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steady work...gearing up to start new account....but there was no work on Tues as it was a holiday

Posted By: lessMT on 2008-02-08
In Reply to: Workflow - sm

Be patient with your eyes open....


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Do we work M-F, Sun-Thurs, Tues-Sat, or every day? nm
s
steady work
I have steady work during the week and don't need to work weekends, but my husband's job and paychecks have been hit by the economy, so I'm adding some weekend work at least through the end of the year to help make up for it.
I would go where you are sure you will have steady work all the time.
:
That was my point. There will never be any steady work for anyone with TAT at 1 hour
I'm certainly not going to be sitting at the computer 24/7 waiting for reports to trickle in. We are so stupid to be putting up with this. Why do we stay?
Been trying to find steady MT work for 8 months now, at least
At first, no one would even respond. A few months ago I decided to take ANYTHING from anyone who actually did respond.

I'm used to getting paid 10 cents a line for the past 12 years, but when I did get a bite from a company, I took it, even at 7 cents and 8 cents because at that point I was STARVING and worried about making my house payments and paying my utility bills!

Now do you know what the problem is? All three frickin companies have very little to NO WORK available. This is consistent.

Now, at 7 and 8 cents a line and barely squeezing out any work between three DIFFERENT companies (even though they KNOW I am available to do any and all work they have), I am just about as bad off as I was before finding these jobs.

I know nothing else and have no college education, BUT I do know my job backwards and forwards, research skills, terminology, pharmacology, anatomy and physiology and everything else that goes with being a good, experienced MT.

Do you think I am getting paid for this experience? No. Times are bad right now, but they've been bad for me for many, many months. I just don't know what I'm going to do anymore. I rue the day I went to school for this godawful so-called profession.

Every day wake up, raring to go, hopeful there will be SOME kind of work available, at least to make $80 or $100 a day, AT LEAST.

But every day I end up stressing out, worrying, continuously being broken down because even though I'm a hard worker and a darn good MT, I am treated like low-class scum by my creditors because all my bills are late & I can't pick up the phone anymore due to bill collectors on my back. Believe me, I paid all my bills on time every time when the work was abundant and I WANT to pay my bills, but good intentions don't pay the bills. Neither does little to no work at a lame 7 or 8 cents a line.

I also have little food in the fridge or pantry, and things are beginning to be shut off left and right.

I don't know...

It's just extremely frustrating and stressful. I can't live like this anymore but have no way out.
I, too, work for MQ out of one of their CA offices - 7 years now. Steady workflow sm
I wouldn't say I don't run out of work, but maybe 3 times a year I do. Just depends. Around school time beginning I do. May pay is probably above average because the company I worked for that MQ bought paid really well.
I have had absolutely no problems with MQ, though the things I keep hearing and seeing do bother me that I belong to a co. like this. But personally, they've been too good to me.

I guess not all offices are the same, for sure!
I need help finding a good company with steady work..sm
that pays a minimum of 10 cents a line.  I have been an MT for 27 years and I take pride in my work.  Things have changed at my current company and cherry pickers have taken over so I end up doing all the reports no one else wants to do.  This takes me longer and my line count is suffering.  I know there have to be good companies out there that pay well and need good employees.  I have left my email address if anyone would like to offer me some hope and share names of companies.  Please no flames, I am just an honest MT wanting an honest job with decent compensation. Thanks for any help.
My dad owns a dental lab - GOOD money, steady work, very tedious though
nm
Same thing with nationals. You work all the time to keep the account caught up when others dont work
and then when they decide to put a whole lot of extra people on your accounts and run you out they could care less about how much you worked.
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
No Holiday Work
I work for a small local nephrology office. There is no weekend work (I work 40 hours during the week) and we get all the major holidays off, so Monday was a non-working day for me.
Pressured to work Holiday
Anyone else feel pressured to work holidays?  When hired, I made it clear I would not be working holidays, however, the inevitable e-mail about being out of TAT comes my way today and how if scheduled, you are expected online.  Don't plan on working it because it was made clear at time of hiring, I would not work holidays.  Another benefit of working at home -- pressured to work Holidays.  I'm just venting and I guess I'm crabby too! 
Pressure to work holiday
I don't think you're crabby and appreciate the venting. Usually work volumes sink really low to almost nothing around the major holidays. They certainly are aware of this every time they pressure their employees to work a holiday. Just a thought.
Work as usual on holiday - sm
As an IC, if I can find time, I will work as usual on a holiday. Being an IC means you kinda need to fulfill your client's needs. So, if they need me to work a little extra or work on the holiday, I will do my best to meet their needs. Sometimes, I can not, but most times I will do what they need.

