Poor dictators that stumble over something and do not repeat the sentence to clarify, choose to mumb

• What are the things that keep MTs - from making high line count?
  • QA that is so picky it makes you go back and relisten to the whole thing. - Yes it's nice to say you're the best with yo
  • Allowing some docs to have special things done. - Like a special signature block that is 5 lines lon
  • Too many accounts. Would be nice to just have 3 accts. nm - dreamer
  • Incompetent team leaders who keep switching rules and make you - ...
  • Unproductive work types continually, for me, DS with ESLs and residents. nm - iheartjackbauer
  • required profiles, etc. that are unpaid. NMSG - kl
  • MTSO or hospital servers that are overloaded and - crash all the time. NM
  • Thirty minute dictations -... - CARDIACMT
  • line count - looking
  • Increasing number of ESLs (did someone already - say that?) nm
  • Poor dictators that stumble over something and do not repeat the sentence to clarify, choose to mumb - 2teens
    • Ditto and also dictate a sentence, then "scratch that", etc. --want to reach out and throttle - XXX
      • Or a whole paragraph! Yes, I have actually cussed out loud! - newbiMT
      • The majority of mine do not even... - 2 teens
  • Company not paying for spaces nm - MTbird
    • Only if that is coupled with a line definition of greater than 55 char. - nm
      • Well duh. - MTbird
  • The company cutting cpl, the company stopping paying for headers - and footer and template headings. nm
  • Overhiring and not enough work for everyone so no one gets their - minimum production. NM
  • Yappy dogs in the background on the recording of the doctor's dictation (his dog). nm - nm
  • Waiting for QA to get back to you about 1 simple thing and not being able to move on. - Grrr!!! nm
    • My QA does that to me all the time. - She forgets about me EVERY time
  • Discussion boards!! (can't resist, lol) - paints
    • I spend more time out of my chair than in - me2
  • Poor sound quality, looking up proper names, sm - Here ya go.
  • Being distracted. Momentum means everything. - For me
  • Demographics - nm
    • I agree - nm
  • Telephone ringing - off the hook!!!
    • Let the machine get it. - lil' MT
    • "Oh, Mom" every ten minutes - hs

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wonder when people will just get over it and do what they can and move on. 

It is NOT illegal to collect Social Security OR disability and still work.....I was just trying to find out how I could work and not make over the $900 a month I was allowed to earn. What is WRONG with you people?????

what a few other people have said.  You must prepare yourself in order to be successful in getting an at-home job.  You must have a headset, a pedal and books already.  How are you taking tests with no books?

You must also own a Book of Style if you are trying to get a job at one of the national companies.  You must know it before you test.

You must KNOW that you are going to be able to type at least 1200 lines per day and that DOES NOT include headers/footers and sometimes even spaces.  Do you know whether your current line count includes those?

You must be prepared, if you have this many years of experience, to put out your 1200 lines per day within a week or so.  If you are angry about something and your response is to drop your line count to 600 at a service, their answer to you will be see you later, have a nice life.

To be crying at work and not speaking to your manager is not a good thing, but you also should know that working from home is no cup of tea.  You will receive email with feedback you may not like, calls or email from an account supervisor that contain things that make you upset.  How will you handle that?

The element of control!

You got it, they don't.

The service (or client, if you call directly into it) has just so many lines and connections available. How will a service stay in business if they have 500 MTs and all of them want to work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.? So, they give the element of control to you ... "which time slot would you like to work?" There's nothing that says you can't bargain with them. I know you can, 'cause I have. I've had a problem with insomnia for years, so I'll work 2-3 hours until 5 -6 a.m. and then I go back to sleep for a while. When I get up again, I'll return to work for the rest of "the work day." That's one of the things I bring to the table. If the MTSO wants you badly enough, they'll negotiate on the times. If they won't, you don't work for them. You have the element of control.

As far as not knowing the law ... well, there's a very specific reason why you're told up front if you'll be an IC or not. And if you don't know what an "IC" is, you need to find out. If it applies to working and you get paid, go to the www.irs.gov website. No disrespect intended, but not doing that is as foolhearted (sp?) as taking a medication without knowing the side effects.

My temperament is such that there are some things I'm not willing to do. Work YOUR schedule (not you, personally) is one of them. I also won't work outside the home or learn a platform (i.e. DocScribe) ... no system is telling me how many lines I transcribed. That alone restricts my options of who I can work for. But, it's a risk I'm willing to take. So far, I've been lucky.

The bottom line is ... know what's expected of you BEFORE you apply for a job. But, don't apply for a position and when you're told that XYZ is "required," say "that's illegal by IRS laws." I've already been through it, and I'll tell you what the IRS told me:  "If you have the element of control, you're an IC."

And for the record ... an IC sets the line rate, not the service. They also determine the manner in which lines are counted (i.e. Sylcount, Abacus). People need to keep that in mind the next time they applying for a position.

first time. 

LOL...this IS fun

nm

Is this post from the administrator of this board?  Thanks.

Well.  I guess I have to clarify.  The lady I was talking about that had this experience was hired by front girl (office manager) for a certain amount of money hands down because she aced the test 100.. Then she had to meet the man who "owned" the establishment in person.  He was quite happy with her on the phone after she aced the test, even quoted her insurance for her family at like x amount  per two weeks.  then when he met in person (they were sitting at the break table in lunch room to talk) there was a cake on the table and he asked her was she wanting to eat the cake (like she was going to eat the whole thing).  Then he said the price went down 3 dollars an hour and that the insurance would be 1200 per month.  something like nearly triple what it was already quoted.  Then, when the girl that would train her asked if she could be started the next business day, the guy said no that they had to wait  so that they could move some desks around to make  "room" for her in the office and was looking her up and down while he said it.

