremely low on work so I can't even work my scheduled shift in the first place. If I want to work, I've been having to grab reports right as they come in and work extra at night. They keep saying they are getting me a secondary but it hasn't happened yet; say everything is low right now. I am very pleased with every other aspect of this company, but it seems that they overstaff for fast turn around times. Therefore, you go without work a lot of the time and that doesn't pay the bills. No one seems to understand that we work on production and while I would most enjoy days off, I can't afford them......
Working full time at home with small children is hard but part time works great
is almost impossible. You will either have to work when your spouse is home or for only a few hours during the day and then more when they are asleep. I work part time at home and my kids (2&5 now) have done very, very well. They are great kids, very well behaved, don't get into much. I stop working to check on them/give them some attention every hour or so while I work (5 hours each afternoon or so) and they get all my attention in the morning and at night. It has worked out beautifully for us.
I haven't been watching it as long as you but...
Trisha went to the nut house but was faking her mental illness so they wouldn't put her in jail. As far as her Dad - I don't even remember him. Brittany supposedly went to live with her parents after Bobby was killed. I think eventually they'll be back on.
Thought Scott (Lauren's son) was coming back. Also, what happened to writer/killer he was working with? The last I knew she went for another "new face". Maybe she's the new chick at the coffee house (where did she pop in from)? LOL - This situation with Victor is so ridiculous.
Nick and Phylllis are the best part. They add spark to the show....and that's not sayin' much.
Think long and hard about this
It sounds great on the surface but then like the other poster said, there are many sides of this. Just like a will, he could change his promise at anytime and you have no recourse. You could even marry him but even then it could be tied up legally for years should any family members contest it. I know someone that did it for exactly the same reasons, it turned out pretty well for her but she put in 15 to 20 years of living h*** while doing it. She is financially okay now but she said that it was horrible to put up with for that long period of time. She said that she had no choice financially but she is not sure she would do it again. Again trust comes into play and I would definitely seek the advice of a lawyer about it to see just how easy he could change his mind if he becomes "upset" with the type of care he has received from you. A house isn't everything. More to life than that. Perhaps it would be better to receive an income now instead of a percentage of the house, if that would cause you to change your mind, then that is your answer.
Just my thoughts.
Would think long and hard
before transitioning from payment by the minute to payment by the line...
Don't know your rate by the time, but I've done all kinds of production and by the minute is the best (of course a LOT depends on rate per minute vs per line, etc., AND the account particulars. Weigh carefully.
Think and pray long and hard.
I am in independently contracted MT for a private practice. I work part-time as I am a mommy of 4 and homeschool them. This is my only experience, but it has been rough. There is absolutely no understanding of the fact that just because I am at home doesn't mean I am at my computer 24/7 at their beck and call. I set my own hours, which may or may not be during their business hours, but that doesn't mean anything. They even have begged me for my cell phone number so they could get me when not at home. It has been very hard on me and my family. I am ready to quit, but need the $. I agree with working for others. I like working for myself, but since I am self-employed, there are no benefits, no paid vacations, etc. If I am out sick, I don't get paid and there is no one to cover for me, so when things get backed up, I have to make it up. Also, when I go on vacation, I get punished beforehand with a pile of work given to me so that I have to work extra hrs before I go and there is a pile when I get back. Why bother taking a vacation!?! Think and pray long and hard about getting your own accounts. Set a schedule and stick to your guns and don't let them push you around. Blessings!
It's been a long, long time since I've used a C-phone, sm
but I do think jobs can be paused.
You haven't given yourself enough time.
If you've only been in this for 2 years, you still have a lot to learn. You would probably do better (make more money I mean) by being in a hospital setting. It is not too late if you have an MT job and you're getting experience. Hang in there!
I had a problem with this for a long, long time sm
I have always worked days, like from 6-3. Over the last few years, it didn't matter how much sleep I got, I became real groggy between 7 and 11. Really shoots the day. Talked to my doctor and he said my blood pressure pills were the culprit but he refused to change me to another brand or dosage since I have multiple aneurysms (2 in the brain). My BP has been stable for a long time and he wants to "keep it on the low side". I tried taking them before I went to bed instead of early in the morning, but then I had headaches all day. So, I am changing to a night shift for a few months so I can sleep when those pills kick in and so far it is working pretty good. I stay mostly awake during my shift and die when I hit the bed from 6 am to 10 am, then I lay down again later in the afternoon for 2-3 hours. I still get 6-7 hours of sleep, it's just split up during the day, plus I am mostly awake now when I sit down to type. I don't have to deal with the heat in my office, either. It tends to warm up real fast in here with the south sun on the house and 2 pc's running all day, even with the air conditioner on.
