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Back the turnip truck up!

Posted By: sm on 2007-09-20
In Reply to: Trying to leave MT.... - Newbie MT

You are working full-time with demands of 1,200 lines a day and only making $16,000.00 a year.  You'd better find another job.  What part of the Earth do you live?  My goodness, clerks make more than that.  You may want to try becoming a file clerk as you'd probably make more and it certainly would be less stressful!  Take care!


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Did you just fall off the turnip truck?
Of course it's a scam. Grow up.
Yeah, must have fallen off the turnip truck.

Truck driving
My friend and her husband drove as a "team" before he passed away.  She said it isn't as easy as it looks-- especially if you are a woman.  She said she had to back the trailers into the loading docks and all the "macho men" would just stand there and stare at her-- apparently they are too "manly" to have their jobs taken by women.  Anyway, she said the driving part was fun, but the company monitors you every second via some kind of tracking device and it isn't like I thought-- that you could stop in various parts of the country, etc.  There is a lot of technical stuff you have to know about the truck, maintenance, etc., as well.  She said she wouldn't do it again.
truck type
Don't have direct experience but my husband trucks and am familiar with the concepts. This is an intriguing scenario so hope you don't mind if I speculate a bit.

A few questions for you. By partnership, do you mean you intend to drive, as in split equal driving hours with him? What kinds of distances are involved...state/regional or interstate? You talking lap top type on internet based platform or what (i.e., method of report transmission)?

Certainly, RV is not the same as OTR. I think your main issue would be internet access while in motion. You want to type PT or drive PT or what?
The ice cream truck
The Mister Softee ice cream truck came every evening. You could hear his bell dinging wayyyy before he got to our street. On special occasions (i.e., daddy's payday) we were allowed to go a sundae or milkshake or rootbeer float. I read in the paper just the other day that the man who started Mister Softee recently died.
We saw an ice cream truck the other day (sm)
and my daughter was so excited. But I told her I doubt it if it would come up where we live because there is too much of a spread between houses. We saw it going through a housing development. Which makes sense, but was a disappointment for my daughter (and me!!!!). I remember playing outside and hearing the music way in the distance. I would run to get dimes from my Mom or Dad. That is a VERY pleasant memory. Thanks to OP for starting this topic.
We have an ice cream truck come through
our neighborhood every day. They have all the good stuff from the good ol' days!
Leased a truck for four years. At the
end of that time, purchased the truck because we had put so many miles on it, and they financed for another FIVE years to keep the payments about the same. Won't try that again!!!!!!!!!!!!
I call it Mack Truck Flu.
Feels like  you've been run over with a Mack truck! Glad U are feeling almost within normal limits.
good job! watch out for the truck

being in your name because whatever he does will come back on you so if he crashes and hurts someone, they can come after you.  my x took all the keys so I had another set made and they didn't work so I reported it stolen and let the cops get it from him. (the car was only in my name)  plus it adds to your paper trail that you're going to need to keep yourself protected. 


don't you feel better all ready!


Sorry but truck driving is going south also
Also had hubby as truck driver, as well as done team driving --the rates there are going down as many are coming over the borders and able to drive for less.  So that profession has dropped 50% as well or at least held its own over the past ten years which is not a progression at all.  Even owner-operators are seeing a decline.  So it is hitting everywhere. 
My husband used to drive a truck and

back in 1970s, he made $1 a mile and above. He got out when the rates went down, when the government starting forcing truckers to drive only so many miles a day, and when the companies wanted you to drive over and above the so-called allowable mileage and if you got caught, YOU paid, not the company. Then there was the cross-country in 3 days deal....then, 'Hm-m-m, he could do it in 3 days, let's push a little harder to see if he can cut his time down more."


Bet you're hubby never makes $1 a mile or above now, especially with the high fuel costs and maintenance of the truck unless he is Haz-Mat or in a specialized field.


Oh, BTW, they are bringing back the railroads because "it's too expensive to truck the goods anymore."  It's the old "dange" if you do, and "dange" if you don't type of deal.


Oh, wait! Could this be just like transcription?


After paying on my truck and house for a year I can
refinance and get an interest rate that is close to someone who has never filed bankruptcy before.  So, the high interest rate won't be there forever and at least I will have assets rather than renting or not having a car at all.  So, bankruptcy in my case was the best option.
I'd think it would be long-haul truck driver or
long haul truck driver, depending on account specs and whether or not they use hyphens.
Congrats and while you are at it, report your truck stolen by him.
nm
I have the truck! Forgot that important tidbit!
The police asked him to relinquish it. Ta Da !!!
The Good Humor ice cream truck! They still
sell some of the products in the store, but it is nowhere near as good.  The vanilla ice cream bars covered with toasted almonds!  The half and half popsicles with flavors like rasberry and lime that were SO fruity!  The Good Humor man in his white outfit!  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  It was great!
good luck to you!! Do something about that truck..you are responsible for any damages unless you
it taken without permission (different than stolen).
Camaros..three 1994, 1998, and 1999 and a truck,
Chevy truck 2005
My hubby drives a long distance truck
thank goodness! He says the trucking business in dire need of truckers. Bet we don’t see folks punching those in.
It's a bus, not a truck load of nuclear waste. It's a blue collar job,
s
Used to own a Suburban, loved that truck. Have ridden in Ford trucks and SUVs