Mind you, I have my own clients, not an MT company. It is my philosphy that I need to keep my clients happy and exceed their expectations in fulfilling their needs or they will look somewhere else for my services.

Hope this helps you, even if in a small way.

I would like to say, it is an adjustment going from employee to IC. Some need to change their way of thinking and start thinking like a "business" owner. It is not just a job, but your business and your career.




What religious holiday was yesterday in which one could not work???

He said his religion was celebratting a special day, yom kippur?  ramadan?  Anyone know?  I have never heard of a week day religious holiday when one could not work.


I might use that excuse.


 


Anyone else having low work volume? Maybe due to holiday on Friday?
nm
I work every holiday -- don't really mind, but would be nice to have extra pay. sm

When I worked for YOG, we got holiday pay and weekend differential.  I guess those days are gone.  Now, I'm just expected to work every holiday and every weekend and smile and say thanks for letting me be your slave. 


I should probably stay away from the boards today ... Guess I'm Bad Mood Betty!  (ha)


Why the stupid idiots called everyone to work on the holiday to make sure they meet their 1 hour TAT
time.
So it's time we all start doing our own work (sm)

We cannot afford a middleman anymore.


If you think that's bad, try living on the 7-8 cents a line and still having the expenses of paying for equipment, etc.


Time to just find your own accounts, folks.


I can start with the company I work for.
I won't name names, of course, but I do know that almost half of their MTs are foreign - I know this because I used to QA their work. This company is a small, family-owned company - maybe 150 MTs, so if even half of the larger companies offshore that much, that's a pretty significant number.

As far as how to make a reporter find out the actual number, I think the main idea behind the letter should be to get the information out there that offshoring exsists with companies other than computer technology and call centers. If more people knew that their medical records were being sent out of the country, they might pressure their mayors or governors or congressmen to find out exactly how much of this is going on.

It could work like the ripple on a pond from throwing in a stone - all we have to do is throw the stone and see what happens.
can you ask for another account to work on? SM
that's what i did. it was too much fretting over whether there was work.

companies won't wake up and stop doing anything. you will have to do it for yourself unfortunately.
You might not work on the account, but YES
x
I can work all I want. I don't have to account
for my hours. 
Even to start with, $14.00 an hour is lousy pay for ANY MT work...NM
?
Can't find work...should I start a business?
I am about to finish up my certification at a local college and have been extremely disappointed to find that it seems no one is going to hire me to work for a company because I don't have 2+ years experience....even though I've spent the last 2 years transcribing school work....I am trying to decide if I'd just be better off to take what I've learned and try to start my own business.  Financially, I am able to do it, but I'm just not sure how much of a headache it might be.  What should I do?  I kind of feel like I've wasted a lot of time and money.  I'm pretty confident that I can do the work, but how can you prove that to someone who just wants to know if you have experience?  I just don't know what to do. 
I work on an account that still has tapes and ...sm
it is a very profitable account. The line count is twice as good as several of the accounts I have that are digital. To each their own, but there are many doctors out there who do not want to go digital and you will find when they do you might just lose them to VR, as I lost a very good account to that because they figured out how to do it themselves. If the account pays on time, the doctors are easy to understand, and they pay you a good line rate then go for it, tapes or digital.
Well, I work for a national, but my account
is a big hospital, doing acute work. It was a heck of a way to learn starting off, but I know it will benefit me in the long run, just one of those days!

Closing in on my 2 years now, I thought about maybe applying at a hospital inhouse here that hires starting out at $20, but once you add all the expenses (not counting any deductions), you come out to about the same. It's just not worth it. It would probably be less stress considering I would work set hours instead of all the crazy ones I have been doing, but then you have to add in at least 2 hours of drive time to that each day. It evens all out I suppose.
The company I work for has one account
that does not want IV at all. They have programmed their VR software to expand out IV, much to the consternation of cardiologists when they dictate IV conduction time and the MT doesn't catch it.
Is it possible some of the account work is going overseas. MQ does offshore you know.
:
I agree, it depends on who you work for BUT also the account
and how long it has been on VR. If it has been on VR for a few years, piece of cake. If it is just starting out on VR - tedious work, low pay as it takes longer to edit than to just transcribe it.