Way back when, a long, long time
ago and in a galaxy far, far away, I had my own accounts also and some years cleared $75,000. Yes it can be done, but you need to have your own accounts. Also lots of delivery, and other duties involved. I work for a large national now and make much less, but I got tired of accountants, having to deal with hardware problems, deadlines, driving deliveries, printing, printers, etc. So I decided to simplify my taxes and stay home and just type. Don't have to worry about computers either, because the company will just send me a new one.
I've been doing this a long, long time...
I used to make $70,000 and up a year and did so for most of the late 80s and 90s (one girl used to make six figures a year working 7 days a week!) Because we were making more money than the supervisors and Medical Records Directors in hospitals, they began to switch to transcription services which were sprouting up all over the place. Plus AAMT came into existence and even though in the beginning it claimed it was to fight for transcriptionists (although assured us it was NOT a union), they eventually morphed into an organization that was more management friendly. They developed the "guidelines" and the 65-char line. That was the beginning of the end for those high-end wages. Then all those mickey mouse transcription schools popped up, and now outsourcing overseas. YES, we're complaining.
Been in this biz a long, long time, 30+ years and....sm
I love/loved MTing. However, things have changed so much during these years. The job definitely gets easier; don't have to look up much, can decipher ESLs much easier, in other words, you get pretty comfortable with things and you have confidence in yourself. The more experience you have the easier the job, but....
I actually made more money 10 years ago!! We didn't have speech recognition and you actually got paid for headers/footers, demographics, carbon copies, etc., you got paid for what you did fairly; today, I am not so sure.
You will feel burned out at times, but that passes and you find you like your job again.
Good luck to you!!
I do that all the time. You haven't snapped, you're just realistic. -nm
xx
I haven't read any of the other replies regarding Time Warner
so forgive me if this was already noted. I have the all in one package phone, internet and cable and haven't heard anything about this at all. Nothing's been in our paper or on the news. I guess I'll just have to wait and see and worry about it then.
sorry you are having such a hard time...
but I honestly do not know what you mean. may I ask who are you talking about.
at some point, people have to stand up for themselves, that is, in my opinion, what
"this country is based upon." thank heavens some people felt they were worth more than just working for the government, and left to start a new life here.
if you are upset about the postings regarding MT profession disintegrating, then I disagree with you.
we do perform a very important service, one that helps our 'fellow man' every single day, in the over-50 reports we probably transcribe each and every day while people wait to have surgeries or need emergency care.
we are typing those reports to create a legal document with our names attached to them as well.
this is not "pissing and moaning" but active dialogue with the hopes something good can come out of it. sorry you feel that way, and I am sincerely sorry you are being touched by those problems because of a natural disaster...
I have a hard time understanding if this was so
wrong then why wouldn't anyone not even your own husband be on your side? I don't know about this one. Something doesn't sound right. JMO.
I'm having a hard time understanding why you
That doesn't make sense to me. Just because you transcribe a report, that doesn't make you the only person who knows about it or even a significant person in the whole process.
I have a hard time believing your overhead
I think you should consider selling your clients to an American-based company and go back to MT'ing. It doesn't sound like you can handle the pressure of being a business owner. I am an IC that makes 10 cpl and my MTSO owner does not mind at all that she is only making 3 cpl off of my 10 cpl, but she does not have to QA my work or do really much of anything, and she's clearing 3 cpl on my 10. Now, if you have complaining MT's, then you need to be more strict about TAT and QA. They should not require you to QA once they've become familiar with the dictations. Also, you need to find a way to also provide 24-hour turnaround. The problem here is that you are only willing to pay 7-8 cpl. I'm still baffled as to the cost of your overhead? Most physicians supply paper, their own dictation equipment. FTP sites do not cost that much. Lot of eyebrown raising ???'s here, that I don't think you are being forthcoming. JMO. Good luck!
