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But what if the shoes doesn't fit? What then? What about TT getting unfairly

Posted By: TTMT on 2007-12-17
In Reply to: That's not to say they didn't say it to the OP. - Shame on you for doubting someone...

bashed here from some anonymous poster who can come on here and say anything?


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    I agree.. Too many companies treat employees unfairly and feel they can get away with it.
    Too many MTs would have just turned the other cheek, chocking it up to a bad experience and moved on, which is what I probably would have done, but the buck has to stop somewhere. Good for that MT...
    I have put myself in her shoes.
    If she does not feel she is cut out to roll with the punches, she needs to find a job with a company that offers a mentoring program. If she is a regular MT with Spheris, she is expected to meet the same QA scoring guidelines as everyone else or risk being terminated.

    Most companies cannot baby newbies. They just don't have the staff to do this. She needs to find a company that offers mentoring for newbies and stop complaining...or she needs to bite the bullet and try to do the work.

    I felt overwhelmed when I first started in acute care. I found that it was helpful to type a blank on parts where I was having trouble and transcribe the entire report and go back to the blanks and listen again a few times. I was often able to figure them out.

    I had to work ten hour a day when I started out in order to meet my quota, but I did it and it has paid off for me.
    you are not in my shoes, so .......
    if you are not, how do you know what the situation is for me, personally? So, your experience has been good. Others have shared with me in private that it has not been so good for them, either. I am not alone in this, so please do not criticize my opinion, okay??
    Been in your shoes
    I too started out in clinics about 5 years ago and was managed to be hired by a local hospital. Well...5 years later I'm working at Diskriter in their QA department. You can do it, it will come. Don't give up, it's worth it in the end.
    Been in your shoes
    Sorry but I've been in your shoes and did not like it one bit.  I know this profession sucks but leaving the house for $10 an hour sucks too after taxes, gas, clothes, lunches, etc.  I choose to work for 3 services to never again run out of work.  I never work more than 10 hours a day (which is what it would amount to if I worked outside the house including driving there, being stuck in traffic, working and then driving home.) I was MTSO of my own company for 8 years until the hospitals kept taking longer and longer to pay and then suddenly there were all these woman who had taken the course and believed the hype and were willing to work for $.08 a line and then I was out of work.  It that time I made $.14 per line and paid my subs $.11.  I was good to them.  I even kept most of the crappy dictators and did them myself so I've been on both sides of this job. I've worked for the services who don't pay or won't pay, who have no work.  This job is not what it used to be but I've decided it is where I need to be right now so I will make the best of it. My family is coming off of 4 very lean years and I won't go there again.  I'm all for helping someone who is trying to help themselves but not for people who want a pity party...and if I made $3 a day at my job I'd be finding out why and doing something about it.
    I was in your shoes!
    Mine were exactly the same ages as yours. It is very difficult to manage a home, 3 babies and work. My hat is off to you. I was able to get most of my work done when my hubby was home at night and on the weekends, but when I got real backed up, I would hire one of the teens in my neighborhood to come sit for a couple of hours so I could work uninterrupted.

    Good luck to you and God bless you. You have your hads full....BUT they grow up so fast, believe it or not, someday you will miss these times. :-)
    Those are big shoes to fill

    I guess you've never worked on the inside of an MTSO business, but you wouldn't believe how physicians and hospitals are chipping away at our pay by demanding lower rates from the MTSOs.  Some MTSOs that people on this site complain about offering offshored services to client did it to KEEP from losing their clients.  When it starts with the doctors and hospitals, what choice do the MTSOs have but to pass that on to the MTs?  It really is a vicious circle. 


    Some MTSOs team up with schools and offer interships where an MT in training works for free for a period of time to gain experience.  Now trust me, THOSE savings are not passed on to the experienced MTs...that goes directly into the MTSO's pockets and those MTSO push their long-term, higher paid MTs out the door to save a few pennies with no trouble sleeping at night.


    So what about a union?  You're right.  More jobs will be offshored.  More experienced MTs will lose their jobs.  Doesn't anyone remember what happened when the air traffic controllers went on strike and the president of our United States canned every single one of them and airports had to hire an entirely new staff of controllers?  Did you see airlines stop flying passengers?  Nope.  Managers worked triple shifts until restaffing occurred, oh, without extra pay since they were salarired.


