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Don't forget the Sun-Thur/Tues-Sat only schedules as well! sm

Posted By: M-F MT on 2009-01-27
In Reply to: RE: Companies - klownmom

I wrote a post about this a while back and was surprised by the reaction I received.

Every decent company seems to have gotten into a new trend of giving MTs two options only, give up every Saturday for the rest of your life or every Sunday, period. All I heard was "well this is 24/7 business." Well so is law enforcement, nursing, and even being a clerk at the nearest 7/11. I don't know any cops, nurses, or clerks that have such limited options that require never having a weekend off again...ever! Even doctors get an occasional weekend off! I refuse, but that's just me. :)


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Tues-Sat
My work week is Tues-Sat. But we are always so busy that I end up working Sun too. I don't know how to get the weekends off. I have been with the same company for 5 years and they won't let me change my work week. There are some with our company that if they whine enough and threaten to quit, they get a work week of Mon-Fri.

Maybe I can try that?! :-)

Good luck!
Actually, it was early this time around - Tues I think.
xx
Do we work M-F, Sun-Thurs, Tues-Sat, or every day? nm
s
Bragging about your *normal Tues a.m.*??...sm

Close behind you. since Tues, 9000.
x
Tues. Morning Thoughts

I appreciate everyone's imput and sharing what it going on in your similar situations.  Some comments were HILLARIOUSLY true to life and got me rolling!!! 


Right now "Mr. Wonderful" is on the phone "flirting" with the nurse at his doctor's office (he had to call the office and give her the name of a med he is on)  - - saying, "Darlin (he's Southern), did you have a good Easter?  Did the Easter bunny come to your house? (she replies) Then he says, "Well it's good that he came to your house first, 'cause after he came to my house I had rabbit stew".  He thinks he is soooo suave and he's so into himself! 


I do not know about her school but next Tues. when my kids start the first day they get out at 9:50
x
Sorry, voting doesn't start until Tues.
Thanks everyone
schedules

We have to work a schedule every day because its patient care/coverage, but we do have flexibility because sometimes things do run out AND sometimes they get swamped and NEED our help! Wont they see that that wont work?  I guess if people are sick or on vacation they will transcribe it themselves. LOL


Hope it works out for you all.


schedules
Yes, I realize the reason that MTs have to have set schedules for TAT, coverage, etc.  I actually don't have a problem at all with a set schedule, but it is really frustrating when continuously (nearly every day), there is no work to do during your schedule.  When I started with MQ, I gave them a schedule and had every intention of keeping to that schedule.  Within the first week, I ran out of work and had to work at a different time to get my lines.  That was nearly two years ago.      
It's not the schedules, it's the PAY. That's sm

why they can't get help from US MTs.  The nationals I have applied to are offering about 6-8 cpl for experienced MTs.  Who can live on that.  No wonder they can't get good experienced help. 


