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I understand your feelings, but let me give you

Posted By: old seasoned MT on 2006-11-23
In Reply to: Considered this company first, but now - not for me

my recent experience. Mind you, I do not recommend just any company or say someone is good if they aren't. I am a seasoned MT who has worn many hats in out field. I recently decided to give MT a try again after running the gamut all the way up to QA manager, but so many problems with companies who pretend to be what they are not. I saw the posts by others that to me seemed unrealistic.

I wrote to Transtech and I was hired. Immediately after hire, I was set up, no wait. The tech guy got his job done and the program worked with no problems.

Their recruiter was very nice, willing to work with you, set a schedule that was workable, etc. These people were the nicest people I have been associated with in a long time.

I found myself unable to do MT on a full-time basis due to back problems and it really broke my heart. I have seen the industry just go downhill through the years and this company to me is just absolutely THE ONE that can lift your spirits in a field that has dampened your spirits.

They may be growing at a fast pace, but their ability to communicate and make you feel like a very important player in their team is something that none of the other companies I know will let you do. You are important to them.

I had to resign just due to my medical problems, but had they had a position available that enabled me to utilize my other skills open, I would not have quit. I really wanted to give MTing a try again with the downward spiral of the upper level jobs in most companies. I will not give my expertise out for next to nothing so I felt I could truly make management money by just going back to MT again as I always made management money doing MT. I guess I was delusional thinking I could make it work. They bent over backwards to give me a great flexible schedule and work with me. Their program had no flaws after one initial problem and the way they decided to solve it.

Trust me, I don't pat a company on the back that has not earned it.

I can tell you I am not a planted person, but I cannot say enough nice things about this company. If there was a position available in their organization that could employ my other skills such as management or supervisory, I would not hesitate to go back.

They are the cream of the crop IMHO and I do not work for them and the brief time I did taught me not to totally give up on this profession because I know of at least ONE excellent company.

BTW, their account was great and the sound was quite good. I cannot commend them enough.


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I understand your feelings...
It is so hard to be two places at once but if you feel that your son needs your attention right now, call off. They will have to understand. You would call off if you worked in an office right? Just do what is right for you and in the end it will work out...Hope your son feels better!!! Hang in there!!!
Believe me I understand your feelings. I had been with MQ
for 17 years, when they starting cutting the ASR rate in 06/2007. I decided then and there the writing was on the wall. I knew it would not be too long before they cut it down to 5 cpl. I was making 10 cpl straight typing, but took a pay cut to work for TT and it was worth it. I am sure things will work you for you. Take care.
I understand your feelings completely...
I also get discouraged because working over the internet we are nothing to these companies. They cannot see us or hear us. They treat us with such lack of respect, and I especially hate the sadistic behavior I see all throughout this industry of women toward women, manipulating people's work and messing with someone's livelihood.

Research online and you can find out each company's profits, yet instead of getting raises and perks, after the companies are profitting millions in 1 year, we have benefit after benefit reduced or taken away, and the pay just keeps decreasing. We are paid whatever they want to pay us. It is like we have no advocacy whatsoever, just like back in the days of slave labor and child labor.

I was hoping the old AAMT would step up to that challenge but they are even more self-oriented than the companies themselves. They are in bed with the competition and playing both sides.
Go with your gut feelings. nm
x
you have summed up a lot of feelings and
realities of this once profession and I really appreciate the post...
I didn't mean to start any bad feelings. I am sorry. nm
x
I got the call, too. Mixed feelings here, too, but (sm)
my deep-seated distrust of all large companies of any type causes me to be worried. The call was upbeat, but I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens. This did kinda ruin my day, though.........
If she was so upset about your letter not representing her feelings...sm
then let her write her own letter and express how the minority in this situation feels!!  Kudos for you in your quest to let the country know what kind of shaft you all got!  Don't ever forget that you have a bunch (and I mean a bunch) of MTs behind you, ex-Heartland or not!
Medical insurance isn't about feelings. It's business. nm
s
Trust your feelings. Too many good places (sm)
out there.  No sense making yourself ill.   My hope is that someday all the cherry pickers will be put on one big boat and shipped to India to assist in training. 
Good for you. I hope you share your positive feelings
towards that company on this board then. People are only stating their opinions. If they have a bad one, that's their choice. All you can do is share your opinion that's good. However, if you don't share that opinion and simply jump on to tell everyone else to stop complaining, you're really not helping things.
You'll get over the good feelings. I've been here over a year now. (sm)
And if you had seen the subtle changes they have been making, you may agree they are moving in the direction of becoming the new MQ (pre sale to India).
I work with a rescue group so I get my share of fuzzy feelings
I financed a group to get it started, paying for the animal's care, vet bills, medicine and still do the financing. I also take my money and help others out. I just sent some money yesterday to a MT whose has a son who is in dire shape and she wants to go be with him. Not too long ago I read on here about a lady who needed help in buying a foot pedal. I sent her money for that so basically you don't know what you are saying when you say help others out. My mother said I did this from a very young age and I continue to do the same. I also take care of me, though. As far as a sugar daddy, never wanted one. I have a chef husband and a housekeeper. I work, travel, rescue animals, help others out when I want to. Priceless. End of conversation.
"warned" by someone who won't give facts or sign her name. Give me a break! nm
x
Nationals give at least a week to learn program. Give
xx
They used to give out $25 Amex cheques -- give them time. :-) nm

