I have worked so many jobs, so many hours before
Posted By: SS on 2009-05-21
In Reply to: You and I - Patty
in my life it is time for me to slow down and enjoy life more. One thing about working as much as I did in the past, gosh that social security really increased to a wonderful draw now that it has started. I am not planning on leaving MTing but just don’t have to sweat those 2, 3 and 4 jobs at 1 time. I did it, figure others csn do the same. I was young, healthy and willing at that time, now not so much.
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She said before she has 2 PT jobs and works 45-50 hours. NM
x
Two jobs, 1 40+ hours, 1 20+. One is not enough money.
sigh.
I currently work 70 hours a week and three jobs...
so it is physically possible to work that many hours. I am going down to 50 hours a week in two weeks, but you do what you have to do.
I worked for two hours right away this morning.
Then I went to the farmer's market and stocked up on the space hogging veggies I don't have growing in my garden, like potatoes, corn, and beets. Now I'm supposed to be outside ripping off the back deck and sorting through junk with hubby and the kids. However, it's 97 degrees out and my allergies are bugging me, so I came inside to package some things that need to go to the post office. I have to go pick some veggies in the garden and weed the flowerbeds today, but the air conditioning is too nice. We're ripping out a concrete pad when the deck dismantling is done. Who said weekends were supposed to be relaxing? Oh, well. I can relax in my new office and dining room when it's all done..... Whenever that might be.... LOL
I work 2 jobs and have my hours set pretty good. First
job is Sun through Wed 6 am to 2:30 pm, since we only need 32 hours for benefits. Second job is 8-11 pm Sun through Wed. I work both jobs at home so on Thurs. and Fri. I volunteer at the middle school so I get a chance to get out of the house and deal with other people. I got lucky because both jobs pay every other week but on different weeks so it worked out that I get paid every week.
Doctors documenting hours worked
Does anyone else find it unseemly that some of these doctors are now stating at the end of the report how much time they spent examining the patient, talking to the staff, other doctors, the family members, reviewing chart data, attempting a lumbar puncture, etc., from 9 to 12 and again 1 to 2, for a total of 3 hours?
For some reason, this seems very unprofessional to me. Am I just being cranky?
Yes, I am - worked 7 hours @ 3218 lines.
It all depends on your account and worktype you transcribe, as well as your expander. I am an MT with 25 years experience also, transcribing all acute care, mostly op reports.
As far as tricks, I don't have any. I consistently do at minimum 2500 lines in 5-6 hours daily. I think the key is the account you transcribe.
I have been where you are now, and it is not fun. I finally found my company/account and have for the past 6 months. I have to enjoy while it is here, tomorrow may be a different story.
Keep looking for that right company/account. You will come upon it soon. Good luck.
I knew one that worked 18 hours a day and had a stroke
and could not work for a long time after that. We have to be so careful in this business.
Hours Worked and Line Count
I have a question about worked hours and line count. These are remote transcriptionists who are employees--receiving all benefits. The transcriptionists have a minimum daily line count and are scheduled for 8 hours per day. At the end of the week they are paid time and a half for extra lines transcribed. Do most companies require transcriptionists to stay on the system a full 8 hours ? If a Transcriptionist can produce the required line count in 6 hours, can they be required to stay on for their full 8 hour shift ? On the other side, can companies require that the transcriptionist be on the system for only 8 hours and must complete their line count in that time ? Our system does not keep track of time logged into the system, meaning that some are on the system more/less than others. I would appreciate any input into what can be required of an employee when they are working on production. Thanks.
I can do 1200 lines in 5 hours so with 2 full time jobs
I work on average of 9-10 hours a day. When I sit down to work, I do not do anything but work. I do not surf the net, etc. Also, I am single and I live for my weekends so during the week I work hard. I also have 2 kids so most of my work is done during their day at school and after they are in bed for the night. I have a ton of short cuts in my Expander program too. If I type something twice, I come up with a short cut for it. Its not that hard. I would try the one full time and one part time and see how your time is first and if it is okay, then I would bump it up gradually. You don't want to burn yourself out but if you can do it and you have good accounts, go for it!!!!