The Helms Bakery Truck! It sold candy & Pixie-Sticks, too! Yumm! (n/m)
:)
With short arms, I need chair with shallow seat, good back support and high back. Want arm rests
:+
OK! I'm glad you're back down here. Now don't go back up there and read those evil posts ag
Okay? But I have to leave you now, sadly. Thousands of noble dictating doctors are anxiously awaiting my help with their "dictations"....They're all loading up on chips, drinking lots of soda so they can burp, and then have to go to the bathroom...You know the routine! Off I go to earn some pennies!! But, truly, I am thankful that I have a job!
PS.. It apparently worked..I heard back and already submitted the paperwork back.

I'm not sure how many people they are hiring but you shouldn't stress too hard over it. Do the best you can.


Our 16 year old son has been working for a year now to pay for his truck.
He's learning how to sand and do body work and how the engine and transmission go together. My parents didn't buy cars for my siblings and I either. I had a 20+ year old beater car until I could afford to move up to a a newer one.

I see all the nice new cars parked in the high school parking lot every day. It's nice that so many disrespectful punk kids get handed something nicer to drive than what all the teachers drive. Oh, well. Honestly, I think most of them borrow Mommy or Daddy's car or are the child of a doctor who can afford to hand them everything.

Hopefully, my kids will take better care of their cars because they bought and built them on their own. You're not going to grow up to be responsible if you don't work hard for something and expect Mommy and Daddy to bail you out all the time.

Oh, my Dad lectured us on even allowing our child to have a vehicle because Dad didn't have one until after he had worked his way through college, lettered on the football team, got straight As, lettered on the baseball team, yadda yadda. He either walked or hitched a ride. Yeah, well, times were different back then, Daddy-O. LOL At least my kid has the opportunity to work and earn his own car.
The good ice cream on the ice cream truck sm
that used to go by my house. We would run out with nickels and buy cones. And yes, I do remember Mickey Mouse ice cream bars. Yum.
I would not do them back to back - I have done 2 and 3 jobs at the same time -- all PT - sm
It is possible to do of course but you will burn out fast. Now I do one almost FT (about 30 hours a week) and the other is about 8-10 hours a week-- I still get beat doing that and that is w/o set hours. I find that the older I get the harder it is to work late and I am only 40! But a mid afternoon 30-minute cat nap helps a lot in order to keep going on busy days.
How do you set your computer back 1 day. I messed something up and need to go back 1 day.
NM
Yes, you get back to work now. Go back to
some routine, and it does start to hurt less. I know  And remember, she is still there at work with you. Always will be. I figure at this point I have a whole herd of loved dogs under my desk each day - along with a couple horses, hamsters, parakeets, rabbits...If only I could see them - must be quite a happy zoo! But I know they are all there I sense their love.
Can't anyway. Just get them back. sm

I actually tried to dump a report today, which I never do, because it somehow got into my pool in error (not my area of expertise), but it jumped right back up at me after the next report.  So I decided to just do it.  I don't know how well I did, but I did it.  It was over 150 lines long and took me forever.  Lo and behold, 5 reports later, same guy, same type of report 145 lines. Second time around was easier and faster though.  The way I see it is that if I get negative feedback, I'll let them know that those kind of reports really shouldn't come my way.


But cherry picking for line count is just plain wrong.


I did, but then I came back to it.

The other jobs I took involved quite a bit of computer use, too.  I got tired of the office politics and other garbage, so I'm doing MT again.  Now, I prop my keyboard up with a block of wood, although you can use a telescoping keyboard drawer/shelf to do the same thing.  I have a habit of letting my wrists rest on the keyboard, so I had to modify it to get my hands into the proper position.  It might have helped if I had taken piano lessons.  LOL  The only time my wrists ache now is if I work too much, which has been the case lately.  I don't know if it would be helpful for you to try.  I've been doing data entry or some form of computer input work for 17 years now, so I'm hoping carpal tunnel or repetitive motion injury isn't definitely in my future.


Going WAY back here
It's been a long time and I'm not "up" on the lingo, but by reformatting, do you mean you re-indexed?

I would go into whatever function that is where you can re-index all files or functions and do that.

If you still have problems, it might be that a file has been corrupted somewhere. That happened to me on that program a couple times. I'm not sure if it was the dictionary, but something somewhere stopped working right and I had to reload the entire program.

Be SURE to back up your autokeys immediately just in case you have to reinstall the program.


Can I get back to you about this later?

