My mom was a lab tech, so I grew up knowing about working holidays in the medical field sm

so it is no big deal to me.  I do not have any children, so I have pretty much always volunteered to work the holidays so that others can be with their families.  As someone pointed out, when you work at home for the holiday, you can jump off and on whenever you want, so it does not really feel so much like working. 

Sorry that you are unhappy about it, but unfortunately, people still get sick on the holidays, and part of being in the medical profession is accepting that you will work some holidays. 

Hope the New Year brings you lots of things to be happy about. 

• Which companies pay for holidays -- not working the holiday but OFF - TT fast_fingers
  • My mom was a lab tech, so I grew up knowing about working holidays in the medical field sm - LTMT
  • I think I've always worked Christmas, and every other holiday, due to - Luck of the Draw
  • Working Christmas - gladly. For years I was lucky enough (sm) - sm
    • This is EXACTLY why I work every Christmas now and with TT sm - Me too, I'm a TTer myself
      • Wondered where my better dictators were when I got on at 3 a.m. this morning. - TT fast_fingers
        • Ha! This is what dropped into my pool of its own accord. It was a "pocket" and that happens s - Me too, I'm a TTer myself
    • That is so sweet - thank you! sm - AnotherMT
  • You always seem to be - stopthewhining
  • Webmedx does (sm) - clemmie
    • Do they force people to work holidays or take volunteers? - Interested
    • And if you DO work it, you get the equivalent of double time! sm - ChiaPet
  • It would be great, but.. - TTMT
    • I agree but at least TT pays 1.5 for holidays - whether we are scheduled to work or not
      • OH SO WRONG about that! - TT fast_fingers
        • Holiday pay - Terri
          • HOW IS WORKING HOME A BENEFIT???--sm - TX MT
            • It's a benefit to me. - mm
          • Christmas gift appreciated, but turns out not to be a gift if there is no work the day after - Transtech Christmas gift
            • If you are full time they will reimburse your internet. - Just ask.
        • You really need to find yourself another job - TTer2
      • Are you quite sure about that?? NM - TX MT
      • Sorry, this was meant to go under - original message (NM)
        • DITTO -- IT ISN'T FAIR. ... nm - TX MT

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Why isn't there anything that we can do as transcriptionists to make our profession stable again?  I take this career seriously because I NEED full-time work.  There are so many companies out there that are using this forum to really take advantage of the members here and elsewhere.  I recently interviewed for a company who actually had the audacity to expect me to work for a week before being put on the payroll, and this was after extensive testing.  I have over 20+ years in this industry and thought that I had seen it all.  This encounter  nearly created a hardship because I would have had to give up another position.  When you apply for a TRANSCRIPTION job, unless discussed prior, you should be given a Transcriptionist job and not have editing at 4 cpl be given as your put up or get out.

Just my opinion, but I believe that MTStars should screen their employers before allowing them to post.  The content and frustration seen in the posts can attest to that.  We are real people who need to have an income.  If I was doing this for just extra money or wanted to be home with my kids it would be another story.  But this a matter of survival here. 

Thanks for listening!

Thank you for your response.  I have found that when a name of the company is mentioned in a negative way, the post disappears.  I am not a newbie at this, in fact, I worked for one of the major companies who actually tried to recruit me (for extra time after my QA job) to search the board to find out if any current MTs were complaining, etc.  I, of course, refused and luckily did not suffer any repercussions because of it.  I feel that this board is valuable and should not be abused, but you must be careful whose name you mention and in what way.  I am beginning to feel it is a never-ending battle to stay employed in this field with some of the stunts some are pulling.  A recent one was a degree in medical transcription?  I guess there possibly is such a thing now, but what are the rest of us experienced MTs supposed to do - lay down and die?  Where I live the majority of major hospitals including the one I currently work for are either outsourcing or cutting wages down, so many of us fall victim.

Thank you for just letting me have my say.

Not expecting to have to work ANY holidays or weekends is out of the question in our business.  However, I decided to educate myself and put myself through college to have a career.  I paid a lot of money for my education and I worked really hard to get it so that I could find a better job than what I did before, cleaning hotel rooms, waitressing, etc.  As a waitress, it would be easier than this to find somewhere to work making more money and having a better chance of having holidays off.  My point is having to work every holiday and every weekend with no reward; no extra pay, no floating day off, nothing.  That is what isn't fair.  Trust me, I've worked my share of holidays.  In 14 years, I've maybe had a total of 6-10 off; that's 6-10 over a period of 14 years.  It is possible there are some companies who simply don't care and don't make it worth your while. 

Maybe when Medical Transcription education started becoming advertised on TV by Sally Struthers the quality of the Transcriptionist has declined.  Everyone thinks that they are able to do this.  In my experience, most are SHOCKED when they find out they can't walk in off the street and do this.  They cannot believe they have to have an education.

A lot of you who have been doing this longer than me, got taught the old way.  Right on site.  Those are great MTs.  I came in between that and the learn-at-home MTs.  In my time, we actually had to go to some college and get an education.

Then came the learn-at-home programs (a lot cheaper than what I paid and a lot faster).  Now in my own experience, some of these MTs are okay.  Most are not.  I'm sure with time, they would be better, but I've seen a slow decline in the last 5 years of how the MTSOs treat the employees and how poor quality a lot of the learn-at-home MTs produce. 

