Still plenty of regular folks on here - don't leave!! we need all we can get. nm

• just an observation...pls sm - disillusioned
  • my observation - sm
  • I think that although it's great that we can work at home - that some of us lose our social skills
    • when I worked in house learning MT the first shifters were just like the mean folks here - maybe they had no social skills to begin with? n/
      • Well a social butterfly type wouldn't be attracted to this job in the first place - but this certainly compounds the
        • I am a very social person and I entered this job at home because it paid more money - Not in agreement
          • You were making LESS than THIS???? - amazed
          • I got into this because it paid more money and I didn't have daycare expenses. - I agree!
            • Unbelievable how people have different definitions of the exact same thing - sm
              • Yes, I made that statement because that's how I felt after - not antisocial
        • true true. - n/m
  • disillusioned - Tina
  • They do it because they (sm) - Lori
  • Meanies - Libby
  • to just an observation (NICE reply) - Nanna23
  • Still plenty of regular folks on here - don't leave!! we need all we can get. nm - fg
    • Let's clean up our board........sm - No meanies 4 me
  • Someone told me years ago..... - andromeda
  • Observation, sm - Just wondering
  • I was nice today, and people were nice to me. - I didn't get flamed today
  • what mean post made you post your post - posters wanna know!!!
    • not one post in particular (sm) - disillusioned
      • Sometimes - Sandy
      • i hear ya. I prefer being tucked away - where i'm
        • people armor - ...

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9.25% -- Bought some clothing yesterday and the subtotal was $159.97. The tax was $14.80. Total bill:  $174.77.

They get us in other ways.

Hey there all you Indepedent contractor folks.  Just want to take a quick poll and see if you are happy being independent.  I am thinking of the making the jump over from employee to IC.  Just want to see and get a quick glance and see if you are happy or not so happy with being IC. 

We as MTSOs absolutely have to start the pay lower and I'll tell you why.  Hiring and training is expensive.  We are paying editors by the hour to proof new hires 100% so we actually lose money on every report a new hire does.   3 out of 5 people we hire lie about their experience and are not qualified to do the work so it requires extensive editing and in a lot of cases, total retyping.   Over half of the people hired do not do their required lines or hours per day, some are scheduled to start and just do not even show, do not contact us or anything.  I get emails from people saying they are losing their home, their children, etc., and are desperate for work and then do 100 lines a day.  It is not cheap to advertise, it is not cheap to pay man hours to test and train. So we start lower, and in the 20% of the time we get somebody who 1) does have the required experience, 2) really does want to work and does the required hours or lines, and 3) proofs their own work so it's not a total wreck when we get it, THEN we give raises, and good ones.  

You want to know where all the 10-12 cpl pay per line went?   Get out your map and look at India, Phillippines, and Pakistan.   On the 11 facilities we have, the highest paying to us is 13 cpl.  Try renting an office, keeping the equipment updated, paying employees, etc., on that amount of money.  If we try and get a raise, they talk about other companies who have already contacted them and how they can outsource and pay only 8 cpl total.   I understand now why companies are outsourcing.  We can't find qualified workers or those who even want to work so it's easier for companies to outsource and pay to have the work proofed before being sent on to the facilities.  We do not outsource at all, but we have hired so far 19 people for FOUR positions and only 2 remain.  That's how bad it is for us.

The company I work for pays 11 cents a line...so they are out there! They also do not outsource and they need good transcriptionists....contact me if you want a good company to work for.

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Right now McDonald's in our town starts employees at $8/hour and pays benefits and some school benefits.

I have worked 30 years in transcription and make less now than I did in 1985.  That's 20 years ago.  I know more and earn less.  In fact I am a fraction above poverty level.

If you don't think MQ is getting ready to take us all below poverty level right down there with Mexico City, just hide and watch.  Or rather, sit here and think you are with a "good" company.  I didn't, because they are making millions in profit off your hard work and not sharing a penny of it with you. 

In the old days an employer spread the wealth of the company with the employees who made it happen.  This group has never heard of the concept.

I can really relate to your situation and wanted to tell you this story. 

I live at the base of a mountain.  There is an RV place out here and every winter the hunters camp and .....leave aggrevation everywhere (garbage).

Yesterday i drove the 15 miles to town to the post office where they know everyone by name.  I was packaging my book to mail and was listening to this conversation:  A gentleman handed a change of address form to the Postmaster. He says," You just moved in that new house on the hill last fall.  Is everything okay"? 

Naturally everyone looks that direction.  The gentleman says " We don't like that housing developement on the hill.  There is way too much snow".

