Laid off or chose to take time off? (sm)

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(fired, with no intention of hiring me back) along with a whole bunch of other MTs when our work went to the Philippines. 

This employer really played some games.  First they said work was going to get thin because some accounts were being 'lost' and people might be let go.  A month later accounts were booming, and getting way out of TAT and it was ALL OUR FAULT and why weren't we picking up the slack?  (I later figured this was the transition period as they switched over to offshore, and something got screwed up.)  Then work slacked off again and they said people were definitely going to be let go and we should start looking elsewhere.  A couple weeks later they said that they could probably find places for most of us on other accounts, and we should ask for a transfer, which I did.  Then I got jerked around by the HR person who would not return my calls or respond to my e-mails for a couple of weeks.  Then the account managers she finally referred me to did the same for another couple of weeks.  This all took about three months from first inkling to the axe falling.

Then one glorious morning I got an e-mail notifying me of a MANDATORY conference call, with 2 hours' notice.  And everyone on that call, 30-40 of us, were the lucky winners, and were locked out of the system.    

A couple of weeks later (while I was still in the 30-day waiting period in my state to file for unemployment) I got a phone call from the same HR person who had given me the runaround before.  Did I want to reapply for a job with them?  Well, not really, but I went through that whole process -  as though they did not even know me.  And weirdly enough, with 15 years of experience, I managed to fail an untimed open-book test!  Fascinating.

So here's what I think the game was (and I am telling you so you don't fall for any tricks.)  They tried to scare as many of us into quitting as possible. Then they tried to ignore as many of into quitting as possible.  (If you quit, 99.9% of the time you don't qualify for unemployment.) Then when they were forced to lay us off, they offered the jobs back to see how many would go for it; maybe 10% of us did.  (If they offer you work and you refuse, then you don't qualify for unemployment.)  But since I went through their whole reapplication process, and they did not hire me back  (and never intended to)  I DID qualify for unemployment. 

Hope you are an actual employee and not an IC, and that this info is helpful.  Unemployment is not big buck$ but with summer coming, maybe you can have a nice semi-paid vacation while you look for work.

I wish you luck.  My luck was that about a month after I was let go I broke my arm.  I would not have been able to work for the creeps anyway!  I filed for unemployment online. I was able to do all my job hunting from home, hunt-and- peck, online.  Nobody saw me.  And magically, just when I got the arm back in service again, somebody wanted me to test and I got the first job I tested for.  The whole time I was one-armed and applying for jobs like mad (a requirement for getting unemployment) and wondering what I would do if a company was seriously interested, absolutely no offers.  As soon as I could actually type again, there was a job offer. 

Think bad stuff doesn't sometimes happen for good reasons?  Think again!!

He laid down for awhile, but he just did not seem to be able to navigate or walk because of the dizziness

HELP PLEASE !!!  I can never get this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Or there is a switch to true EMR with drop down screens and virtually no free text.  My cardiologist's office already has this.  No chart notes to type anymore; they only need transcription for letters. 

You may train your system so well that administration will decide they don't need you anymore.  The system doesn't have to be perfect (human transcription certainly isn't!); it only has to be *good enough*.

Stay away from Spheris.  They're a terrible company to work for, and they put out garbage work.  They, too, will end up losing the "big" account (which DRC did lose before the Acusis buyout).  I am one of the stragglers left behind at DRC/Acusis, but not for long.  I'll take the gum chewing, mumbling, flatulent, ESL cardiologist any day of the week over being told someone in India is going to train me on a new account. 

I always wanted to work in the healthcare field, but did not necissarily want to be a nurse or doctor.  I can handle the blood and guts....that really doesn't bother me one bit.  It's the vomit that I can't take.  Have a major problem with it.  So, in being a transcriptionist, I get to work in the medical field and learn a lot.  I get to type a lot...which I love to do.  I get to work from home, which is great because I have a son and I can be here when he gets home from school.  I am a fairly shy/introverted person, so this job works wonderful for me because I can do it from my home and do not have to deal with people face-to-face every day.  I put in many years of working retail, customer service, and waitressing.  Then, I finally decided to go to school for this.  I have been happy ever since.