A little hard and time consuming to figure out
If you do 300 lines per hour of 65 characters with spaces, no bolds, no caps, etc.then that would be at an average of ten words per line, 12 courier font - 1 inch margins, and so that would be 3000 words per hour divided by 60 which is only 50 words per minute. Your speed on transcription is different than regular typing as you have to account for stopping, listening, correcting, etc. For reqular typing speed I would double what your transcription speed is. I would tell them what my average transcribed line count is and tell them to figure out how that turns into words per minute.
The hard time was the past thing.
Hi, I have just joined Spheris Hyderabad. Two months for settling down is what they give you and after that it is your regular type-type-type. There are nooooooooo problems with this new Spheris Clarity (R) platform. With this, things are just moving smooooooooothly.
It's hard so that you'll fail the first time and
Tell your employer that the money you give to AAMT/ADHI for the 'privilege' of taking their test is funding the progressive offshoring of the American MT profession. If you've been an MT for nearly 30 years, you don't need a CMT after your name. You were a professional MT long before that bunch of con artists dreamed up that scheme to make themselves rich by making MTs think they were on their side. Now we all know better. Don't fund their offshoring scam!
I loved my account with Spheris, but had a hard time
punching in and out. I worked originally for Healthscribe and then they merged with Spheris. Things didn't change for quite a while and then all of a sudden things took a crappy turn for the worse. I ended up with at least 5 accounts that I was in daily. I went from having to punch in and out and being required to work full time hours to stay a full time employee even though I could get my work done in part time hours. I didn't stick around and after 2 years with Healthscribe I left shortly after the merge was starting to take shape. Like I said, the biggest problem was punching in and out. Good luck.
I had a really hard time with a pastor who preached on marriage
when I knew this was not his first marriage. I couldn't stand it. All the things he said applies to us, but what about his first wife? Where does she fit in? Too confusing for me.
Waste of time and hard-earned money
when you can only make may be 1 cpl more if you are a CMT. They should not charge you, they should just let you take the test and send you the certificate.
Wonder if you scrub them too hard. I wear my soft ones for 2 years at a time! nm
s
I disagree, first off, I have a heck of a hard time hiring qualified US MTs
client ready work. Then, when I do hire MTs I constantly run into the problem of how they only want to work part time or can only work 2 hrs on this day, an hour here, or an hour there, or the next problem is consistency. Out of the blue, oops, can't work today, or I lost connection to the Internet yet they're too stupid to go offline instant messenger. One MT owes me money because I was nice enough to help her out (yeah I know my fault) and she screwed me over. Such drama. It's a CONSTANT battle to find good US MTs.
Goes both ways. I have a hard time with tenses when speaking Spanish. :)
s
I spent about a month in India and they do speak English but sometimes I had a hard time
understanding the way they pronounced the words so I would ask them to spell it.
I meant bought. Hard to type and listen to the music at the same time.
:
I would not; most of the time those type files, although not usually hard medical terms, take lots l
to type and are very difficult as it is hard to hear with background noise, different speakers, usually no macros, etc. I think they are worth more pay, not less. I also get paid by the word at 0.008 and had figured mine to be about 0.09/line as well in the past. stick with where you are.
A long, long time ago, I was going thru
a really bad time emotionally and physically. I was suffering, and my transcribing suffered. I assure you - if you are to the point of not paying your rent, literally, and needing food stamps, there is something else going on in your life than current transcription rates. We are all in this industry and many are thriving, most getting along comfortably. If you are literally to the point of food stamps, you honestly would be a fool to continue. I blamed it on my job, on my line rate, on everything but the honest truth that I was ill and was NOT working as I should or could. It is a really sad thing that you keep spreading this propaganda that MTs in our culture are doomed and now destined for food stamps. Food stamps are not something to toss around lightly, as you would know if you ever had to use them. Please let's not be quite so dramatic. Again, if you are really in those dire straits, you really need to face that MTing is not the fit for you, personally, and do something about it rather than blame our industry. You dwell on the past, but we can't do that. While you may have made other wages 20 years ago, may I remind you that we were pounding away on IBM Selectrics using layers of paper and bottles of white out, going crazy trying to rewind tapes over and over to get that dang word, with no idea what an Expander was. Technology is fantastic. Things have changed, but things are still great in this industry, and in this world. Those who change and can adapt will be fine, but you need to recognize that most of us are not ready for food stamps.