No, it is the schedules
One thing works in relation to the other.  I can tell you that each day I turn on my computer I have bleeding from the eyes because I cannot get people to work their schedules and they are NOT making .06/line either!  It drives me crazy because they have a great situation with our company.  The bigger companies have always had their problems in direct proportion to the way they mistreated their people and eventually it will come back to bite them, but somewhere in this equation our home grown MTs have to take responsibility for themselves and know what they are doing, do it in a timely fashion, and produce a good work product.  If the clients are not happy .. it should be obvious that they will move on.  No company should have to QA each sheet of paper that leaves their office, but many should!
pay schedules
Because based on my experience - they either have a tier structure based on production/experience/test scores or the rates are based on the particular account you work on and vary from account to account.  I agree I'd like to see at least an average range given but it seems most don't. 
Schedules
National companies are concerned with getting the work back to the hospital within turn around time. It usually does not matter to them who gets the work done. A company is not going to "save" work for a certain person's schedule. If you want more work, you may have to try working outside your schedule. This is just the way the game is played. Maybe it isn't fair but then you know how the say goes....life is not always fair.
schedules
Sounds like you are one of those people who wants a set schedule, regardless of when the work is there and evidently you are not willing to work "off schedule" - you are in the wrong field my friend, most MTs have to work whenever they are needed, not just when they want, the company I work for often asks for extra help, in return I ask for time off and have the pleasure of knowing I am not going to be scrutinized for it, you scratch my back and I will scratch yours - the MT business evidently is not what you expected???
schedules
Same here - and I work Tuesday-Saturday - but as an IC, if I want a weekend off, I just tell them I can't work. I have found a pattern though, at about noon on Friday everyone shuts down and then those of us who do work the weekend are flooded with work - wonder why the CO. hasn't figured it out and done something about it. We even get paid more to work on Saturday and Sunday - but go figure.
IC schedules
A lot of the companies allow for a 12 to 24 hour window to get your lines in. I guess that's where the flexibility comes into play. I picked my hours with my company and stick to them, but they do not require their IC's to do that. The companies are out there that aren't so rigid with the hours, you just have to find them. Good luck.
MT's choosing their schedules.
One of your complaints about being a supervisor is regarding people who give more than their fair share of time and those who are "just there when they want to be". I just want you to clarify. You see, when I hire on at a company, I tell them EXACTLY how many hours I will work. One of the main attractions of this job that companies always cockadoodle and cluck about is that you can name your hours. Flexible schedules, be with your kids, blah, blah, blah. Or you commit to a minimal line quota, and again, I tell them EXACTLY what line quota I can meet. I can tell you from past experience -- going on 20+ years now, same GREAT company for the last 5, that some other companies wait until after you've started with them, agreed to a schedule/quota plan, and then say, sorry, scrub your personal home plans, you see basically we lied and comitted contract fraud when we took this account on and promised them 2-hr turnaround when we are understaffed. But we have to lie, that's how we get accounts. A former supervisor for MQ actually told me this. She truly justified doing business this way. And yes, it was MQ. But neither of us work there any more, and I'm sure other companies do this as well. And I'm REALLY sure that makes it okay.

I don't think the MT should have to apologize for saying "No, I can't help you. I put in my time. Sorry. I have a spouse and children and other responsibilities." And you're right, they may be only there for pocket change, since that is what so many companies offer. Why kill themselves? Sorry, but the MT has the right to choose whether she wants 10 hours/week, 20 hrs/week, or 60 hrs/week. She takes the smaller check as a trade-off. So you see, there may be another perspective.
I'm rarely on here lately because of schedules ...
I work when I want to so stick it if you don't like it! Hahaha
work schedules
I just wanted to let you know that Spheris wants you to work your schedule, whether you have achieved your line count production "quota" for the day or not. If you are scheduled to work 8:00 to 4:00 and you achieve all your required lines for the day by 2:30 p.m., they still want you online until 4:00. It's something they enforce and regularly check up on.
Kids schedules
My 12-year-old daughter isn't as busy as some that I know. She has Girl Scouts every other Thursday, Student Council after school one day a week, and an after school bowling team (for her middle school) from 3:30-5:00 one day a week for the next eight weeks. She also wants to do Color Guard this year, but I'll have to see if that is going to be too much for her. She's a straight A+ student and I want to make sure she has enough time to do homework without feeling rushed.
Schedules are there for a reason
Say I'm scheduled to work a certain time slot.  Say you feel entitled to work an extra 4 hours each day that laps into my time slot.  Then I consistently run out of work and start doing what you're doing.  Soon everyone is working weird hours and schedules mean nothing, and the supes can't adequately staff accounts because everyone is cherrypicking their hours.  How is this fair to anyone?
work schedules
I worked in house 24/7/365 and we were called in on our days off and after hours. Middle of the night call ins were not unusual.
Not always...not all companies are flexible with schedules!
..
Schedules. Are you talking about *employees*...
on *schedules* ... or SE/IC's on *schedules*?  Thanks.
Kids schedules outside of school....sm

It's amazing to me how many parents push their kids to the extreme with extracurricular activities.   I saw a cousin this weekend and her 2nd grader is taking 4 dance lessons (4-1/2 hours a week), an acting class (1 hour)  is in some special gifted program that meets 1 hour after school each week and is in the church kid's choir on Wednesdays.   This means this 7-year-old has 7-1/2 hours of extracurricular activities scheduled.  


I told her that my 6-year-old chooses 1 activity to participate in outside of church kids choir (meets on Sunday) and that's all she does. 


What about your kids if you have them?  If you have your child scheduled in a lot of things aren't you worried that they will burn out?  I've recently read stories that a lot of kids that are overscheduled are getting depressed and I can see why.


