My opinion... see inside

First of all, you should be charging them for any inquires.  Get that contract written up and include the fees.  Charge them for each phone call, e-mail, etc.  Watch how fast they quit calling you.  However, if your contract states a certain turnaround, then you must provide that or it is a breech of said contract. 

Secondly, you should not have to tell them you are going out of town.  Independent contractor means they cannot set your hours.  Sure, they can try and call, but your response is not up to their discretion. 

Your daughter is correct in that you should probably try to keep that until you find something else, but don't worry yourself too much about not getting back to them in a timely manner.  They obviously like your work or they would find something else.  There are plenty of options, and obviously you are the best/cheapest, whathaveyou, etc., etc.  They would not get away with making inquires to an outside service and NOT being charged as such. 

Lots of MTSOs seems like the best way to go for most physicians, but they nickel and dime them to death.  Your time is just as valuable as their time, and until you realize this, you will struggle with this issue.

I had a supervisor that wanted more from me, and I told her that would require more $$ in my paycheck, and she said she had to go to a meeting, and I haven't talked to her since.  That was 7 years ago.  I left that department and have since left the entire place.  Hang in there, as it sounds like you are definitely a team player, but somewhat of a pushover (like myself).  Live and learn... 

• Contractor vs Employee - Mary Ann
  • My opinion... see inside - anon
    • Thanks--got a chuckle about this-- - Mary Ann
    • I don't think you understood ... - nm
      • She is working at home - Patti
        • IC Status - Beth

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I am one of 6 born to parents who (yes, the same for all 6) who were both born in the same low income area of town, little education past 6th grade, yet what attracted my parents to each other in the beginning was there committment to do better for themselves and get out.  Yes, they started having us kids at a young age (hormones, lack of sex education, etc), but they raised us all with love, in the church and the strong faith that with hard work, we all could do better.  It was'nt easy, going to school in hand me downs, not having the nicest things, but with love and committment,  all of us kids got our education and all graduated from college, some 2yrs, some 4.  My parents were so proud of us but as we got older and dared to speak up to daddy (very firm man), we kinda said...you demand the knowledge for us, then we demand the same for you.  My parents did eventually get their GED's and you would have thought they graduated from Harvard.(I swear daddy did it as a challenge more to not let us kids down).just the same in our book that they even took the challenge. It has opened up such a world for them both, if we can't find mom, she's usually at the library lol.

As I got older I realized that yes, we did get help with food stamps when bills were high but both my parents worked long hours to make ends meet and we were loved and cared for, sometimes rebelling against the strictness, but looking back, I see why. 

On the other hand, I can look at some of my aunts, uncles and cousins, the ones who kept believing my grandmother, who beat it into my dad and his siblings heads that they "won't mount to much, ya never gonna make it out here, so quit dreaming and just let the govrnment folk take care of you"!  I love granny dearly but that is the mentality that She was raised with.  The cycle broke with my Dad and one other Aunt, but ironically, that has caused an uneasy distance from the rest of the family, including granny who not once attended any of the graduations.  We're the "high falooting book smart kin" who are too good to come home...not, we just would like to have them at our homes sometimes and it hurts.  It hurts to see my extended family living in the lowest part of town, can't watch the news anymore because of all the shootings, drug busts, etc and we tend to hear from the cousins and their kids when they call from jail needing bail.

Thank God some of my cousins did come to live with us over the years and they are now educated, productive citizens, living a decent life who have broken that cycle of mentality & poverty.  It's a struggle when you are born into nothing, are told you never will have anything, look around you and see nothing but the projects, drugs and poverty and see the programs that are offered but your parent or parents are suspicious of, therefore keeping the chains on.  This coming from my cousins.

Ok, sorry, did not mean to ramble on and on, just wanting to answer from the inside that I've heard about growing up.

I believe many MTs stay with these Nazi-like companies* because their self-confidance has been pummeled into the ground by the abusive, demoralizing treatment they are subjected to every day.  It's like the well known pattern of an abused child who clings to the abusive parent.  What they don't realize, or refuse to see is that more and more MTs are putting their foot down and refusing to stay with companies that offshore, cut our pay, treat us like dogs, and then have the audacity to use us to help them achieve their ultimate goal of eradicating our profession.  Why is VR technology becoming more and more sophisticated with each passing day?  Because we're helping them do it!!  Kind of like digging your own grave. 

I truly believe that if enough of us take matters into our own hands by showing them that "We're mad as hell, and we're not taking this anymore" we can together turn the tables on these money hungry vermin.  Do the math.  We are "still" the backbone of the industry.  We need to take action NOW while we still have the power.

* No ethnically based offense intended.  Just trying to make a point.

I apologize to you then MQx4 if all these posts were not yours.  It is very difficult to determine who is who anymore.

Although, in those crazy people's defense, I actually did find those posters rather hillarious!  I am just your average MT and no I am not disturbed in any way, just enjoy a raw sense of humor now and then.  Please don't bash me for saying that, it is just my opinion.  A raw sense of humor is not grounds for being in the psyhiatric ward.  A good laugh every now and then does wonders for the body (burns lots and lots of calories you know).  With that being said, we should welcome everyone here and as long as I am personally not being threatened, then I really am up for any conversation and/or jokes or whatever. 