At 53 working 2 jobs 80 hours a week is impossible. I tried it, it does not work!! (sm)
I have been at this business 30+ years and at one point worked 3 jobs and 2 were for hospital contracts with taxes taken out and the other IC. It gives you no life. My suggestion, if you need the extra $$ work your 40 during the week, then 1 or 2 nights 2 hours and then Sat/Sun 16 hours which would give you 20 hours. That is more than enough and will give you a chance to see if you want to make a job change. Have tried the 2 FT 80 hours and almost had a seizure over it. Remember if your not physically well you cannot do it all!
Take it from someone who worked these jobs
The first time you get screamed at... you will want to be home. People are picky, hard to please, and ignorant. Makes you wonder where they were raised to think they could talk to people like dogs.
I have had fingers pointed an inch from my face, I had people get in my face yelling at me (because they got bacon instead of sausage) and I had people throw french fries because they were "cold" when they just came out of the fryer. I would not serve anything I would not eat. Then you would have the typical people that come into a sit down place and want their food in 5 seconds and get up and leave right when their food comes out. You would have the people who nothing was right... For ONE woman I went through 4 steaks (and 3 had to go in the garbage) because first the steak was not well done enough then it was too well done..and after all of those steaks complained so much about the 4th one that she got her whole meal free.
Saddest story working in public was....
I had one woman come in from the bathroom and flip out on me for letting her kids eat off the salad bar because they didn't have the kind of money we charged for the salad bar or any of the food in the place.. so when her kids were in the middle of eating she made them all get up while still screaming at me...like I should have known. Her husband got a 3.99 special and all waters and I gave the girls the salad bar for free (it was with an adult purchase for kids under 10)... Her husband didn't even make it long enough to get his food and the little girls couldnt even eat a full cup of soup. Not only that..her husband and her children were so humiliated that when I went in the back in tears and everyone in the place was silent and came back out they were gone went to the table and there was change on the table (basically what he had and could afford) and he cleaned up the mess and stacked all of the dishes. I didn't expect anything or WANT anything. I just felt so bad for those people that they had to be with such a nutcase.
Stick with transcription. Working in public will scar you. It did to me to the point where I just don't even want to go out because people are just plain rude.
When DH unemploy I worked 2 FT jobs, about
x
I have often worked 2 jobs, at times 3 sm
Up until my present job I have never worked on a company computer, so that was not an issue.
Be prepared (as one divorced single mom to another) there is almost no such thing as "extras" when you are a single parent. Dad's usually fight tooth and nail to keep the kids from getting enough child support. If you live in a state that counts your income (some like California and Colorado do) then the more you work, the less child support you will receive. Besides which, if he carries them on his insurance that will also diminish the amount of child support you receive.
I didn't get support after about the first 9 months I was divorced and that was 13 yrs ago now. It was pure and utter hades financially. I am only just now getting on my feet and the children have been grown and gone for nearly 4 yrs. I worked 2 jobs most of last year to pay my income tax AND be able to afford to eat and have a place to live. I am an employee now, have full benefits for the first time since I divorced and according to the IRS calculator, I have satisfied my tax debt for 2008 at this point, provided I don't make more than $40K this year. Since I don't have to break my back for the kids, I will work and begin to start having a life outside of my job.
Also, if you are an IC and your ex gets to put the kids' deductions on his income tax and you don't, you are going to really hurt at the end of the year, unless you are eligible for earned income credit.
I would seriously wait and discuss this with both your divorce attorney and your tax accountant. I should have talked to my tax accountant when the kids starting leaving and I didn't. I have finally paid off being totally screwed by my taxes. Tread carefully and remember that the "extra" your kids really want is going to be time with you, away from your desk, doing things with them and helping them make this adjustment.
i think anywhere from 14 to 20 an hour depending on hours worked, kind of work, etc.
nm
Have never known shift lead who just worked 8 hours a day for 5 days. By the time they
:+
Must disagree...I also worked 3 jobs while kids little...
but not for a better lifestyle, just to support our family in Hawaii as my husband was low-ranking enlisted military. Please let it go and get back to the original thread... overhiring and waiting for work in the queue and making no $$$ for a decent living.
actual typing time versus hours worked-venting here
I just have to vent about companies that keep track of your actual "typing time" and then say you are not putting in your 40 hours. I always come up short and not by just a few hours. They have said I worked only 60 hours when I worked 80. But they say "their system is not wrong."
For one thing when you look up old reports or do research on-line or if you walk to the fridge, that shouldnt count as "not working" as long as you are getting your line rate. Also something is wrong because I dont take that much time looking up things.