I was working as a paramedic and knew if I worked at home as an MT I could still take calls. My training was medical, from my paramedic courses. Ended up working in house first though, and at various places such as the Coroner's office. I also worked as a medical assistant and did transcription on the side. I ended up getting a small account of my own and when my daughter was born, I decided to go for completely home-based work. Ended up actually owning my own MTSO and making very good money. It was the best thing in the world to be home with my kids but after watching the field very closely, I've decided to go back to school. I've got one year left in a Bachelor's of Nursing program. I'm in school full time but since I only have to run my company to get a salary, I'm managing it. My plans are to go on to a Master's so I can be an advanced practice nurse. Looking back -- I still would have done it this way. I actually enrolled in nursing school 20 years ago but dropped out due to health reasons. I'm mostly glad I was home with my kids and had the opportunity to make a bunch of money to sock away so I had choices...like school now.

 For everyone complaining about his or her jobs, it could be worse.  My best friend, who has been in this business for years and years and years, has a work ethic like nothing I have seen before, and is a genuinely caring and gentle soul, was laid off today from her job via a conference call!  To add insult to injury, she is scheduled to have two surgeries next month, which she scheduled for after the holidays to accommodate her employer, even though she can barely see, which she will now be unable to have since they are terminating her health insurance today as well.  They were aware of her scheduled surgery and knew she had been waiting for some time to have it.  We will not even talk about what impact this has upon her family, including her young son, particularly here at Christmas time.  How do you explain no Santa to a young child? 

She is always the person helping everyone else, both in her personal life as well as professionally.  I have witnessed her struggles and she always keeps a positive outlook.  I think this will finally "do her in."  Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers, as well as the other THIRTY people who lost their jobs today.

They say that everything we do comes back to you ten-fold.  I hope it happens quickly for this heartless company. 

When I trained 13 yrs ago.  I looked at them both.  I ordered the first packet of AHP and I didn't like the way it was presented and sent them back because I could get my money back within a certain time.  I really liked the HPI-SUM program syllabus.  I liked it particularly because it seemed like more work and was harder.  I knew that this job could not possibly as simple it was presented with AHP and I was right.

I never have worked in house for anyone. I have been at home for 12+ years and I do quite well with accuracy, speed and scope of knowledge.  Of course, there are still a lot of things I don't know and I'll learn a lot of them over time, I hope.  Which brings me to the last point, that being no program is really going to prepare you for this job and even with training, there is no guarantee you'll ever be able to make a living at it.  AAMT (or whatever they call themselves today) stated that something like $26K was the average yearly wage for an MT.  Given that many of us do ohhh so much better than that, there have to be plenty who don't come near that figure.  HPI-SUM stated in their packet that 60% of the people who complete their course will not be successful MTs and I have heard that figure about other courses too. Success for me means making a full time income for full time work at around the $25K a year mark (though I do better, that was my goal then).  I personally know 5 other MTs who don't make $12K a year for full time work, that is not success when every one of them has been an MT for 5+ years.

However...there is no reason you are not part of that 40% who WILL succeed!  I was.

Do you have any better idea?

They offered a job.  They are not producing the goods.  They don't return phone calls and they don't have any policy manuals for employees or contractors.

There is no other way to ask the question.  They brought us to this place through their misrepresentation of facts.  The fact is they offered work.  So why shouldn't they be looked at for unethical work practices?  I was looking for a job, they offered one.  It's not my responsibility now to go look for another job.  They need to reply as to why there is no work.

what please is the difference in ability to connect between:

802.11 a/g/n (cannot remember if it was wireless)

802.11 a/b/g wireless

802.11 b/g wireless

..................

Re speed, I saw somewhere the a/g/n is 5 times faster, true?  or is the speed in the gHz or in the hard drive rpm...????

I would really really appreciate some input, and thanks.

for myself?  Geez, the service was bad-mouthing ME to the client as the reason the TAT was not being met.  And the MTs were given contact numbers for the client accounts we worked on.  The service expected the MTs to contact the client with problem issues like faulty tapes and inaudible dictation.  They also allowed the clients to contact the MTs directly.  The supervisor didn't want to deal with the clients unless they were happy. 

I simply did what I had to do.  And for your information, a company CANNOT withhold payment for a service unless that service was not performed.  I performed my service, I typed my lines, and I expected to get paid for the work I did.  I took them to court and the MTSO LOST!  Business is business.  The judge actually told the service that they may not like that I took the account from them, but they still had to pay for the lines I typed when I was contracted with them.  End of story.

I'm not losing any sleep.  I don't think what I did was unethical.  What the service did was unethical.  Trying to throw me to the wolves.  What I did was just good business sense.