It's nice to know who you are talking with, so MQx4 thanks for being consistent with your name.  Sorry if I addressed some of those posts to you!

UH OH - Just watched FOX News and they indicate that Rita may become a category 4 or perhaps even a 5 once she hits the warm waters.   From what I heard, it is heading for Texas - how awful considering that there are hundreds of thousands of evacuees already there from Katrina.  Any thoughts or has anyone heard anything different of what could or might happen in the upcoming days? 

Share your thoughts with us.

If you want to be proficient in MT'g, you can't unless you know business English inside and out.  Check out your local community college. It will be time and $$$ well spent, and remember, knowlege is power.

Also remember, grammar is very important in this business.  A simple hyphen can completely change the meaning of a sentence.....

Case in point:

I saw a man eating shark.

I saw a man-eating shark.

See what I mean?

What your step-father is doing is horrible, but I don't understand your reaction towards your mother.

You expect your mother to "see" what is going on without directly telling her.  If she has no idea what's going on, how could she possibly understand why you are treating him the way you are?

Do you think it is fair to end your relationship with your mother over something that she has no idea about?  If you are going to end your relationship with her, she at least has the right to know why.  You are not "saving her the embarrassment."  You are taking the easy way out.  I think it is mean to do this to her.

It is not fair how your step-father is treating you.  It is wrong.  But 10% of life is what happens to you and 90% is how you respond to it.  Do the right thing.  Tell your mother and everyone else what is going on.  Keeping silent only protects him. 

Personally, if my daughter ever told me what you just said about someone I was with, he'd get the boot right out the door.  I don't think I would even wait for an explanation from him.  Give your mother an opportunity to do just that.

I have been asked to transcribe some training material for my brother-in-law.  He puts together training manuals for addiction medicine counselors and has a lot of things that he needs transcribed into Word.  (They are on tapes, VHS, DVD, etc., but he is going to put them all in a wav file format for me to transcribe.)  He wants to pay me the normal going rate.

He wants to know how I would charge (word, line, job, etc.).  I have decided to do 65 character lines including spaces, but need to know how much per line would be appropriate.

I don't know if this makes a difference, but he's in Minnesota.  I am leaning toward 14 cents per line, but wonder if that is too much?

Please let me know what you think.

Chickadee

First off, let me say how sorry I am that you and your children are going through this horrible experience.  I completely understand your range of emotions.  I left an abusive alcoholic many years ago with 4 children under the age of 9.  At that time I did not have any means of income, so I went on welfare.  After the kids and I settled into being a "family" without a father figure, I got three jobs and went to college to be a paralegal.  Let me tell you it was far from easy, but well worth it! I refused to allow my children to think that his way of "love" of normal or appropiate.  I also did not have family or friends to lean on, I only had myself and my children.  You need to find the strength and resove in yourself to do what you know is right (if you didn't think leaving was right, you wouldn't have posted).  You need to lay out a plan, and then outline steps needed to fulfill this plan (make a real budget, find housing, etc..) Also you need the abuse documented in case child custody is an issue.  Next file for FULL custody and child support.  Please go talk to an attorney, many offer first consults free.  I wish you courage through this.

It is impossible to "spot reduce" one area of your body, but doing resistance training and building muscle helps to burn fat more quickly than aerobic exercise alone.

..I think they are pretty good to work for.  They don't really bother you, so you're just left to work in peace.  They have several platforms, so what platform you use will be dependent on what account you're assigned to.  The people are very nice.  Pay is pretty decent and always on time.  They can come across as a little disorganized in the beginning, but all-in-all I'm happy with them.  

Hope this helps!  

• They support off-shore transcription.


• A lot of employers don't pay a CMT differential, and if they do it's generally not enough to cover the costs of being certified or keeping it, much less the yearly membership.


• If you like to meet and talk with other transcriptionists then you might like it.


• A lot of their meetings are held on Saturdays, so you'd need to plan for that if you joined.

Congrats on the new account!

But keep it all business; i.e., the doc says he prefers to pay by the page.  Well, when you go see this doc, do you tell him how you prefer to pay or does he tell you?  When a plumber comes to your home to fix something, do you tell him how you prefer to pay or does he tell you?  See what I mean?

My advice would be to charge however you like, but if it were me, it would be by the line - gross line - more profitable to you.  I would never charge by the page, but that's just me...

Good luck on the account, and do let us know when you're taking us all out for a group dinner after you get your first check!  (hahah!)

Best wishes.....

Earning $9.00 an hour working from home is an outrage and insult to this business and more importantly, to you.  Don't do it,  Honestly, you'd come out fiancially better if you flipped burgers at McDonalds.  At least there you'd get bennies and vacation time!

Tier level/pay based on years of experience OR based on harder dictation.  Seems all the dictations now are not only bad, but impossible to understand.  One dictator for two whole sentences, an ESL doctor, said what sounded like zzzsssszzzzz...it was so fast that is all I heard.  I've been doing this 11 years now, the dictation is unbelievable.

So, what do you think?  Tier pay based on experience or harder dictation?  Make me a Tier 4 because I've done this for years but leave it an open pool to balance out my day, or make me a Tier 4 and let me not understand absolutely anything, or at least 99.99999% of the stuff.  Is higher pay worth it?