    I don't pretend to know the answers as to how an MTSO should run its business but honest communication, good benefits and wages that have been lost in just a few short years (less than 10) would be nice.  It should stick to its gun and promote keeping jobs in the states for the patients' sakes.  And for the Indian physicians who have organized and created their own MTSO's to keep their families in India employed should be boycotted.  MTs should educate anyone they know who uses a doctor to ask the physician where his/her transcription is done or if s/he even knows and use only physicians with American-based transcription.


    Boycotts worked in South Carlolinia and other states to take down the Rebel flag. Why can't we have a similar affect?  Mostly because we are not organized (I did NOT say unionized) and we do not generate the media coverage necessary to affect change.


    d~


    Walk in my shoes

    I am very small MTSO and it still gets hairy with turn around time.  All it takes is for one I/C to say, today I don't want to work -- which they can -- like the one above said, I want to work when  I want to and do as much as I want -- and suddenly she decides not to work, well suddenly that leaves 1000 to 3000 lines to be spread around, times that by 2 and what a mess.  You cannot control what and how much the docs dictate.  I would not hire someone unless they were strictly for overflow without somewhat of a committment whether it be the lines or time that the could do on specific days.  Imagine having 15 people with this attitude.  Like I said walk in my shoes, it is a balancing act.  Too much work, they gripe -- too little they gripe.   But someone that wants to work when they want, how much they want could not budget accounts that way.  It would be strictly overflow and then if you weren't available when the work was you probably would not stick around nor again would I keep you around.   Sure an IC can set their own hours but I expect a certain amount of work done in a certain amount of time to meet my TAT and not be docked because we didn't. 


    I have been in your shoes and perhaps worse sm
    You don't need to explain yourself. You are here with a complaint about something a recruiter said to you, not so that others can pounce on you for not handling your personal difficulties! OF COURSE this didn't happen overnight and OF COURSE you have been working on it. I have had this very thing happen and it took many months to get ahead of it, but I did. I have faith that you can too.

    I hang out here and I hope that like several others, I have a voice that is a voice of reason, maturity with more than a little heart in it. (Okay, so I am not the whiz kid of tech issues and some of you call me verbose and a braggart and I don't care.) Some days I come on here and think whew! Some of us need to go back to kindergarten and learn how to get along with others, learn to share, root for home team, share the ropes, hug our neighbors when they need it and understand that if we like our boo boos kissed better, then we need to do some boo boo kissin' too.

    Now, I don't know about some of you with cold hearts and nasty fingers...but my mom told me several things growing up and I don't forget them even if I am olderer than dirt:
    --if you can't say something nice, keep your mouth shut.
    --you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
    --if you want a friend, be a friend.
    --if you hang your dirty laundry out to dry, it isn't going to get any cleaner.
    --life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
    --what goes around comes around.

    I especially believe in that last one. I used to be a very angry, bitter person and I used to lash out and be nasty. Then I got sick. Then I came as close to dying as I want to get for a very long time yet. I don't have my health and I might not have much time left either. I have grown thin and frail though I am not yet 50. I woke up one morning while I was recuperating and decided that since my life was going to be shorter than I thought, so I had better shape up before I got shipped out for good. I changed my attitude and I changed my life.

    Today, I have spent years sowing seeds of gladness, seeds of caring, seeds of friendship, seeds of understanding and I find my life incredibly rich and full.

    I know that all of you who have to rip others apart have small, unhappy lives and you can't see that you have a major role in that, in fact, you have the STARRING ROLE. I feel sorry for you and you know who you are. I feel sorry for you because you are always going to have an unhappy, unfulfilled life because WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.

    sorry, I had to rant and it is off topic, but not exactly.
    I DID wear the same shoes as others..
    HENCE, where I am now. So there.
    I was in your shoes not that long ago

    I had 3 under the age of 5 at home.  I've worked both statutory/IC (the only difference is that statutory means they take out the federal taxes and IC doesn't)and employee positions.  By far, the best for me was statutory.  Even now that my kids are all in school, statutory is still better because of summer vacations.