long time - nm
nm
long-time MT
I MUST do it this way. I don't trust myself otherwise. I've transcribed on typewriters, etc., and I just don't trust my eyes anymore. I'd rather take the cut in pay than trust my own document to be error-free. I also must read the report OUT LOUD to myself, otherwise I just don't catch the mistakes (grammar, etc.). We're talking some 4 and 5 page reports/documents the docs are transcribing, so I have to heavy proof myself. It's just that way anymore. I'd rather do that than some VR machine doing my job!
Yup, and have been for a long time (not me). nm
x
Did take a long time to get used to it? sm
And, I must confess to a bit of stupidity ....... the description talks about foot switches or whatever -- what's that about?
Thanks for sharing! 
Now that was a long time ago
wow that's a long time on QA (m)
My daughter was a newbie, went to work for a company and does only private offices. She was off QA in a very short time.
I think you could ask when you might be off QA but if they want to QA you, let 'em. Who cares?
THANK YOU! A long time ago I
somehow shrunk my font using the internet, but had no idea how. It stayed that way. I can barely read certain pages. It is now fixed. Thanks! :)
I have been at this a long time
I try to encourage new MTs to learn as much as they can from their experiences. The reason that companies do not hire new MTs is because they worry about production and having to utilize their QA staff. I know it is a catch 22, but that is why it is best to try to work on-site for at least a year to gain some experience. Most companies require a certain line count each and every day, which can be tough on a new MT that has to research and look things up. I'm with you, not against you, and wish you all the best. With anything, take the good advice and leave the bad advice alone. 
That is how it was for a long time, then someone
came up with this and we all got scr#wed. That's where the pay cuts started. Then came the slave labor competition (overseas workers who can't speak English to save their lives but apparently good enough to type our medical records! But ever read any? LOL) and speech recognition (so easy even a computer or data entry person can do it! Again, ever read any?). Bottom line is this is no longer considered a profession and nobody gives a rat's behind about the quality of medical reports as long as they're done quickly and inexpensively. But I guess that's what happens when a bunch of suits are in charge that wouldn't know a salpingo oophorectomy from a slapping pooperectomy (stole that one from an ASR Editor on this board - HA!) It's pretty scary, isn't it?
A long time ago I did
I was working for an attorney and he wanted me to get into court reporting so I would be able to travel with him as his private court reporter in his cases. I checked around and there was only 1 school in my state. It was a 3 year course and cost $10,000. Of course, I had to say no, as I couldn't afford it.
I had also checked at our county courthouse for transcribing the tapes and they showed me the ins and outs. For a job there, I didn't need schooling, just the smarts, was told that type of job is solid once you get in the door, but not to depend on it (waiting), as nobody quits. They retire...and the girls I talked to were my age, so that bummed me out, too. Gave up that idea, too.
MT was my 3rd choice. It's okay, but too stressful anymore. 
That's what i use too (v. long time MT)
x
been doing MT for a long time!!
I still love the world of medicine and the language of medicine. I think if you don't have that love for it, you will not be able to suffer through the highs and lows of this field, and there are plenty. I am in my 16th year and have done everything from MT to QA to teach, to supervising, and I still love to sit down and transcribe. If you have a good company or a good hospital to work for, there's always plenty of work which makes for the ability to make plenty of money. You will get faster and faster as the years go on, and if you don't have a ShortHand program yet, get one. You'll never make money without one.
it has been a long time since I used sm
a C-phone (dictaphone) and it seems to me that the setting depended on what the platform had set up or something. I know I had a couple different accounts and depending on which one, the setting was different. I can't remember either one right now though.
Depending on your C-phone, sometimes you can go on line and do a search for an owners manual for that particular C-phone.
Sorry I can't help further!
Answered A LONG TIME AGO - DUH. SM
I guess we can assume you only answered it to be able to put down the original poster? I hope you get the same one day, I really do. Wish I could see it happen. You are hateful.
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