WAY BACK WHEN
It used to be that we were treated as valued employees, treated with dignity, and actually felt like the higher-ups gave a damn about us.  Length of service meant something and those who were dependable never had to worry about running out of work.  I knew I would be taken care of.  Never did we get cheap plastic crap as a Christmas present - we got real, thoughtful presents to show their appreciation for the hard work that they knew we did.  It's pretty much like night and day - nobody gives a damn anymore about us.  It used to be the only thing I knew I could depend on to be stable in my life was my job.  Not anymore. 
Yes, they could pay us better back then
because they weren't paying 2 people for one job (speaking of QA here). If you weren't a good, accurate transcriptionist, you didn't have a job.
Way back
I never heard the word at the time. It was fabulous! No turnaround time. I could shop all day and work all night. The service I worked for told me she wished she had 10 of me! Nice? Christmas parties and $100 bonuses! Flowers when a relative died. It was fun!
I think I might even go back further...
I recall using white-out and yellow-out for carbon copies (the REAL carbon copies) which had to be corrected separately. OH my... but I'm afraid I don't miss all that at all! LOL. I think it was okay to use the white-out until a couple years later, or maybe 10? Yeah, I'm old.

And 8 or 9 books? Did they even make that many back then? I can recall having a PDR and a word book that was separated into specialities. Oh, and the surgical word book. It was red. I am visualizing it now.

My form of research was more like finding the chart and going from there. Ah, but that was before production. Remember those days?

I wish I could remember the name of the first word processor I used. It was a mess!! More trouble than it was worth, but on the cutting edge of technology... and I was there!!

And here I am now, an MT dinosaur, getting ready to start using ASR...

Yeah, DixieDew, we have come a long way.

But miss it? Do you remember the noise those Selectrics made? And I complain sometimes because I can't stand the clicking of the keyboard when I have barely audible dictations.

One more thing... and please tell me if you miss this... "Standard" reports that you had to copy type instead of just having them appear on your screen with a few keystrokes. I used to HATE standard reports to the point of tears!

Okay, my ranting and reminiscing is done for now.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane. :)
Come back
That Alice was bad, bad, bad. Are you and "her" coming back tonight though?
I will back you up too

I was told the same about two years ago by recruiter in Midwest.  She did not give specifics, but basically said that the full time employees would get priority if the work was low. 


 


I wish they would come back!
No doubt Zipper, Chucky, MQLOVER, and Frankie Boy made this board alive - I would rather laugh in hysterics with their words than to listen to the same ol, same ol'!

By the way, admin confirmed it was not the same person posing as all of them!
You never go back
Truly - once you make the switch, it is absolutely impossible to switch back to a standard. Give yourself a couple of days is all.
I know .....been there....won't go back.
A person can only take so much hurt ......I keep my distance now. Family can hurt you the most because you love them the most. For me, it is easier and less hurtful to pull back and keep my distance. The less I know, the better off I am.

My children and I always were disregarded in a similar manner. We just see some family members on holidays. I tell my kids, mommy and daddy will always remember you and give you gifts...not to look elsewhere for them.

Be proud of your sons..they are real gentleman and not materialistic. It hurts, but guess what, they will be stronger for it.

Hugs and more hugs to you!
Yep, I would back off..
When she's 18, nothing you can do about it anyway. There are lots more important issues at this time of her life, and she sounds like a good kid! My 18-year-old graduated last year, and as soon as he did, he dyed his shoulder-length brown hair completely white and started dressing in all black. It never amounted to anything but an outward appearance, and he's a good kid, too! So try to keep it in if you can, Mom!
BACK-UP
I have a complete back up system of everything I use, computer, transcribers, foot pedal, etc.  When I buy a new one I keep the older one for back up.  Buy a new computer every three years.  It has come in handy when things happen as without them I make no money.  Also have a place I can go and work should I be without power.  That is just me. 
Back at Ya
Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to you also.

Better back then
Made way better back then. All used gross line count. Worked for smaller, friendlier services, had better dictators, thoroughly enjoyed work. Made approximately $50,000-$60,000 a year back then. Some days now even hate to touch it because of the way it has become.
going back...
As the other 2 posters said, finishing the dictation and then going back to listen to the blanks works best for me. Most of the time I can hear it then. If I'm really get uptight and frustrated with the job, I'll walk away for a minute or two and come back - sometimes just a "mini break" is all it takes.
really going back
remember the old belts before they even had cassettes? 1967-68 or thereabouts?
How far back do MT's actually go? sm

I have a 1936 medical dictionary that the hospital I used to work at was going to throw  out. It's leather bound, but the cover is missing. There is actually a section on using leeches for medical treatment.


Think about it. How far back does MT go? The docs used to write notes and then they had the nurses write the notes, but how far back does the first actual typewritten MT report go?  Did they hire someone to type while they talked to them. Someone posted below about an MT that sat in on autopsies to type the findings. Hmmmmm. Interesting.


The old doc I used to work for (with the typewriter) was from the old school and always did handwritten notes until the insurance companies required them either printed or typed. He reluctantly hired a Transcriptionist but this was in the mid-1980's and he was still grumbling about paying someone to type what he could write when I worked there in 1994.