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reporting cherry pickers falls on deaf ears. I have complained for years.

Posted By: give it up on 2009-02-18
In Reply to: I turn in the job #s to my STM and say, Ahem, is this cherry-picking? nm - WebHead

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To all of you who have complained about QA and it has fallen on my deaf ears...sm
I FLIPPING APOLOGIZE!!!!

I have had the mother of all run ins with QA today. This is a new job for me, I have not been happy, but it is a job, you know?

I can't imagine I have made that many stupid mistakes! I don't as a rule. I have had a tough week, it is true. I have been sick, had some family problems, etc. but this takes the cake.

I had the doctor say: Scratch that, use... QA corrected to include the scratch that sentence. Counted me off. Lovely.

We have BOS specifics, company style guide and account specifics. Apparently, the QA person didn't read any of these and corrected my work to reflect BOS 1 style, when we were told to use BOS 2. Okay...

She corrected properly placed commas.

She added words that the doctor didn't say to make it sound better. We can't do that, it is V-E-R-B-A-T-I-M verbatim. She corrected for past tense on a doctor that never uses that and is an ESL, so his language usage is not what we would call correct, exactly, but he makes sense in a round about way. Gotta type what he says, right?

EVERY SINGLE STUPID REPORT was overly corrected, incorrectly corrected, had things that are incorrect in the BOS, the company guide AND the account specifics...

I have not had this much of a run in with QA in about 10 years and I am livid. I know I have typos here and I am not making sense, but I am so angry, I have tears in my eyes.

I had a friend, a former MT, tell me that what I have here is a situation where someone of inferior intelligence, less experience than I have who is vastly over-correcting my work because she is on a power trip!

Any suggestions?

Cherry pickers. sm
Does anyone work for a company who will not overlook cherry picking?  Thanks.
Cherry pickers
And if it goes to someone more familiar, how will you ever become familiar with it? That familiar person may leave and you get half a dozen reports you cannot do and you make zilch because you didn't take the time to become familiar.
Cherry Pickers
Happening everywhere, also adjustment in lines, not counting this, not counting that. We have some really dishonest greaseball people running things these days. I feel for ya, I really do. I would look elsewhere if I were you.
Cherry pickers and other cherry pickers
my experience is all hospital acute care, 16 years.  So, working for nationals, I think in the last 3 years especially, your supervisors have quotas too, and they are the worst cherry pickers, I don't think the transcriptionists have the ability like your supervisors have to get the better dictation but they do.  If they say they don't they are lying.  How do you think they are able to send you stats, etc., plus if you are ground floor on an account they get the better dictation.  I asked 3 companies if it was first in, first out, they assured me it was but in the first month all I got were mainly ESLs, short short dictations, and slurred speakers.  Give me a break!  Who are they kidding?  Of course they don't care and that is why there is such heavy turnovers.  Women will be women. 
Cherry pickers

I have to say it is not like crying someone got a bigger piece of candy, it has to do with you type your fingers to the bone putting up with all the lousy dictators and the cherry pickers end up with higher productivity and possibly better raises.  Sure you type all the lousy reports and you are a better MT because of it, but you can also be a poorer $$ wise MT. 


True story...working on-site with 3 of us on the job.  One wanted to come in at 3 a.m. and work until 8 a.m. because of child care issues.  My shift started at 6 a.m. and this person was never there, but her productivity was sky high,,,then we figured it out, there was one doc who read almost all radiology reports as normal.  We realized that none of his reports were ever there when we came in in the a.m. only the ESL and lousy dictators.  So we started watching, sure enough this doc easily read 150 reports and probably 135 of them were normals (or so he said).  So revenge is sweet....after we heard yet again from our sup. how wonderful so and so was and how much work she produced ,so we started hiding his work and leaving her all the lousy dictators......  All of the sudden,  her line count dropped in the toilet and the cat was out of the bag.  The good docs work got done at 6 a.m. and no one was the wiser. Too bad it is not possible when you are working off-site.


