you sure went a long way to insult someone's opinion

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I would like opinions from everybody but especially those that have 20+ years experience in MT.  What are your opinions on the Book of Style?

This is my opinion.........I think its a bunch of crap!  Seems to me a few people got together and decided to come up with this BOS and then put it on the market as "the law" of medical transcription. Of course they make money from it.  I have wondered who gave this author or authors the authority that everything they say to do is correct and anything that deviates is incorrect?  

On top of that, every now and then they decide to change it MTs learn this baloney all over again, thus more money for them.  I see so many questions and comments on here about the BOS that it seems to me it has become the
"end all, be all" in the medical transcription profession.  Horse puckey!

I literally have seen companies especially the BIG ONE let excellent MTs get away simply because their test scores were not what the "X" wanted with the reason being a comma here and a comma there when the content was EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!

If I were hiring folks again, that BOS would go out the window and I would take an MT based on their MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION SKILLS!  The preferences for punctuation and other things can be learned on-the-job.  Not all companies think the BOS is the BIBLE of Medical Transcription.  Personally I think BOS is a crock!.

I forgot though, AAMT started all this and they are not AAMT anymore.  That tells me a whole lot too!  Money, money money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You guys really have my sympathy.  What a mess.  Best wishes to you all.  Go get 'em!!

Although your posts are getting more amusing (and more full of typos) all the time, I'm still rather shocked at your opinion of MTs! 

Keeping it realistic?  How's this for realistic - its is obvious that you are both sick with jealousy at anyone with a decent line count AND ashamed of the work you do!  You have referred to it as slave labor, manual labor, working like a horse, and rant on and on about how its going down the drain, blame the doctors, blame technology, blame anyone with a "stupid" idea, blame everything and everybody.  Take a look in the mirror the next time you blame!  Good grief, woman, if you hate this work so much go do something else for a living! 

Those of us who enjoy our work and find it profitable really wonder what you think you're accomplishing with all this negativity!  You sneer about expanders, you are outraged at the thought of sitting still and working a whole 55 minutes - well that actually works for MANY of us!  I take pride in my work and my swelled head matches my swelled paycheck!  All the insults in the world from the likes of you can't take it away one bit of my pride, my work ethic, or my whopping line count!  So go ahead and "stay down to earth"....your attitude isn't dragging down anybody but YOU!

Some women ask for it??  What an insult to all women.  What never blame the guy??  This young woman was acting like a young woman and partying and meeting guys.  In no way, shape or form was her demise/disappearance her fault or her parents fault.  get real.

You are a "mobile home dweller", not "trailer trash" or a skank.  There's a big difference, one you can tell by looking at the home and the person.  We have some very nice mobile homes on our block nestled amongst the stickbuilt houses.  There used to be four "trailer trash" houses.  One of them remodeled and it looks quite nice.  Another one moved out, someone bought the lot, sold the trailer, tore up the old foundation, and now they have a really nice big yard.  We're still trying to get rid of the other two.  If they'd only clean up the junk littering their yards, mow and water once a week, and paint the exteriors, they'd have nice properties.  I don't understand why able-bodied people would not maintain their properties to keep or increase the value.  Instead, their dumps make the entire neighborhood look trashy.  Ironically, there are city laws here that they must mow and they must clean up their junk and abandoned cars.  These are the people screaming drunk in the streets at 2:00 a.m.  Other people have turned them in to the police repeatedly.   Thus, true trailer trash.  If I had only known 10 years ago what I know now, we never would have bought this place.

I can somewhat relate to your taking offense.  It's the same thing with the dumb blonde jokes.  However, I just tell myself that I'm not dumb or dyed, so the remark isn't directed at me.  You aren't a trailer trash skank, so the remarks weren't directed at you.  You are a very nice, intelligent mobile home dweller.

I actually went to a secretarial program at the local technical school.  AND I learned Gregg shorthand, but haven't thought about that in a number of years.  Boy are you all bringing back memories.

Now everyone is an administrative assistant.  Secretary is much easier to say.

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. 

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.