Also how can they get by with making you work 40 hours when you are paid "production?" This is wrong. Either pay me by the hour or leave me alone!!
I worked grave yard for years but then my jobs all
disappeared by midnight. This very large company said they needed help late and I always did my work, did all the preop hps, etc., but now I am lucky to get 5 jobs a night. This happened to several others that I know, too. It is simply that the off-shore do it cheaper. I did not get paid a differential, either. I just like that shift, but I also need work, so good bye big company
For us slow pkes---my best would be 3 hours, worst 6 hours - just depends on the dictator ,
I have to look up (i.e. Dr. names, addresses)...I have to do a lot of that and it majorly slows me down, without all that and good not too horrible dicators, in 1 hour I can do anywhere from 15-20 minutes of dictation.
But in transcription, if you are good at what you do, you can do 8 hours of work in 4 hours. So eit
you slice it, both companies will still get 8 hours worth of work out of you.
That is the problem I've been having lately being an MT. Companies want to pay us on production and they set minimum productivity standards, but want us timed in for 8 hours a day. My thinking is, if they want 8 hours of work out of me, pay me hourly with production incentive. If they want to pay me on production and tell how much I have to produce in an 8 hour period, then when I hit that mark, I should be able to call it a day even if I've only worked 4 hours.
Seems these companies want it both ways and it is simply not fair to us MTs. JMO, tho.
supposed to be, after people lose their jobs, they are forced to take part-time, lower-paying jobs..
with little to no benefits. service jobs. where are you going to work in a few years, when Medical Transcription is replaced by technology? McDonald's, Walmart? you really going to like that?
Several jobs on Monster & CareerBuilder for inhouse office jobs down there through an
s
If it's my fav doc with lots of shortcuts, 1-1/2 hours to 2 hours max
x
I see, we sit at the keyboard for 40 hours and then throw on 20 more hours
Is this how you do it? Me? I got a PT job so that if my FT job didn't have enough work to meet my needs financially, the two jobs together would.
They hired me to work a specific shift and that is what I am working. If they want me to type after I clock out, then I will happily do so.
I must say, I work long hours, sometimes 12-14 hours a day.
I thought it was important to mention that. However many hours it takes to get the work done is what I do. Some days 12 hours, other days 6 hours and sometimes 14 hours. So, I guess there really is no easy answer.
I do 2000 lines in 6 hours - so maybe 3 hours - nm
x
typing 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week
is TOUGH.
on my wrists I mean.
and not getting any benefits... and for a salary of less than 30K? not really worth it...
I did 3 jobs for a while about 3 years ago, you burn out quick, I was doing 3 MT jobs though...after
10 months I cut down to 2 as I don't like to have all my eggs in one basket. But I am considering going down to 1 in September for my sanity, its a good steady job so financally it should not be an issue. I have 2 right but have not worked the 1 in about 3 weeks due to some problems at their end, supposed to learn a VA account but not sure if I want to pursue it right now or not, they are waiting to hear from me at this point. I still have a lot going on with chemo, etc. so am mulling things over. But if you have a full-time day job, then I would just go with 1 part-time MT job at night, unless 1 is during the week, and the other weekends only, then of course you will be working 7 days a week, very tiring I know. I have been working 7 days a week for 3 years now but I do slack off now and then of course to recharge and get sleep etc. But burnout happens fast and I doubt you want to lose your day job so be careful. Good luck. 
Every company is different -- I worked FT for one as an employee but worked a split shift - sm
So I never took breaks. I would work 5 hours, break for about 4 hours then do another 3. Another company I worked for did not care what hours you worked (IC) but wanted a min. amount of work each day, 500 for PT and 1000 for FT-- BUT they paid you by how many lines an hour you put out, the higher the lph the higher up the scale you made per line in pay; they have since changed everyone to a flat rate with incentive. But bottom line, if you are an IC it does not matter what hours you work, though many ask for a schedule and ask you to stick to it, they just want you to meet line requirements daily, i.e. 1000 per day, 1200 per day, whatever it is.
Two jobs very common, 3 jobs not unheard of.
x
I got up early, worked during naps, and worked when DH got home.
You have to be disciplined to make yourself work when baby is napping instead of maybe watching TV or doing housework, etc.