    Some things to remember:  Most employee positions require you to punch a timeclock.  Some companies let you get your work done in a 12-hour window, others require you to work just the shift your scheduled for.  The employee position I had did not give you the window. 


    My employee position also required me to produce so many lines per hour, even though I was paid by production not hourly.  Therefore, if you are scheduled 6 hours and had to produce 100 lines per hour, you needed to have 600 lines in by the time you clocked out.  If you got interrupted by 1 of your kids, you had to either clock out and make the time up at the end of your shift (which no one feels like doing) or stay clocked in, try to handle the problem in a few minutes, and hope you make your 100 lines per hour.  Of course, the line requirement was averaged over the week or payperiod (can't remember which now), so I always went with the second option of staying clocked in rather than having to make up time at the end of my shift.  But, anything that took more than a few minutes to handle, you'd better clock out or else Big Brother will report you for stealing from the company.


    There are some downsides to statutory.  You do not get benefits.  If you want a day off, you take it, but you don't get paid for it.  You also don't get time and a half.  You work what you work and get paid the same amount, unless you're with a company that pays incentives/bonuses for anything over a certain amount. 


    I honestly can't say much else about statutory.  It's my favorite.  The flexibility is just too good to pass by when you have little ones at home. 


    I won't comment on companies to work for.  Too many people like to argue when you try to post something positive about a company.  Read the archives, decide on 2 or 3 companies, then ask about those companies.  It's just too broad otherwise.


    Having worn your shoes,

    I feel your pain.  I've worked for a couple of companies that went offshore, also.  In one I was transcribing Social Security disability evaluations.  Those went to the Philippines. 


    Picture this:  Your full name, DOB and SSN, as well as details of all your physical and mental disabilities, going to another  country,  potentially to be stolen and used by identity thieves.  The US government contracting to have its work done by a company that sends the work to a foreign country. 


    Inconceivable to me at the time.  Still makes no sense, but then I'm obviously not management material. 


    Great post! In the same shoes you are! sm
    I'm not worried anymore, though. I made it through my probationary period with lots of ups and downs, a lot of tough dictators, one that I STILL cannot understand and I do this guy EVERY DAY!  But I like the job, like the QA people I have and have finally made it up to line count and I've been there since December. Now, to stay there....  Nice group of people. I like it a lot.  Don't know what account you are on but I logged off just a while ago and the stats were still coming in. LOL 
    I've been in your shoes, with 3 kids, but (sm)
    there is a very fine line to walk between hiring enough people for a new account and putting them somewhere until it actually starts, and overhiring.  You want enough people, not too many, not too few.  Try walking that line sometime. I have, and you usually get flak from both sides.  Hang in there.
    Do not judge unless you have been in their shoes. I worked for another sm
    company that went through the exact same thing for 2 years. They were too big for small company insurance and do not have enough people that want insurance to qualify for large group. They would get all the way to the final contract and the insurance company would double the rate.

    Keystrokes has been trying to get this resolved for a year. The reason for the information is because each company wants different things.

    I spoke with someone very high up in the company about this. She told me that they get close and then something happens to change it, like the insurance company backs out due to too many health issues or that they decide that the group is not diverse enough. Keystrokes employs mostly women. The insurance companies do like this because women tend to go to the doctor more.

    I do know that they are going to pay a portion though.

    I think that the shame should be on you. Do you think that you are helping by complaining on a public board? There are 500 happy employees and just a handful who come to the boards to bash them. This is worse than high school.
    let the MTSOs step in the MTs shoes - sm
    If they cant pay a decent wage, them maybe it is time to let some of the clients go and work for yourself. It is just like MTs, if you accept a low rate of pay that is what you get. Stand up for yourself MTSOs and ask for more money. Get a back bone.
    We're all moody at times. I would never want to be in the shoes of one of the sm
    big service owners. I imagine I would be postal, not just moody. I could never run a service of that size and be in a good mood all the time, could you? Have you tried? Didn't think so.
    We have work. I've been in your shoes though with other jobs
    They are screaming desperately, I get the job, and the second day of the job, there is no work so I sat there all afternoon twiddling my thumbs. By day 3, when I was told there was only 3 reports to do, I quit. Life's too short to waste my time and energy.
    Doesn't apply if your OSI account doesn't use Ichart.
    It is the Ichart only for OSi where you are cheated.
    TT doesn't pay for spaces or ExText doesn't
    nm
    That doesn't fly - KS doesn't offshore
    nm
    He doesn't trust VR, or doesn't trust his MT to train it correctly?
    Or perhaps his MT(s) has/have been filling his head with horror stories about VR and how it is a lawsuit waiting to happen?