I get what you are all saying about them not having to give give you work, but...
I guess I just figure that as an IC, I am basically my own business and it is my responsibility to make sure that the work is done when it should be. I just think that if the standard of the company is 24 hour TAT then that is what I am agreeing to do when they hire me. There are advantages for both of us to the IC senerio, they do not have to pay benefits, or take care of collecting and reporting the taxes, and I have to adhear to the 24 hour TAT (or what every thier standards are) but can do that during hours that are convenient to me. Of course it is better for the company if they know exactly when I am going to be sitting at my desk and typing that is why they have the option of hiring employees. Just my opinion and wanting things to be like they used to be.. I guess I have to get out of my time warp or look a little harder for a company who really knows what IC status means.
Give it time, sweetie, give it time.
...................
What I don't understand is this-

But I still don't understand

They never have anything positive to say, except about themselves.  I guess we don't need to ask anymore questions after we come to that conclusion.


So, let me understand (sm)
That this is your first career/job out of high school and you are getting 8.5 cpl for clinics and they are mentoring you?  Did you hire in at that?  How long have you been there to be offered QA with such little background in MT? (no offense)  I have 10 years experience and they are talking 8 cpl to me.  Hmmm.....
I think we can all understand
The typo police don't have to come out every time.  Get a life.  We all work with words all day long and when you get on here, you might be a little tired.  Give 'em a break.
I don't understand it, either. sm
It'd be great if MTs came here and supported each other. This is NOT a great field to be in, IMO. We should be banding together as sisters (and brothers) in the same boat.

