I left for the same exact reasons!
Posted By: Also ex-Keystroker on 2007-05-16
In Reply to: My answer even though not the OP. sm - ex-Keystroker
I asked repeatedly for more flexibility and couldn't get it. So like you, I quit. I am now working for 2 separate companies so that I can work hours that work for me and my family.
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I left for the exact same reasons. But not from Medquist, another place.
nm
You stated the exact reasons....... sm
that VR will never be profitable to MTs in general. Unless it is a small MTSO using the system with few MTs who have banded together in a common force to train VR in a uniform manner, VR will never be anything more than a timewaster for MTs. In larger MTSOs, MTs come and go and there are differences in their style which only confuses the VR. In addition, I have been on a VR account for over 6 months now and have seen no improvement whatsoever in it. VR still drops words, fails to make lists, and puts nonsensical verbiage into the reports. The acount is 95% ESL, so that makes it all the much worse.
one of the reasons why I left
nm
Your 1 & 2 are reasons I left SS. Big
for the discrepency in line cts. And you should be doing character cts. Line different things to different people but a character is a character is a character. And also must know just what a company pays for, headers, footer, spaces, auto poplulated info, etc.
I just left there for personal reasons but i can tell you-sm
that it is a good company to work for. You set your own schedule and they send you work. The pay is great, as stated by other poster 10 and 11 cents, and you type in your own Word or WP program.
Exactly the same reasons I left too after only 3 months...NM
/
I left MQ just a year ago because of the exact (sm)
reasons you stated....I couldn't handle the changes and I lost too much money. I worked there for 8 years and thought I would be there forever. They were a pretty good company back in the day. I waited too long too, but trust me, you made the right choice! I'm sorry you had to deal with an idiot like NotGood when you were emotional anyway about leaving MQ and just asked a simple question. I'm much happier where I am now and I wish you good luck in your new job!
This could have been my post, but I was only there 3 months & left for same reasons. nm
s
Yep, same exact problem. Left because of sound issues. nm
Wonderful company!!! Left for personal reasons. Would go back with no hesitation! nm
x
Has anyone ever left Keystrokes and gone back? I left a few months ago and realize that I made a
nm
It is as simple as filling out a form. I did it when I left an MTSO and when I left sm
a non-MT position at a company years ago.
What company? I did not know that any of them offer 401K anymore.
Several reasons
They don't pay extra to work on holidays. There is no shift differential. They send the good jobs to India. You have to work like a horse to make any money. They can't keep a QA manager. I don't know what all is up but didn't stick around to find out. I'll stop at that.
I think you are right. I think there are other reasons, as well. SM
I think they see MTs with loads of experience and they just get it in their heads to show them up. I do agree. If it is a great job, stick with it, smile and write happy happy e-mails. They don't hear what we mutter under our breaths!
Maybe she is here for other reasons such as
keeping up on the industry, seeing what other companies do right or wrong, seeing what the hot topics are in MT-World, learning about new technology.
Give me a break. I have no idea who this woman is but as someone who has been falsely accused of the same thing in the past, I feel for her.
There is so much ugliness and pettiness and overall negativity on this board that the reasons for reading it have changed for me. I now read it like looking at gossip rags in line at the grocery store ... interesting and entertaining but probably less than 10% true.
That is one of the reasons I'm still SM
where I am. The operative reports usually go to people who have been there a while. I know, because I had to work my way up and it wasn't easy.
Some companies might hire you for just ops, but there are some like yourself, who don't want to do anything else and don't like sharing! :)
My concession is doing preops. Then I do the same patient's op report!
Ask to try that, ops plus preops, maybe H&P. Just as long as no discharge summaries.
Yes, you are right, mainly for tax reasons if you are an IC nm
XX
Same here for the same reasons..sm
Hands down I prefer a small MTSO. I can actually earn a real paycheck with a small MTSO. Same reasons. No large pools. These are ridiculous. How in haytees do they expect us to keep up? Good luck! :) No much in way of bennies, but I learned a long time ago you can do just as well with your independent health insurance. THis was my case anyway.
Two reasons.
1. I'm sure Linda would appreciate you not sharing her client information, not that I give a hoot about what she thinks really.
2. It is against the TOS of this site to do so.
A few reasons....
First and foremost lack of work consistently. I know that everyone is slow now, blah, blah. But this isn't the only time it has happened. Then, the fact that they are hiring currently is annoying. My supe constantly puts OT out for my account and just can't seem to understand why the next week we have no work! Finally, I have asked more than 4 times for a secondary and have yet to get one. I am told that I will get one of these new accounts coming on everytime, and then the time comes and I don't get that as my secondary. Since my primary is one of the company's biggest - they don't like to give many of us secondaries so we can concentrate just on the primary! However, my options of other companies are limited. I need a company to provide a computer and has semi-flexible schedules. A sign-on bonus would be nice too!