cherry pickers
My 2 cents: I've been an MT for 25 years. I've worked in hospitals where cherry picking was always a huge issue for some. There would be accusations filed with the supe, investigations done, department meetings held, and conclusion would usually be: It couldn't be definitely proven. If it was clear that an MT had assigned herself/himself a bunch of good stuff and skipped higher priority jobs, then he/she might be verbally reprimanded but rarely written up (usually because he/she wasn't the only one guilty and could point the finger at others). Most of the times, supe told everybody to MYOB. My best friend still works in-house and has a co-worker who skips any and everything to get only x-rays. When she asked after 3 years of this, if they could have a dept. meeting or do something to work through this, she was told that this person was too valuable to mess with because of her willingness to work late shift. I now work for a national and there is no way to cherry pick on my accounts, short of closing out/shutting down and going back in 15-30 minutes later, which would only cause you to have to make up that time later, and you might even end up with that same job you wanted to skip and it's not worth it. My lead actually routed me a job recently asking for my help and apologizing that she was sending me an op note that several MTs had skipped over. Each MT has to decide how much time/energy to put into fighting cherry picking or whether to try to let it go as one of the many unfair obstacles we face in life.
what makes you think cherry pickers are fat??
x
Cherry Pickers do not fare well
with me. If you wind up on my account and I catch you cherry-picking, you will get one warning. If you cherry-pick again on purpose again, I will report you to management and do all in my power to get you either written up or terminated. It is not fair to the other MTs on the account. Cherry-pickers ruin it for everyone, and should not call themselves MTs.
Cherry-pickers are whiners themselves
We may whine BUT WE DO EVERY REPORT WE GET unlike cowardly cherry-picking. Yes you do as I said previously advocate dishonesty of cherry-pickers. THEY are the incompetent ones. I am very good and have myself fired those for cherry-picking. You should be directing your childish ranting to the ones who do NOT do every report. We good MTs have the right to complain about the unfairness of cherry-pickers taking the easy way out and LOSER IDIOTS like you who defend them. Yeah rates have gone down. WHY? Because Indian MTs DO NOT cherry-pick. They (like me and the others on here who don't like cherry-pickers) do EVERY report they come across. You are such a loser to defend lightweight MTs who deliberately only do easy reports. LOSER
You basically said ignore cherry-pickers.
And what a cheap shot to claim someone else can't read. Have fun being a bleeding-heart loser! To say basically ignore someone doing wrong is by default to defend the action.
The idiot who is saying ignore cherry pickers
has probably never had to suffer in lines and wages the consequences of a cherry-picker. People like her saying ignore it and go on are just as bad as those who condone it. Look way below, she's now personally attacking the person who called her on it!!
the bottom line - Cherry-Pickers are scum,
should be fired, and should not even call themselves MTs. If you have a job, you type what is assigned to you. Don't like it?! Take up burger-flipping. Only incompetent MTs cherry-pick.
Please look at your posts defending dishonest cherry-pickers, then look at yourself.
nm
I liked the program too, and love Joann's idea for dealing with cherry pickers
or people who skip reports - assigning the MT who skipped a report 3 reports by the same dictator so they learn how to do them.
YES! I have been there 3 years. I do not see a lot of cherry picking but sm
the account that I am on really does not need it. It is a great account!
Is there really a shortage of US MTs or am I blind and deaf?? sm

I was talking to a prospective employer today.  First off, it is a start-up company in US.  They already have a base in the Philippines. Well, that turned right off; however, we continued the conversation.  My question to this person was this.....so, if you were to get contracts for MT here in the US, are you willing to just hire US MTs?  Answer...Well there is such a shortage of good quality MTs here in the US and we would like to have the work done in the Philippines.  My next question, and if the contract specifically states all work is to stay in the USA, what then?  Well, then we would hire only US based MTs. 


Finally, I had to stop him in his tracks....I told him I emphatically disagree.  There is not a shortage of US MTs.  The problem is that you or any other Internationally based company is not willing to pay the US MTs what they are worth.  You want cheap labor, and you won't get that in the US.  Our MTs here in the USA produce such a high quality patient record and you have to be willing to compensate for that.  If you are interested in USA contracts but want to use cheap labor with no concern for quality, than I am not the person for this position.


 


I am so furious right now as I mull over the conversation......am I just blind or is there really a shortage here in the US of quality-driven MTs.