Continuing with his story:  My wife had the kids were in the SUV and the road was covered with snow and ice. (duh, it is all winter long).  She had to stop because of the herd of Elk standing on the hill in the middle of the road.  She slid back down the hill and wouldn't drive up again until I came home from work".

So i have asked my husband for a snow maker!!!!!! Maybe they will all move back to the city.  At the base of this hill, a herd of Elk always graze in the field.  There have been many occassions i drive the grandkids that direction to watch.  The 3-year-old asks to me take him to see the funny cows.

So if anyone has a spare Snowmaker please send it to me.....I would love to drive the rest of the city folk out of there!!  

I think that you thinking you "put yourself through college" when your parents were paying your tuition and rent kind of says this is the pot calling the kettle black. 

What do you think of a manager of many MTs, who shares intimate details with each of us regarding her situation as a wife as well as sharing details of other MTs with each other, some extremely complicated and highly personal, which I believe were given to her in confidence.  Then, having her turn into a professional zealot and alienate us with her emotionless response to us which is such a contradiction to prior interactions that it leaves us spinning and feeling as if we do not know her at all.

I have come upon this before early in my career.  And I would say that changing ths subject in the conversation is the answer so to not end up in this web.  What do you think though?  It is awkward and confusing. 

 She is new at supervision and maybe it can be chocked up to that but she holds a lot of power over us and some whom she confided in during long emotion-filled  conversations, word has it, she has turned against to the point they had to transfer to another department.

It is placing a shadow over the job for me

...We are trying to figure out how to become independent, so we can make better than overseas pay.

I realize that every company/employer is different and some want verbatim transcribed.  At my company, it's never been specified, and so sometimes I trust my judgement to change things as I see fit, and other times, I flag a questionable item and explain my thought process to QA.  Oftentimes, when I do the latter, QA just leaves the questionable item as dictated, and does not respond directly to me regarding my question, which makes me feel ignored.  This leaves me feeling frustrated and feeling like the report may have returned to the doctor not 100% accurate.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about, but it's not necessarily the best example from a cesarean section note:

Rectus muscles were then separated in the midline and the peritoneum identified, tented up and entered sharply with Metzenbaum scissors.  The perineal incision was then extended superiorly and inferiorly, with good visualization of the bladder.

The bolded word is obviously incorrect and should be peritoneal.  Do you think QA and everyone else concerned would appreciate if I just used my brain and fixed this without taking anyone else's time, or is there a chance that using my judgement and changing it would come back to haunt me if this report were pulled for a QA review and someone saw that I didn't transcribe what was dictated?

I'm not a newbie.  I'm been in the MT field for almost 8 years.

really not representing the American Transcriptionist at all. I'm really just speechless. I wonder why they're making such unprofessional attacks on the US transcriptionists. 

The representative who wrote the response is either uninformed or downright deceitful in stating that the Indian transcriptionists want the CMT credentials just to have them. On the contrary, their employers are using it as a tool to get their feet in the door to get American work.

I'm just curious as to how many of Indian CMTs have been grandfathered in (not required to take any testing because of years of experience) because most of the companies who do work with them have to have US transcriptionists do a lot of heavy editing.  If this is the case, then the CMT credential is as worthless as it was 30 years ago.  Sad for our industry, really. 

I wish some retirees would start up another professional organization for US transcriptionists only <hint hint> 

that I know from different places, clubs included, but that doesn't mean that I'm having an affair with any of them...male or female! Before I was married my best friend and I went to a particular club to dance...it was great exercise and more fun than going to a gym. I made several friends there who are strictly friends. We were all single, enjoyed each other's company, and liked to dance...nothing nasty ever went on. In fact, many times my male friends made it easy to shake men whose attention I didn't want. Sometimes people go out just because it is more fun than watching TV. Hubby and I went to the club a couple of weeks ago and I introduced him to people that I knew there. I would hate to think that because I introduced him to people that he would think I'm having an affair. I don't know if I'd be more hurt because he didn't trust me, or because he thought I was dumb enough to take him someplace and introduce him to someone I would have an affair with!

I would also hate to think that my husband would search my cell phone and check the numbers he didn't recognize. My son is in the military and at times his friends have called because they consider me a second mom or are trying to get in touch with my son. Nevermind that just about everyone has had someone call their phone and it has been a wrong number!

If someone gave me a real reason to check up on them, I probably would, but to check up on someone 'just to be sure' is insulting. If someone I care about can't come to me and talk rationally about their fears, then we don't have much of a relationship!