Three reasons
1. Most of their MTs are newbies. They have a newbie mentoring program.
2. They skim nearly 20% off line counts to allow for headers regardless of header size. You can type for a full 8 hours and barely break 1000 sometimes.
3. With their new holiday policies and management and QA revolving door, the MTs are a revolving door as well and they are doing everything in their power to entice new MTs. When 2 managers and 1 trainer go back to MTing in a matter of months there is a problem.
Add this to my reasons s/m
for getting out of the MT business. They do not like for the MTs to communicate. Wonder why that is? We're suppose to be team players but we don't know what team we're on much less who our team mates are.
Two reasons ...
When I started with them, I was not given a schedule. I was not asked to work a schedule. It's just been in the past month that I've been told that we are expected to be available on the computer from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
If I am not available and/or I am not frequently turning in reports during that time, I get telephone calls or incessant IM messages.
As you can understand, this is thoroughly irritating - especially when I have believed ALL ALONG that MY TIME IS MY TIME.
Secondly, I knew NOTHING about any of the other IC qualifiers until last Friday when I was doing research. I had, ignorantly, gone by the things people said on the board (that a contract meant that what they were doing was legal, that the only thing that you need to do to qualify as an IC is to work your own hours and schedule, and that things like working on their software doesn't count).
The IRS can question me all they want. Those are all legitimate reasons ... plus one more.
No doubt the IRS takes into account the courage it takes to expose something like this. No doubt, they're happier that you do it than that you just decided to stay scared and quiet.
Please, feel free to ask more. I feel 100% justified in what I'm doing. And if I don't do it now, no one ever will.
And laws will continue to be broken, and our wages will continue to fall or stagnate, and our profession will continue - unimpeded - to go down the toilet.
Not that I think I'm going to save MT. Haha. But at least I'll have gone out fighting for fairness.
Two reasons ...
When I started with them, I was not given a schedule. I was not asked to work a schedule. It's just been in the past month that I've been told that we are expected to be available on the computer from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
If I am not available and/or I am not frequently turning in reports during that time, I get telephone calls or incessant IM messages.
As you can understand, this is thoroughly irritating - especially when I have believed ALL ALONG that MY TIME IS MY TIME.
Secondly, I knew NOTHING about any of the other IC qualifiers until last Friday when I was doing research. I had, ignorantly, gone by the things people said on the board (that a contract meant that what they were doing was legal, that the only thing that you need to do to qualify as an IC is to work whenever you want, and that things like working on their software doesn't count).
The IRS can question me all they want. Those are all legitimate reasons ... plus one more.
No doubt the IRS takes into account the courage it takes to expose something like this. No doubt, they're happier that you do it than if you just decided to stay scared and quiet.
Please, feel free to ask more. I feel 100% justified in what I'm doing. And if I don't do it now, no one ever will.
And laws will continue to be broken, and our wages will continue to fall or stagnate, and our profession will continue - unimpeded - to go down the toilet.
Not that I think I'm going to save MT. Ha. But at least I'll have gone out fighting for fairness.
This is not an exact
Unfortunately there is no exact way to figure this out. Gross lines count everything on a line where it is one word or the whole line. It really depends on the line length and font you will be typing in, and also on the type of reports, whether they have a lot of short lines or long paragraphs. From reading past posts, I think as a general rule gross lines should come out to be about 30% more than 65-character lines, so 6 cents a gross line would be approximately 9 cents per 65-character line. I get paid per gross line right now, but there are a lot of long paragraphs, and the hospital even wants numbered lists in paragraph form, so the gross line count is only about 15-20% more than 65-character, so it's not all that great.
So you might do well at 6 cents a line or you may not. Unfortunately's there no real way to tell until you try the account for a while.
Hope this helps what.
I had the exact same
thought about that.
Exact same for me! (nm)
x
That's MDI-MD to be exact!-nm
nm
I always get a card and for other reasons other than
work reasons, not even gotten that one yet.