Planning, organization, schedules, determination, and
making others be responsible for themselves and respectful of your time, effort, energy.

Taught the boys to do laundry, cook, do housework.

Taught family/friends to respect work/study schedules.

I don't feel the obligation to answer to anyone else anymore.

Doesn't it give you the option of printing all the forms and schedules?
x
steady work...gearing up to start new account....but there was no work on Tues as it was a holiday
Be patient with your eyes open....
Don't forget to ask...

What types of accounts you will have and whether you will have backups if your primary runs out of work. Do they pay for spaces and use of expansions or normals? Are hours flexible if you need it? Is there any charge for equipment? software? Is tech support available all the time? How soon do the bennies such as health insurance kick in? How often do you get paid and when can you expect your first paycheck? Do they give pay raises, incentives or anything else that can increase your income? What kind of training will you get until you are comfortable with the accounts? Are there a lot of ESLs? 


Whether they answer any questions honestly or not you will find out when you get started. Probably best to run the company name on MTStars and see what you get. Good luck!   


Will never forget
nm
Yep, and don't forget 100% QA! LOL. Seriously, I
x
yes, that's what I always do, but don't forget
Frozen ham has a tendency to taste saltier, so when you use it, you probably won't need to add any salt.
and don't forget
Don't forget that before white out and all the other things, we had to use a razor blade to remove errors from ALL of the copies. I worked for a VA Hospital and everything had about 6 or 7 copies. Cut many a finger in those days, but learned how to be accurate really fast.
Forget about them and those like them and
live your life, period. I wish I could post a saying I got from Mother Theresa the other day but it does something like this:
People will hate you. Do good anyway. It was never about them, it's only about you and God. Something along those lines. And only half of these posts are nuts.
I'm sorry, but how can someone just forget...
Valentine's Day? That's like forgetting it's Christmas.  It's all over the TV, in the stores, everywhere you go, there was something about Valentine's Day.  I don't buy the "forgetting" thing at all...unless he lives under a rock or in a cave, he didn't forget...
Better to forget IC at 6 to 8 CPL
After you pay your taxes, it averages only 4 to 6 CPL.  I would rather be an employee.  Never will go IC again.
And let's not forget..............nm

Don't forget sm
you'll probably be typing headers and a bunch of junk. Not for me, but if you do it, make sure you'll get paid for it.
don't forget a
It really helps if you can have someone who is just in charge of the money. They could sit at a table and concentrate on just taking in the money. You can get really distracted when buyers want to ask you about merchandise. So much fun at the end of the day adding it all up and treating yourself to a yummy lunch!
just like me to forget something..
also must pay local tax and Soc Sec tax of 15%.  Yuck!
yes, and don't forget
x
Oh and don't forget...

the one I came across that took it to the bathroom with him and it was still running!!!  GROSS!!!!!!! 


Forget it. You do not need it.
x
don't forget to look at
overstock.com when purchasing! I've found a couple of books there cheap, and the shipping is usually cheap, too. They do have the CD version for $42 and change right now with $1.40 shipping.
Sometimes they forget
My friend is a speech pathologist. She told me that before she met me, she never used to think of the transcriptionist. She hated dictating, but she had to do it. So she used to dictate as fast as possible just to get it over with, not thinking that someone had to figure out what she was saying. But now she makes an effort to be understood and actually acknowledges MT and will say good day and thank you.
Don't forget.....
Work is not guaranteed, no pay for downtime (or rarely), must know all specialties, be around when work is there - not necessarily what you agreed to, work over or get no work, be availabe via phone, messagers and email, oh and be an Office and Word expert cause we aren't providing any help with that...Plus, lunch is at your desk...I bet starbucks even gives you a lunch break without whining about it.
Don't forget to consider your
chair height and whether your hands are too high compared to your elbows.

Don't forget
Things like benefits, paid holidays, vacation and sick pay. Those all add to your per line rate as an employee, and you should be compensated appropriately to offset these things as an IC.
Forget it
You won't get a vacation unless you can find another IC or two who can fill in for you. Also, you will need to schedule around your doctors' vacations - at this point in my life, I don't want to work around the clock anymore and I wouldn't do it, but if you're up for it, you go girl.

Should be FORGET actually, sorry! nm
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