I wish the monitors would institute a zero-tolerance policy toward people who deliberately harass someone here like this person or people were doing to Metrochick.
Don't understand
I couldn't afford to stay in business if I paid people for NOT working.  I can understand if the computer is down or if there is a problem, but just because there is no work, a company would go broke.  Can I bill the doctors if they do not dictate a day?  How can I pay you if I cannot bill a customer for work?  This work has always been up and down -- feast or famine my father used to say.  But through the years -- now over 20 -- I have learned to save for the lean times.   Like I said if the problem was on my end due to machinery malfunction but if docs don't send in the dication how can I pay you for something I cannot bill out to them?  
I Understand more now
I understand more now of what you are saying.  I agree with you more than when I first read your post.  It is so hard to juggle in this job market.  There are so many pieces that fit into the cpl you charge the client,  the transcriptionist, supplies, QA time, software, etc. that is it very hard for an owner to make much and when an account is down for the day to pay those people that should be on it while it generates no income is double hard.   It is really hard to strike that balance of being staffed correctly for both the busy and slow times of the year.  A lot of it is out of my control.   You are probably with a larger company that can afford to pay you for 8 hours of work and generating income from only one.   They count that into their overhead.  I have only 5 accounts of 2-3 docs, have 2 part-times and am the QA, owner, Transcriptionist also.  But on those accounts that my gals type, I make only 25 to 30% max on what they type which a lot of times generates out to only $7 to $9 an hour for doing pick-up, pick-up, delivery, printing, etc.  That is why in 2006 I am going to  probably cut back to doing only what will keep me with a decent income to pay my bills and I do not have to worry about having enough work for the gals, doing the running, etc.  My guilt is high when the docs are on vacation or it is a slow time and the gals have no work but I cannot cut myself short either.   Enough rambling on,  - I do understand more and I think that if your company is not paying you for the time, they know they have overstaffed themselves to cover those times when the need is heavy and thus I would probably look for another company that staffs more evenly.   Sorry I rambled on so much.     
The way I understand it . . .
they are instituting what they're calling a pilot program to sort of test the waters of offshoring work by starting to send a small percentage of work overseas in order to be competetive with their contract fees. No, I don't think they're doing it yet, but it is obviously going to happen at least to a small extent in the near future. We have to accept this as the trend of the future because it's happening everywhere, like it or not.
What does this mean for MTs? I don't understand.
?
Understand. Thank you!
x
I understand!
That is why I love it when they post unqualified applicants need not apply!
I can understand...
I worked for an Iranian doc in office and there was a woman there that'd worked for him for about 13 years. He would call her at 3 am because he thought of something he wanted to tell her (she was also an MT). He did this all the time. As far as I know she's still there because he pays so well.
I understand all that.
The point is that besides the tons of different work types there are VERY different account specifics from hospitals all over the country. I am well versed in different work types; that was not the issue. The issue was all the different account specifics that changed on a weekly basis to boot. It became where we had no primary account. How is that productive for them or for me?
I understand that...
That is my exact point that the PTO accrues so slowly that how do they expect you to use this for your maternity leave!! Actually right now I earn less than 4 hours every two weeks and I can't accrue any because I have to use it for holidays and when there is no work unless I want to work all through the night after I have just sat all day waiting for work!! Do this make more sense... I was just told I wanted to be a maternity rider when that is not the case. All I came on here to do was to try to find a better job with more PTO then maybe when I do have a baby I can take two weeks off with it at least...at this rate I will have to come right back to work like two days after I pop a kid out! I never wanted to get into a XXXX match with anyone over maternity leave, but that is what it has turned out to be!!!
I know, don't understand it either!
there really is no proofing while you type. Proofing is going back and proofreading a document after it's done. Doesn't everyone technically read the words as they type??? And with all that going on at once, you miss things. On the other hand, I do not blame MTs who do not proofread the documents at the end, definitely less production and hence less money. I'm going to tell you a secret...lol..I just started skimping a bit on that myself. If I have a small mistake, oh well. I need to make a living here! :)
No, you don't understand.
My account with them DID pay for headers and footers and I always randomly check my line count against the ESCRIPTION (not Editscript) metrics of the company.  This week it is off consistently and in talking with the company was told the client does not want to pay for headers any longer ???? so without letting us know, we are suddenly not paid for completing demographics.  I simply wanted to make sure others were aware of this as this evidently can happen anywhere at anytime and no one at the company may feel compelled to share this info with the MTs. 
I understand what you are trying to say, or what
is bothering you. I have been in this industry my entire adult life - a LONG time - and I agree that most companies have changed in that they just don't share info that is really pertinent - like not getting paid for headers anymore. Its sneaky to me, or underhanded, and just breeds contempt or suspicion in the MTs. Or, the company can have an uppity attitude, like why on earth is it the MTs business what they are getting paid for or not? Which also makes me feel bitter. I remember the old days of honest communication - the news might not have been good, but I handled it well. They treated me with respect, and I felt like a professional. Gone are those days, and it is a shame.
This is what I don't understand........
Wouldn't it have been more beneficial to everyone involved to sell the company rather than just let it die a painful death?
I don't understand...
why they yell at the MTs when it is not their fault? The MTs get blamed for everything!!!!!!!!! Grrrrr
I don't understand
how you can say they ALWAYS pay on time when just this past Friday they were late with direct deposit
I don't understand something sm
How do you have any contact with anyone in upper management? I work there; I never even hear from upper management. I talk to my manager and that's it. What morale problems are your referring to, because I couldn't be happier here?
I really don't understand all of what you just said
but I do know that not everyone has had a bad experience with OSi. I never run out of work, have great coordinators, am always paid on time, am making more than I did when I first started, and have expanded my abilities greatly. All of the things that are important to me in a company, I have at OSi, and I've had them for the past 3 years. I understand some people didn't have a good experience there, and that this is their place to hang out and vent. I just think it's too bad when OSi has been a good fit for many people, and then there are these people who hang out at this board who have made it their life's mission to carp on OSi. It doesn't really affect me at all...it's just very, very tiring.
Don't really understand what she is doing.
I tested for her last year and was hired for this account.  Immediately she wanted me on a psych account that I was not interested in.  She then tried to give me ANOTHER account.  I explained that I would be more than happy to take on the other account AFTER I was established on the one I was hired for.  She came back and told me they shifted things around internally and had it covered now.  Not sure what kind of game that was but I know it is one I want no parts of.  Hope this helps. 
What I don't understand is (sm)
If a company does not pay for headers and footers, fine.  I get that.  But what advantage is it for them to disable the feature so that we can't see the counts of individual reports?  I have worked at places not on Ex-Text where some reports just mysteriously never made it to the hospital.  No one was cheating, it was just a software glitch.  Had to send again and it counted. So what would prevent that from happening with this?  I agree, we should be able to verify that every single report is counting, if for no other reason than this one.
I just can't understand why you are saying you need