I am an MT myself as well as QA Specialist and I just do not agree with this mentality.  I think they use this excuse to justify their wanting to offshore.  I see through the smoke screen; however, I guess I just need to hear it from my fellow MTs. 


What are your thoughts on this issue of not enough trained and experienced MTs here in the USA?


 


 


Definitely noticeable and something that has been complained about at all the companies
s
Anyone who falls for this is a schmuck
They might as well say, WE ARE SCAM ARTISTS WHO WILL STEAL YOUR $25 while you wait to hear back about a job. what a transparent hoax.
The ax finally falls at TT

Email went out today that everyone is now being asked to make speech editing a part of our daily routine!  Stated traditional is now the exception and not the rule anymore and we must all move in the same direction to remain competitive. 


This was the LAST thing I wanted to hear, but I sure knew it was coming judging by the way work has dwindled compared to what was available a year ago, whether it be holidays or the middle of the year.  I have no desire whatsoever to move towards speech and I am very upset knowing I have to.  It is not that I am against trying it, I have just gathered the opinion from this board that more than not do not like it and do not make as much money.  I absolutely cannot afford to take a cut in my paycheck in these times. 


Not even 1 hour later came another email touting the great responses and lots of them!  Well, everyone at TT already knew they could try speech at any time...so why wait until today to inquire if they were so excited? 


Good day gone bad for me....


I think this is the same person who complained about this before and she doesn't even work there
nm
What is the DSG1 platform do you known. I thought it was DSG 2 that everyone complained about.
:
If people complained, just send a card
and let that be that.
American Falls, ID, www.omniscribemt.com

if the paydate falls on Saturday
we got paid friday. if it fell on Sunday, we got paid on Monday. that's how it was where I worked. That is also how our bank takes our mortgage payment. If the due date is Saturday, they take it on Friday. If the due date is a Sunday, they take it on Monday.
Reporting to the IRS
I did research the IRS stuff about Independent Contractor versus Employee.  As far as reporting companies, all I could find was 2 forms; one to fill out when you already work for a company and want to dispute your classification (SS-8), and the other form to fill out had something to do with the actual taxes being withheld while your dispute is under investigation.  I was not able to find the form or process for reporting a company regardless of whether I work for them or not.  If you know the details, I would appreciate you sharing them.  I'm sure that anyone can phone the IRS and make a statement, however what does the person on the other end of the phone do with it if there is no formal process or paperwork in that case?  It might just go in one of their ears and out the other, and I certainly don't want to waste my time.
keep your ears open
things are being restructured,it will most likely affect your office.
It would not matter that you complained to your company, they will just say, "there is no work
but the truth is, I want work, you want work. I don't know you, you don't know me (even in the same company). I doubt either of us will complain to anybody if we get work however we get it. You are right, we have families too and need the money. Companies lie all the time, making us job hoppers in a lot of cases because there is not enough work after hiring on that there was plenty, or we got all the ESLs and crummy dictation because we have more experience. That to me is taking money out of my pocket and playing bowling, handicapping me for transcriptionists who have not paid their dues. I don't make the rules but I don't have to continue to work for a company who does those things and there are a slew out there and they don't care if you quit. On the day you quit they already had an ad for more transcriptionists which is what amazes me. It costs money to train us for their platforms and they don't care when we say we have to quit because we aren't making money. No loyalty whatsoever with companies.
If my payday falls on Saturday we are usually paid
on Friday, if Sunday, then we are paid on Monday. We also have a pay schedule that is published at the first of the year so we know when our paydates are.
Here is where it first started - The ax finally falls at TT - UGGHH
NM
You could try court reporting (sm)
...If you're that sick of transcription.

My sister does it and makes good money.  I agree with the poster, above, though - there can be two or three people talking at the same time, some people could be hard to hear 'cuz they're really far from the microphone (a microcassette player you bring yourself).  Plus it seems like double the work - you have to go to court and type on that little ShortHand machine (oh, and you have to learn shorthand), then type the stuff out in readable form at home.  And you have to have a professional wardrobe to wear to court.  Yuck; not for me. 