So....holidays?  You know, I work them all.  But gees it would be nice to get a small token of appreciation just once for doing it.  As far as some of the other advice, absolutely.  Look locally.  I'm so fed up with the MTSOs, that I am looking locally.

If I was an MTSO and come to this board, I would have no respect for any MTs myself.  We cannot even unite together on anything.  One person brings up an opinion and 100 follow with their outrage and nasty comments! 

We all have a lot in common with each other, yet we can't even get alone.  How can we expect respect from employer and yet we don't even respect our peers?

Anyone hear of this company?  Anyone have any experience with them?  Thanks. 

I'm talking like the office (in-house employees) do -- LIKE LOCKING THE DOORS -- want to lock my at-home office door and know that I am GETTING PAID for the holiday as I lock the door behind me and enjoy the day off as my fellow in-house office employees do.  

I understand keeping a skeleton crew of at-home MT's working the holidays, but we should be paid for those holidays just as the in-house employees get paid for those and don't have to worry, but go home and enjoy the holiday.  What is the reason behind management's thinking on this??  Just because they know the in-house people face-to-face, does not mean that we at-home employees of whom they have never seen our face, should not get paid for holidays.  I think the in-office employees should wear our shoes for a year (working ALL holidays WITHOUT PAY) and see how they feel about the subject.  I can assure they would be pressing management to make a policy change in a HURRY. 

Otherwise I was going to kill him.  He got his paws and teeth on several headsets, at least 2 ipod cords, the cord for my alarm clock which docks my ipod, one foot pedal, one cable modem cord, and I'm sure there's a couple I'm missing.  Nothing I tried worked with this cat.  Nothing.  I was gone for about 3 weeks when my mom was dying and I was staying with her.  I was home for a couple of hours each day to check on the cats, but that was it.  When I got back home for good, finding all of the things he had done in my absence was really horrifying.

I have three kittens now who are about a year old, and a year younger than Lucky the Destructo Cat, and the three of them together haven't done the amount of damage that Lucky did.

I was not going to count on anyone else ever.  It is hard at times, and mostly all I do is work, but my work is social for me in a way.  I MT 3 nights a week for the national, the other nights I do my own accounts, teach in the early mornings and late afternoons, go out on sales calls and do customer service in the afternoon.  Take calls all day long on my cell from everybody... that and email are actually the most timeconsuming and most difficult to control.  I have windows of time to check voicemails and emails and I really try to stay in that timeframe.  If I miss a call I get in the next window.  I text my answers back a lot to save on chatting!  Uh, the phone tag game is my biggest problem, actually. 

Uh, I didn't mention because it sounds like too much even to me, but actually I am also a personal trainer... I train women for bodybuilding and fitness contests.  At times (right now) that can be the most time consuming depending on the athlete.  A carb-depleted woman training 2 hours a day needs a lot of special care!  I don't always train on site with them, though, I set them up via email or phone and give assignments for the week on their training and diet, andI have workshops on the weekends, or everybody meets at the track for sprint work.  I also am not a clipboard trainer, I am there with them so I get my workouts in.  I also am in training myself. 

A lot of my work is seasonal... Sales for the clothing line are a little slow in the summer so I pick up extra work for the national if I need it.  And my national is always a little slow between Christmas and New Years, and both of my offices actually shut down at that time, WHEW! 

This seems really out there and all over the place, doesn't it? I have a degrees in English and physical education... my plan was to teach English and PE... but the money here for teachers is terrible and things just worked out this way.  I love all of my jobs... I am pretty active during the day but at night I love to sit down and zone out on my work.  I am divorced with no kids, with a great boyfriend who also has his own business so often we work side by side at night.  I have a huge dog that sits in the back of my 4 runner when I make all my service calls and he is out at the gym and the track with me for training.  At night he is curled up besides me. 

How do I do it?  Sometimes I don't know.  But I try to take it one day at a time, try to work as hard as a can and be as decent as I can and I never ever get pinched up (at least I don't show it!)  I try to find humor in everything because sometimes that is the only way to stay sane.

I treat everyone with respect and kindess and like they are very important to me.  Most people I deal with do not know I have other jobs.  When they are in front of me it is all about them and what we are working on together.  I have to turn work away all the time.  I have never had to advertise for any of my businesses.

My friends think I am a freak... but I am 40 years old and have no lines on my face, no gray hair (well there could be some but I am a regular highlighter!) and a body of an Olympic sprinter.  I cannot say it is easy... but like the quote goes I guess if it were easy everybody would be doing it. 

on for another company and I want to apply, but cannot find anything about them.  I am currently with Peachtree and am tired of being an IC and I need steady work.  Can you give me any good, bad or other information?  TIA

Sorry.  What I mean is, to be paid for holidays, even if you dont work. Major holidays.

Are there companies (like in the old days) who pay you for Christmas, NY, Thanksgiving, etc., MAJOR HOLIDAYS?

It's the sloppy, lazy dictators we MTs have to pick up the slack for.  If you can't understand it, it doesn't matter how well you know your subject. 

I love Emdat

Thanks in advance