I might also go the route of having a teen come into your home, or either trying a mother's morning out program at a local church/daycare. I've been home since my youngest was born and he has never been in all-day daycare, but I did have him in a mother's morning out program 15 hours a week at a local church. It didn't help a lot with my work schedule because I had an older son in school and was a room mom and tutored other kids, but that might be an option. The only problem with the mother's morning out program is they are around other kids and tend to pick up every germ. I finally took my DS out of the program because he stayed sick. You were supposed to keep them off if they had green nasal discharge and I did, but no one else did. Every time I got him well after 2 to 3 days back he would be sick again. Other than that it was very good for him because he would not have had a chance to be around kids his age otherwise.
Yup! Not only short jobs, but also jobs from
extremely difficult dictators, bad sound files, jobs that need lots of ADT info added, and anything else that is not "easy" to do. I also questioned them about this and was told the same - they do not allow cherrypicking. Definitely not true!
I worked on that system when I worked there...
The thing that chapped my hide about that TWS was that they designed it so that all the headers of each section of the report were canned and thus you were not paid for them, even though you had to take your hand off the keyboard and mouse down a list of paragraph headers to chose the one you needed. Just racking up more profits for themselves. Ticks me off.
that is what is being worked out, and has been worked on for the last few years already...only
why are we just hearing this now? I know voice recog has been around, but this is entirely different. This will also make coding and billing obsolete.
Don't know why, but it just bothers me that one of our 'own' is the one pushing this...and she is also connected with AAMT. Do they support this, and if so, what is their advice I wonder to the MT?
Perhaps that is one question for their website (I do not subscribe to their mag or credentials...)
Thanks, for the input!
That was PT at EACH. Isn't PT up to 32-35 hours?
She could be working 70 hours a week to make that kind of dough. Ergh, not me, no how, no way, uh uh. I'm happy with the 35 hours total that I've been putting in lately.
hours
Contracted to work 8 hrs M-F but I usually do more, may be 1.5 after baby is sleep. If I have to work on Friday nights I can make my personal quota in 5.5 hours.
12,000 AND 40 hours
No, 12,000 not enough. Must do 40 hours to be full time.
About 6.5 to 7.5 hours. (nm)
.
40 hours?
I got a letter from my office but it stated the 12,000 lines or 10 or 6 for staturatory. It stressed lines, not hours, Massachusetts office, great supervisor.
About 6 hours from me-- they are way out there! - thanks for the tip
x
Here, here! But it won't take us 8 hours
but 14 hours to get a decent line count.
Hours
If you are an employee and have a schedule to work, then you should work all of your hours. Generally services don't hire you to do so many lines per day (although you will always have a minimum goal), but to work 40 hours/week as a full time employee. One of the biggest problems is those who agree to a schedule and then just decide they don't have to work it. If you can get your "quota" in 6 hours, what will be expected is that you simply are able to do more work on that day.
And BTW, never any such thing as a dumb question! :)
PT here, do 25 hours over Fri, Sat and Sun.
nm
7-1/2 to 8 hours
I work 7 1/2 to 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, make 5000 a month.
About 12 hours . . . (sm)
That broke down to 1881 lines in my usual overnight shift (I've done 1950 before but usually average more like 1200-1400/shift), then far less productive the rest of the day as I had both children home (daughter homeschools; son was sick).
Thank you all for being so very encouraging. I didn't expect that . . . I've seen other posts about production where the OP got hammered for bragging.
My method is normals; I save a copy of practically every report I transcribe (no patient info, just the body). Even if I only do the same dictator twice, I save a lot of lines on headings, especially since my primary account has highly formatted headings. While I love Instant Text and have been using Expanders for 12 years, I believe the combination of normals and expanders produces far greater productivity.
Think the service will notice? I love them dearly, but they've been in a sparse-communication mode of late.
1600 lines/day is great! The service I work for says their top MTs average 1300-1400/day.
12 hours
 is a LONG day transcribing - more power to ya! I keep mine about 6-7 hours and that works for me!
usually 24-48 hours but not....N/M
#
Already did - hours ago - did you get it? *l*..nm
in 3-1/2 hours: 500 first job/90 second =
.
If you have the hours they have to pay you for them, it is
the law. You can call the Labor Board and they will gladly get your money for you. Be sure and keep good documentation in case they protest.
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