Many reasons why there may not be work in QA is because
there are difficult dictators and the MTs are struggling with reports. I feel really lucky that in our system you can actually go in and see how much work is being transcribed by the MT so you do know that work is being done. QA HAS TO BE THERE for when the MT is finished because in more cases than not, the work goes through QA (our clients do not want blanks). It is valuable time not to just the MTSO but to the QA in the respect that those reports have to go to the hospital when QA is done. Luckily, a good MTSO knows that and I work for a good MTSO. We are not overstaffed with QA either, usually one per shift so the workload is on me so yes, if it takes the MT longer to do the reports, sometimes you sit for a while with no work in front of you and the service pays you for that. Believe it or not, that is part of the job and you should be paid for it. Employees have a schedule and I count on that schedule as they count on me. That's my bread and butter and the service's bread and butter also. It does not happen often, but it can and does happen some so it definitely is worth their while to pay that tiny bit it costs them rather than pay penalties.
i am one and have stated my reasons why
this board is mainly for complainers.
if any poster has something good to say about a company, they are practically dismembered by angry mobs of posters.
who even knows how many actually DIFFERENT posters there are? who cares?! lol
i don't see a union ever for MT work. i see aamt watering down their own organization.
i doubt a cmt certification would help much at all, just do it for personal satisfaction.
this field will never be regulated so it won't matter.
jmho
Several reasons to avoid them
You start out great but after a while you may get bounced around on different accounts because they cherry pick to the MTs they like and you get left with harder work.
The owners are paranoid someone might say something negative about them. Ask them about their employee handbook and its contents. You cannot participate in organizing or join an MT union. You cannot communicate anything at all about them either in private email or pubically without the written consent of one of the owners.
You will get bombarded with emails to get work caught up and then even if you are a good producer, you will get the emails that chastise everyone for not being good workers.
QA is arbitrary and you may have to prove you did the right thing when you get your monthly score by providing them copies of their own emails. Of course this makes you look bad and you will be punished for standing up for yourself.
Your mileage may vary.
I can give you a lot of reasons NOT to
I worked for them as an IC for nearly a year, on a newly acquired VERY LARGE account. I very rarely had the same dictator twice, very heavy ESL, and if you don't mind getting about 20 e-mail messages a day ... some contradicting each other from a million different workleaders - go for it! I've been in this business 15+ years and left MQ to go to Transcend - they both stink. Transcend has more work, but just as disorganized as MQ. Keep looking - there are better out there. I'm working IC now for two different MTSOs and love it. Transcend cut a whole bunch of ICs with no notice, nothing - just made their IDs invalid so in essence, they went from working FT one day, to not working at all the next day. TERRIBLE way to do business. Keep looking, this is NOT a good company to work for.
A couple reasons
Their VR software isn't as good as eScription, which is what I really like. It doesn't put in any punctuation unless the doctor dictates it. While you train, you get 2 cpl with a max pay between 3 and 4 cpl after training. It sounded way too labor intensive for that pay.
All the reasons I moved on
Gotta eat and like to actually get in touch with people.
This is one of the reasons I went back
and right away online companies want to know everything about you, all of your identity info. and personal history, where you live and you know nothing about them or even if they are honest enough to pay you. You aren't protected in cyberspace.
good luck with getting your money back.
Six reasons why I love OSi...
1. I love working and being told by my manager to not record my hours. (Overtime is not approved, but please work extra!!)
2. I love being called on my days off.
3. I love being smarter and having more experience in this field than my managers.
4. I love doing QA reviews on the emails from the QA dept.
5. I love requesting a schedule change, having it approved, and then getting screamed at for not working as scheduled.
6. Best of all, now that I don't work there anymore (been gone for 3 mos!) I love the phone calls I still get wondering why I am not working when I am on the schedule. Hey, at least I get a good laugh every once in a while.
Reasons to NOT be grateful
1. No longer treated as professionals.
2. Just got offered 14.00 to 16.00 per hour to write a transcription training program for company in India. (yea, for that amount... it is not going to happen).
3. I truly feel SOME MTs do not take the work as seriously as it was several years ago so therefore the more need for QA (added cost for companies)
4. People that work at home do not work the schedule they agree to. (this is a job).
5. I can't be grateful for not having to purchase clothes for work. I still have to have clothing to wear and that same clothing is what I can work in.
6. More and nmore people look at this job as a way to take care of young children at home. i.e avoid the cost of daycare, etc. Please!! It is still a job!! You have to work!
7. Absolute thing worst about working at home..... there is no difference from being at work and at home.
Sorry for the typos, but I am so tired of seeing/reading how great it is to work from home. It would be great if people took it seriously, but they do not!
5.
Do not work for them...here are the reasons why..sm
I worked for them a few years back and at this time, Christmas, three paydays in a row (all direct deposit too) did not come through. They knew about it before it happened, let checks bounce (which they did pay for) but still did not have the courage to tell any employee until they asked about their missing check. Three times in a row at Christmas! Plus, they had horrible supervisors that were so nosey and started trouble between employees all of the time. They had lost several really good accounts too. They are very unprofessional, like you said. Do not waste your time and effort with them.
1 of the reasons why I quit...
probably the main reason. I got my first check in the mail when my second was supposed to be due. I cannot live like that. Left a couple of months ago.