She seems to like it, though.  She does have flexible hours (it depends when there's a case going on), works from home but has an office base.  She has to drive around to different court locations a lot (she might be able to deduct gas mileage).  I think she's considered an independent contractor, with all the pluses and minuses that go with that (more freedom but more taxes, pay for own insurance, etc.).
Reporting messages. (SM)

Please do not report messages to be removed simply because you disagree with them.  This is a public forum.  Anyone can post here.  If you disagree with a post, simply look past it.  When you post here, everyone is entitled to reply to your entry.


Now, if a post violates posting policy, that is completely different and we want to edit or delete those. 


However, you should focus on obtaining the information/discussions you want from the forum and ignore those who disagree with you.


If you want or need to discuss a situation you are encountering, please e-mail me and we will see what we can do to resolve the situation.


IMPORTANT:  If you make a post and want to retract it, please do not use the moderating form to report the message -- instead, e-mail me.  I must be able to verify that you posted the original message before removing it if it is not violating posting guidelines.


If anyone has any questions, I will be happy to answer them.


Thank you,


Goldbird


I don't work for them. Just reporting what others have said. nm
s
I had thought of reporting her
I had thought about reporting her to the Labor Board actually, but was told by a friend as an IC the labor board couldnt do much for me.. then someone else said they could..especially since, even though she likes to call her employees ICs, they really are actually employees she is illegally calling ICs to avoid paying taxes and bennies.. But since I did finally get paid, there's really not much for the LB to do, I would think. Except maybe light a fire under her in the future and make her pay people and not try and play games with their money. The one she really needs to be reported to is the IRS.. you can't have ICs and make them work a schedule and hound them, and threaten their jobs for not working scheduled hours..but they sure do!!
To poster reporting this...
Yes, we got the complaint. The name was removed. The remainder of the post is acceptable. The voting is not broken. You only get one vote.
Reporting companies
From the website:
http://ethicswontcutit.brentcaulley.com/resources/Complaint+Form

Instructions and info:
There are 3 major U.S. Government Agencies that are concerned with
misclassifying workers as independent contractors when they work as
and get treated as employees
1)The first and most formidable is the IRS. Anybody who has ever been
audited can tell you the IRS is bad news. The IRS is interested both
because Independent contractors get tax breaks on their business
expenses and the company hiring them doesn't have to pay payroll taxes.
The types of penalties on a company like Vector for this kind of tax
evasion on a mass scale with tens of thousands of workers are enormous,
possibly even bankrupting. The only drawback to reporting a company
to the IRS is that you can't do it online. You will have to write a
letter, print it out, and either mail it or walk it in to your local
IRS office, which are all listed at www.irs.gov
2)Your local Dept of Labor, which is interested because it is their
responsibility to make sure workers in their jurisdiction are being
treated right, getting all the pay, benefits, and treatment they
legally have coming to them and that employers are following labor laws.
There are both State DOL Departments and a Federal one. Most likely you
will have to mail them a letter, stop by, or call them up. Their
contact information is at www.dol.gov
3)Your local Unemployment and/or Worker's Compensation Insurance Agency/s
They are interested because if you aren't classified as an employee
but you should be, the company that hired you is skimping out on
unemployment and worker's compensation benefits. These agencies are
closely related to the Dept of Labor and often even a dept within the
DOL. These locations can be found at www.dol.org too.

The independent contractor status is not there to allow some employers
to weasel out of all the rights our local and federal governments have
decided employees deserve, it is there because there are a small minority
of business owners out there (like most attorneys, consultants,
accountants, and such) who run their business by doing small, brief
jobs to multiple other people or businesses- usually at the same time.
Those who run their own businesses don't have anybody but themselves to
give them their benefits and don't need rights to protect them from
anybody but themselves (or the businesses they do their brief jobs for,
but employees get don't get a whole lot rights to protect them from
their customers either, just their bosses).

What the government is looking for in determining whether they are an
employeee or not is behavioral control, financial control, and the type
of relationship. Which are all outlined here:
http://www.irs.gov/govt/fslg/article/0,,id=110344,00.html
To determine these 3 factors, they generally use the IRS's 20
questions which can be found here:
http://www.richterscale.org/garage/20ques.htm
(if these links get outdated you can always search irs.gov and google)

Overtime out my ears at WebMedX (sm)

I get 9 cents a line and there's a tiered incentive plan.  It's something like 150-160 lph they add 0.5, 160-170 lph they add 0.75.  The top is 300 lph, where they add 2 cpl.  I've consistently earned the top incentive pay, making great money.