Just too sad to me.  She is a fantastic transcriptionist.  Thing is she is not that big!!   I think his loss if she chooses not to take the job. 

The reason that I brought myself up with the job experience that I had was that I was given same little knock downs while at my employment, just little snide remarks that I tried to overlook as I thought that perhaps I was just a bit over conscious of my weight. This just makes me wonder that maybe I was not being over sensitive after all, maybe it is a anti-fat work place.  Who knows,  but what she experienced was just down right mean.  Maybe he will get a thyroid goiter and gain a few pounds and see how it feels.  Just very shallow... Oh well, their loss...

It is wrong for the company subcontracting work to the IC to expect any amount of work even though the IC took the work.  An IC has a right to take work and then give it back is what I meant.  This is true to form.  I've had work offered, refused, work given to me and given it back, taken work and given it back.  Never has it been a problem.  I'M AN IC for goodness sakes.  I have that choice and right.

Now, if I didn't have a very good reason with the one company I work for as an IC, which I have been charged, but there is a policy statement that I would be charged a flat rate for just sending a job back incomplete with an explanation.  But, the explanation doesn't matter, it just boils down to communication.  I can simple say.  Something came up, and I cannot do the job, and the job is taken care of. 

Any info on Precyse Solutions...Silent Type....Breitner ????

Need to give decisions by Friday...help!

And empty, not-yet-used concentration camps do not physically exist in the USA, yes?  And your president has told no lies in 6 years, yes? 

SHEEP I tell you...........BAAAAAAAA.......

Hi, MT's!

I'm trying to make a decision about my job, and thought maybe your input would help me put it into perspective.   I'm thinking about changing my MT job.  I have gone over a long list of the pros & cons, and still am up in the air about it, and hope to make the most informed decision possible.  Here's the situation:

I have transcribed since 1975.  I have been at my current job for roughly 29 years.  Still, I am a long, long way from retirement, if ever.  Most likely the earliest that could happen is 2025, but I'll believe it when and if it happens!   I have always worked in-house, initially for services, then for a hospital, and for the last 29 I've been at a multispecialty clinic.  20 or more years ago or more, it was a decent place to work, but that has all changed and now it's very stressful.  We get blamed for every mistake the doctors make, management communicates with us very little, and what they pay us has not even begun to keep up with the cost of living.   Still, on the plus side, my commute isn't too bad, I enjoy the variety of specialties to type, and I have the most seniority.  Although our pay isn't so great, we do have paid time off and fairly decent healthcare, though it must be at our own clinic.  We have a 401K retirement savings account through work.  Our pay is by the hour, with no overtime offered, so we have no opportunities to increase our earnings.  I've been saving to buy a condo, but at this rate it's always out of reach.

I have had my eye on a national service lately that seems to be much better than most of what you see offering jobs out there.  I have a couple friends who work at home for this service, and they recommend it very highly.  The service pays on production, and when I tally my daily work that I'm currently doing and convert it to the service's way of paying the best I can, it at least SEEMS like I could make a lot more money.  The service also has a 401K, health insurance, and paid time off.  The hours are very flexible, which for me is a huge plus.  As long as you do a set minimum amount of lines per pay period, it's all good as far as they're concerned.

Lately I've been so stressed and unhappy in my current job situation that I'm almost ready to take a cut in pay, if that's what it takes, to be able to work at home, where I can control my environment (heat, air-conditioning, light brightness, office ergonomics, etc.)  Working at home for a national would also free me up to be able to move to a less expensive area.  That would help if the pay WAS less, but if the pay was equal to or more than I'm making now, then I could be socking a lot more of it away towards a down payment on a first home.  And if I finally did get to buy that home, being able to take short, "meaningful" breaks from typing (instead of pigging out at the candy-machine) would make it possible to take care of that home, as well. 

As it stands now, my list of "pros" for taking the at-home job is quite a bit longer than the "cons".  And just the opposite for my current job.  My biggest concern is the longevity of either position.  I am reasonably sure that bit by bit, MT work in the US is going to diminish.  The question is, which one is likely to fold first?  Our clinic already sends extra work out to a service, rather than pay us overtime to do it.  Over the years our MT Dept. has shrunk considerably.  The more it shrinks, the more work gets sent out.  Although we are told otherwise, my gut feeling tells me that it will continue in this manner until the department is eventually closed, and all the work gets sent out.

But, when I read all the message boards here, and people working for MT services talk about how much of their company's work is being sent to India, or being partially transcribed with VR, I have to wonder how much longer "live" MTs are going to be around in the service venue, as well.  And I don't think being an Editor wouldn't be an option for me, either.  Not only would I be bored to tears, but instead of paying more than MT, which it should be, it appears to pay quite a bit less. 

So, if you knew you weren't going to be retiring in the next 5-10 years, and you wanted to continue being an MT (it's the only thing I know how to do), do you think there is more security in staying with a long-term employer that not only very callous towards its employees, but is slowly but surely whittling away at their transcription department?  Or would you take the "unknown road", and go with what is currently a very viable and successful national company that would let you work at home, but may already be offshoring extra work?  (I haven't been able to find out if they actually do or not.)  I don't relish the idea of having to "start over" as a new employee, but the idea of having less stress and more freedom also appeals to me quite a bit. 

If you were in my shoes, how would you base your decision? 

Thanks in advance for any ideas you can throw my way!