Exactly. Just one of many reasons why shafting
Yep, the reasons you cite are the
reasons why I left FT MT 2 years ago and I couldn't be happier! It's a GREAT relief to have vacation time, sick pay, go to the doc's without worry, health/dental/vision ins., 401K plan and even the smallest reason of all (but a big deal to me) to be able to TALK to your coworker for a few minutes and not worry that you aren't getting paid for it! SICK of the BS in the MT world. Glad I got out.
Of course, I can't stay totally away, as I'm some sick glutton for punishment I suppose. I need extra income on the weekends and don't really want to leave the house then, so you guessed it - MT (barely) fills the niche.
I just left a service where I was paid 8 cpl and 3 for VR - not worth my while. Starting a new service with higher pay, but being that I've been around the block a few times & have lost my optimism in the Dickensonian (or is that Dickensian?) MT world, I'm a bit skeptical. We will see...
Just put "personal reasons" - that should be enough. sm
So sorry for your loss.
Life is so hard sometimes!!!
Reasons for negativity.
MDI has been my dream transcription job/company to work for....having this job is the reason I got into transcription. After having worked for the large national companies and finally being able to get on with MDI, I thought this is it for me, I found the perfect place to be for me........Those of us that have worked for other companies that have done this same thing, been there, done that, repeating the cycle. I guess I was naive to think it would be different with MDI.
I don't know their exact formula but
I do know that some national companies only check the reports that are sent to QA once they have cleared an MT to transcribe without every report being checked. Long ago when I worked in a hospital they selected random reports done through the month and did QA on only those reports. Someone else could help you out better with that, I'm sure.
I think if I had worked with those MTs and they still weren't thinking for themselves, I'd get rid of them and find someone who will. Have you considered looking for MTs at this board or another MT board? That would involve using wav files so long distance MTs could access the dictation over the internet, but when I have to expand beyond my local trusted MTs I plan to look on the MT boards. There are a lot of good MTs out there, and a lot of not so good ones. You just gotta find the good ones!
Single is about $45 a PP (not exact) SM
and family I can't quote since I don't have it, but I hear it's pretty cheap as national family coverage goes. The insurance is Blue Cross-I have to say it's good insurance.
Yep, 9 years to be exact..(nm)
nm
I felt the same exact way
and I did not sleep very well either the night after that meeting. Personally, I do not know what the big deal is about being paid by the keystroke. When I was hired on, I was told what I was being paid per keystroke and what it came out to be if it were a 65-character line just like every other place goes by and it has always been right on.
I look at things this way and the new guy said it himself during the meeting. There is a shortage of qualified MTs here in the US and now, according to him, there is starting to be in India. As far as I see it, who knows, there might be something even better somewhere else if things do not feel that they are working out for me. Do I worry? Yes, I do, but more so in a way that it seems like a possible unnecessary hassle for me and I like simple.
They are exact opposites
Great place to work = TransTech.
Horrible place to work = TTS.
I have worked for both and can advise that the only thing in common is that they both use Dictaphone Extext. You will be lucky to get paid on time if at all at TTS. The pay is very, very low anyway - between 6 and 7 cpl for employees. Administration is a joke. You can always tell when unqualified people are hired for jobs beyond their expertise. Actually quite humorous to observe them, but you really can't make a good living there.
TransTech = good pay, good benefits, good working conditions.
That's the exact setup I use...
Not a problem. You log into the VPN first to get connected and then you're done with that until you are through working and disconnect. Then when you log into Word Client, the Transnet opens up at the same time. It is very simple. You save your job and it pops up a new one. I can see the next 3 jobs queued up for me.
I'm too new to know the exact details, but I too
remember all the negative posts and thinking not such nice things about the owner and thinking that is one company I'll never work for. The owner posted several times back then, admitted they had issues and were working on them. I don't know what the specific issues were so I can't say, though they do ask for feedback yearly from each MT and if you have an issue at any time they seem to be very receptive to trying to help resolve it.
What I fear now with the influx of resumes and subsequent hires is that there will again be lots of negative talk. KS is not perfect. I came from a company that seemed to be as perfect as you can get until they started offshoring and then got greedy and offshored more. It came back to bite them in the butt and they lost several accounts and finally went under. I had been with the company for several years so any move was going to take some adjustment.
I think there will probably be lots of MTs who come on board who will also have adjustment issues, whether it be a different platform, more ESLs than they are used to, etc., but I think overall it will be a possible experience based on all the posts I have seen recently about MQ and OSI.
I personally have some issues with KS, nothing major, but then I'm still in adjustment mode, but other than the company above and a small local MTSO I worked for, KS is next in line for the best company I've worked for.
They have a great reputation for radiology accounts and accounts actively seek them out, so someone must be doing something right along the way.
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