    Personally, I don't see any reason an M.D. would not trust a VR program, unless he's seen the products of a report edited by a less than competent MT who didn't do their editing job appropriately.


    okay, that doesn't really help. I really need to know
    the major city that is near you, how far away it is, and also put the next major city to you. For instance, if you live in kissmee, florida, you would put Orlando about 30 minutes away and Tampa about 45 minutes to one hour away.
    TH doesn't. nm
    xxx
    It doesn't mean anything now though.
    I don't care if I got anything, but if it didn't come until all the posts about not getting even a card, it just doesn't mean anything.  
    for CMT...CMT really doesn't mean....sm
    a heck of a lot, as I know plenty of CMTs who make errors (just like any MT who sometimes does), errors like  typing Port-A-Cath as Porta-Cath.  For decades, *CMT* yielded NOTHING extra $$-wise.  Today that is changing a tad.
    It doesn't get better than this! NM
    .
    And if you think she doesn't already know, I
    p
    It doesn't seem so to me. SM
    I was told that my account would be 50-60% ESL, but I don't find them too difficult. As well, there are lots of normals to look back on for help if needed.
    It doesn't take me any
    extra time. I just write down the job numbers while they are downloading. If I was having to actually take time out of work, I don't know that I would do it!
    It may well be, but it sure doesn't sit well.

    Doesn't matter to me either way, I'm not staying. 


    MQ doesn't either.
    x
    Maybe she doesn't have the exp in ...sm
    the area they are advertising on the job boards. Maybe she doesn't have the years of exp they want. There could be many reasons why she hasn't obtained another job. Maybe she wanted to give this one a fair chance. Who knows?
    doesn't have anything to do with that..
    how many companies state a minimum and overhire so you end up not making your lines? It does not mean Synernet does not do the same thing. Have you worked for them? Do you know this for sure?
    This doesn't add up...
    I read the article.  It states, We have 1,000 domestic transcribers and 600 in India.  Now, why do they need 600 transcriptionists in India if only 15% of the work is being sent to India?  So, it takes 600 Indian MTs to complete 15% of Transcend's work and 1,000 American MTs to complete 85%.  Either the Indian MTs are very, very slow (and how is that cost effective and how does that affect turnaround time and quality) or they are sending more than 15% of the work to India.  Take your pick .
    That says a lot about you then, doesn't it.
    Why on earth would you find entertainment in MTs taking a pay cut to do VR and being low on work, etc. Sigh.
    From the looks of that ad, it doesn't appear that
    N/M
    I believe and to anyone who doesn't sm

    she tells the truth here.  It's so sad that they are doing this to us.  Those who stay will probably be people who are the 2nd income in the home, not the main breadwinner.


    You mean she doesn't post her name (nm)
    x
    That doesn't mean it was sold...
    there are many reasons why the accounts/offices are going through closure/moving.

    If contracts are not renewed, then not only will the account be finished but if that is a significant percentage of work for that office MQ may choose to merge that office with another for cost savings.

    All I know to believe is what they have told me.
    Well that doesn't say much about the company
    You've been there 4 months and have 5 accounts already?????  That tells people that they run out of work consistently otherwise you would be working on 1 account and have a backup, maybe 2.  I've been there years and didn't even get my secondary account for almost 6 months because the work was so heavy on my primary account.  Things have changed.  The turnaround is so great they have to continually overhire.  The only thing I have to say is think about why you were hired at 10 cpl.  You're training the VR that is going to be cutting that 10 cpl to 5.5 cpl. If you're happy earning 5.5 cpl doing FULL editing that's great.  Maybe you weren't there when the CEO was saying that the people who do really well on editing are not high producers in typing and vice versa.  Those who have a hard time doubling their lines in editing are the ones producing 350-400 lines an hour in typing. There's no way they can make 700 lines per hour doing FULL editing.  So if you're doing great in editing, you're not that great in typing...you're average.  If you're a high producer in typing, let's see how happy you'll be when making 5.5 cpl for producing the same amount of work.
    This company doesn't try either
    They have not responded to their employees directly ... instead they put their comments anonymously on this board.
    Best pay, doesn't always mean the best company. sm
    You could make $0.18 cpl doing ESLs all day long and run out of work. That being said, how much would you make really if you can't do ESLs or there is no work available.