I was a little worried the work would get low when I saw all the ads lately, but maybe the ads are because they got new accounts.  It gets maybe a teensy bit light around the holidays (like 5 minutes without work).  I have tons of backup accounts and almost every day I have the opportunity for overtime.


I'm a FT employee with benefits.  I'd rather have someone else take care of finding accounts, setting up benefits, etc.  Couldn't be happier, really.


We used to call it "putting our ears on"

Years ago when I worked for an insurance claims adjuster we spent 6 of our 8 hours a day typing reports.  We loved it.  We called it putting our ears on and didn't have to worry abou the rest of it, and more importantly had an excuse to ignore the moody boss.


I personally have always just typed fast.  I've been clocked at 120 wpm.  I got faster sometime in 2006 when I started communicating on message boards on a regular basis.    


Some days, though, no matter what you do, your fingers will not cooperate.  And on the days the fingers cooperate, then the brain doesn't engage.  And on the days where both are working in harmony, then the keyboard doesn't work. 


It's a conspiracy. 


the 'number' of ears does not matter, you have
'excellent' hearing in 1 ear, so you are perfectly suited for this job!
What about sound quality and tech support? Both have been complained about in the past. Thx. nm
s
Are any MTs still with Precyse that complained of losing their good accts a few months ago? If so,
s
DD is usually 1 day early. If holiday falls on payday DD may be a day late, but
never more than that.     S/L company could be having $$ issues is problems with DD.
Then we ALL need to start keeping track of our hours and anything that falls
below minimum wage - we need to start reporting these companies - don't care if this is caused only because of a decrease in starting VR or whatever causes it, no work, downtime if not paid, EVERYTHING included.  I do believe that might get the MTSOs attention.  They can't fire us all.  Looks like India MT situation might be in trouble so the MTSOs should be very cautious that perhaps they can't rely on offshore forever in the future.     
Paydays are the 1st and the 15th. If the payday falls on a weekend sm

the official rule is that we get paid the following Monday. However, the last 2 times it fell on a weekend and it was a Saturday, we were paid the Friday before (yea!!).  There is a listing of all of the official pay dates for 2009.  You should ask S for it. 


Anyone have information on Ubiqus Reporting
Thanks
Does anyone have any info on Ubiqus Reporting?

Can you work part time for them?  How are they to work for?   Do they have enough work to go around?  Is their pay pretty decent?  


TIA!


Wish I'd chosen court-reporting! -(sm)-
When I was 25, my friend & I were both going to trade school. She chose court-reporting, and tried in vain to get me to take it with her. But no, I chose MT because it was faster and I could get a job quicker.

SHOULDA', COULDA', WOULDA' !!!!

If life were on videotape, I'd rewind back to that year and make the RIGHT choice this time. Too late, now - MTs are screwed.
The issue of reporting companies
I would never think of reporting a company because I have a child to care for and I do not want trouble in my life. I was merely passing along what a tax pro told me. I am just glad to be getting out of MTing for good and after January 1, will not look back. What was once a wonderful chance for many women (and men, too; I am sure there are stay at home dads out there) has become rather a school of sharks. I am glad I am leaving it.
Why does it hurt your ears? good grief
:(
I haven't heard anything, but will keep my ears open. nm
xxxx
Keep your eyes and ears open. I have worked
for Transcend in the past, as did several of my friends, and we had a really bad experience.  MQ was better, which says a lot.  Hopefully things have changed now and they have improved their act, but things were horribly mismanaged a few years back, horrible accounts with cherry-picking, supervisors and other leads telling untruths, etc. Biggest point I remember was huge favoritism. I happened to be one of the favored ones, just by luck of the draw, while my friends were not as lucky. Again, just a bungled mess and we all left within a few months.  I believe one of my friends still has their computer. They never even noticed she was gone. That sort of nonsense. Best wishes to you, though.  Maybe you will be treated well since you are part of a business deal.