You can go to whatever school you like and still be considered a newbie in a lot of company's eyes.  It all depends on what you want to do as far as your career.  Whatever floats your boat.  


What I really don't understand...

is that the account I'm supposed to do has a ton of work, and they are giving incentives. 


Seems to me they are really, really disorganized. 


Sorry you are facing this.  My other job has run out of work this weekend too.  All the companies want full-time, but when you do that, you end up short on pay.  I'm on my own.  Can't afford that.


Lord, I just depressed myself....didn't mean to do that to you too....



As I understand it, it's
because they can only make money if they can get work, and a lot of American companies won't subcontract work to them. Therefore the Indians have to come here to set up their own shop to be able to say they are an American company and be able to get their own work. So then they are based here but can still send all or most of their work back home. Now you would think at least America is getting some tax money for the business, but no. They are probably here on one of those special visas and they get huge tax breaks. Uncle Sam is paying them to come here and do this to us.

Grrr.


i don't understand that...

WHY doesn't control I work?  I've used ExText before with different companies, each time using control I to monitor my production accurately.  The last report takes a minute or two to be counted, but, sheesh, that's nothing.  I KNOW there's nothing fishy going on, btw.  I just would like to know WHY control I doesn't work at TT. Is it just program goblins?  Now, THAT I understand.  LOL! But, as expensive as Dictaphone is, I would think they'd make it right, no matter how they have to do it. I'm just not getting that part of it.


 


I understand
I feel for all of you, as I said. A paycheck is a paycheck for me. The company was the best company that I have ever worked for, and I am truly sorry things turned out the way they did for so many. I will just look at the cup half full on the positive side and hope that maybe they can be again. I wish you both well and I hope you find another greener pasture. They are out there. Take care.
I Understand
So, you're actually working 7.5 hours during your 8-hour shift, but your company is basing your benefit rate on how much you did during the 8 hours instead of during the actual 7.5 hours worked. Right?
i understand
I'm glad they are going to fix the problem. I wasn't suggesting that running out of work was your fault by any means, I was just wondering if you had crosstrained. I completely understand that others shouldn't take work because they run out, it is par for the course. I am trying to get as much in as I can right now because I'm sure with the holidays things will slow down, (it happened on columbus day, no more work left) and I don't feel right taking from others unless it is simply to help out if it is backlogged. I hope you aren't offended, I wasn't trying to start an argument :)

I understand that, but....
isn't it management's job to manage their MTs? I am not talking about little questions about account specifics or things like that. That is what we have the IM group for. I research before I IM a fellow MT and I IM them before I bother a supervisor. I have emailed about things that could affect patient safety without receiving an answer and there is no provision in the system to make sure that QA is going to pick up on the same problem that I do by listening to the whole report. Also, when you answer an email or IM, how long does it take to type, Thank you for bringing this to my attention or Have a good day? Most of the time I prefer to be left alone, and I understand the volume they deal with, but it is the little things that make us feel valued and not isolated.
From what I understand not enough MTs

are interested in getting insurance through KS, which limits their options for a more affordable plan. 


I'm new enough that I don't have insurance so can't speak for the details.  Fortunately we are able to get a decent insurance through my husband's work, but I personally wouldn't want to be tied into insurance through a transcription company and would rather have my own policy so that I can take any job I want without having to consider their insurance coverage.