    Everyone is looking for something different in a company. My suggestion is to write down what it is you are looking for, line rate, steady work flow, schedule, pay periods, etc and seek it out.

    Good luck to you.
    Stop saying that just because someone doesn't
    share your opinion they must not get the reports you do, must not get the dicators you do, must not be an MT, must not...must not...must not.

    Some have a different aptitude for this work. Others have a different OUTLOOK on the work and on life.

    You're not the only MT there. You're not the only one with your outlook. Just because someone works at MQ, however, does NOT mean that they MUST feel like you, get the same work you do, etc. I get difficult dictators and reports a LOT but I don't complain about it. It's part of the job.

    I really hope you can find something you are comfortable and satisfied with. I wish you all the luck. Please work ardently at doing so.

    Doesn't matter
    They won't have the work anyway! They just want to keep EVERYBODY on standby constantly.
    She doesn't. That is the beauty of it!
    She is sick in the head and likes to pretend that she knows everything. That's what everyone on this board does.
    It doesn't matter anyway
    We don't have any work now, so no work later will be no surprise.  Have been working for 3 hours and have been able to "snag" only two reports. 
    A company that doesn't ...sm
    test? CMT, 16 years experience including transcriptionist, QA, supervisor/trainer. Tired of all the companies that use mttest before they will even talk to you which takes up my time - only to find they don't pay very well! Are there any companies that wave the testing if you have the experience and great references?
    How would you know the hospital doesn't know?? sm
    Unless you are literally involved in the contract agreement between Diskriter and the hospital, how in the WORLD would you know what the hospital does and does not know.  If you are an MT, you would have no idea because we are not involved in those discussions.  They do not hide the fact that they offshore, in fact are pretty up front about it.  They contract witih an offshore company, know because I was told by upper management when I asked.  They only hire domestic MTs themselves.  Little work goes to the offshore company or they wouldn't have so many domestic MTs working OT like crazy.
    Why the government doesn't come down on them...sm
    Because the government, which was formerly assumed to be the people of the United States, but is now Corporate America only, doesn't have a stake in us, only big business. It is for this same reason that they allow illegal aliens to work all over America without consequnce to the employers who hire them. They make more than they would in their home countries, and a whole lot less than they should in the U.S., but companies want cheap labor and the US Dept. of Labor is there to help them get it. We who sell ourselves in the once respected MT profession for too little wages, at too long hours, without defending our rights to overtime and a fair wage, have just made the sacrifices of so many people who fought and died for those rights, martyrs to a lost cause. Shame on us. I don't work for Food, or Insurance, I work for a decent living wage, and if I can't make it working for one of these Nationial MT Sweat Shops, I quit. I don't blame myself because I know what I am capable of. I have had terrible sound quality, stupid and slow work platforms, unresponsive supervisors, account switching up to 4 in one day, nit-picking QA that I have had to prove wrong (and did) to keep my QA at 100%, and no pay for problems that were their fault. I quit them all. Although I may be Peeing in the wind, I will continue to uphold my standards, and make them uphold the Labor Laws of America. PTC I think we would all be better off it the likes of the poster below who said they did not want overtime because the government just took in taxes would leave the profession. It is hard to believe someone could be so stupid, and if they are truly an MT, then I would be ashamed to be seen with them. I would stake my life on the fact that this poster is a female, because men are not so foolish as to think that after the government takes out their 30% to 40%, the remaining 60-70% isn't worth having. Give me a break!!!
    Doesn't cost the MT anything, though from my
    experience you can do as good, if not better on your own.   They actually contacted me (probably from my resume posted on a couple of job boards) and I tried them thinking that maybe they had companies that didn't advertise and that probably paid well considering they were using a third party company to hire/screen, but the company they referred me to was one that frequently advertises here and the pay was average.