I have been doing VR editing for 4 years now with an account that has been on it that long also...can make up to $50 an hour, and some times as low as $30 an hour when we add new dictators.

Hope this helps.
Or why not hire an IC to work on the account under you? You found it
and it is your reputation and bidding that sealed the account, why not ask IC's to BID on it. You might find somebody who loves derm work and wants the money. Even if you only make 1-2 cpl over your IC it adds up.
I work on an account that just came back from India sm
They had an outsourcing company that sent their stuff to India. They were so unhappy, they brought the account back to be done by AMERICAN MTS.

But the poster below me is right, the government IS doing something, they are making it easier and more financially rewarding to go overseas. One day and sooner than later, the American worker will be so poor and so economically depressed that America will no longer be able to import goods/services from overseas because we can't afford them. By that point, we'll be gardening in our window boxes and stockpiling foods that we will no longer be able to have or afford.

The tip of the slippery slope towards another Great Depression.
Sounds like an account I work on locally
can ya try to focus on ONE thing.  I know I would NEVER go to this doctor.  He's not sure if he did a colonoscopy or an endoscopy???  Scary.
Delete your voice files at the end of your shift or before you start work again. No
s
Anyone work for Sacred Heart or PeaceHealth as an account
Any advice on these I might need to know before I start?
I work in Meditech for a radiology account and have no lag time. sm
There are a few things to try that might help. The first is to try to go through an NT connection if possible through their Citrix. Another is: Disable your virus protection, log in and re-enable the virus protection. I have found this solved my problem.

I am also answering your cut and paste question from your other post: It is HIPPA as the possibility of putting the wrong report on the wrong patient exists. However, I would go above or beyond your company's IS dept (they tend to be the most paranoid) and go to a production person such a Lead or Coordinator or even MTSO. If they are MTs, they tend to be more sympathetic and will often allow cut and paste when IS will not. If you are the only person experiencing this, IS is not going to be too diligent in helping. Worst case scenario? Ask for another account. Sometimes it is an account-specific, computer-specific problem, almost like putting the wrong size tape in a tape player.
work for hospital account - use lots of expanders - nm
x
Wasnt that a rip. They must have called every person on every account to work. I cant possibly
figure that mentality. PLUS we get nothing extra for weekends, nothing extra for  holidays ZIP. They overload the accounts and so we have no work. Why would they pay weekends or holidays when they play this game. Somebody is pocketing something but it AINT THE MTs. I hope every MT in that office inundates Mt. Laurel with complaints until they replaced the people that did this and not to mention their STUPID STUPID PICKY MQ point plan. That is a horrendous joke. Somebody up there needs to be removed and quickly.
I work an account where ESLs are better than the American dictators ever hoped to be. sm
There is bad dictation all over - you need to learn to cope with what is out there. Don't be afraid of the ESLs - you can only do what you can do, and for even American dictators, there is just no hope for the report coming out flawless if it is a bad dictator. I have 25 years experience, and there is just the fact of the matter that if junk goes in, junk is going to come out, and experiences helps with figuring out the words, but some words are so badly mispronounced, there is no hope of figuring them out. Blanks are inevitable, but that is why we have QA - they are the next level after the MTs get the rough draft out there. It pays to have a second set or third set of ears, and it is part of the plan - it is not all on just you to get it right on the problem dictations.

I work an account that the doctor names scare you half the death, sm
all foreign names, but the voices are pure heaven - very clear and good enunciation, even the one that have a tangible accident. I feel lucky to have an ESL account like that.

I know a PA from South Carolina at a hospital I used to work at that would bring you to tears. ESL is not necessarily a bad thing.

The national I work for usually offers jobs to the in-house people when they acquire an account. nm
nm
I get my work from an FTP site that they load the work to, however I don't have pool work so to
speak, but I tell them how many minutes a day I want.  The work is generally put in my box by 5 pm every day, then I have until 10 am the following day for some priority work, or 3:30 pm for the rest, so TAT is not too bad. I would like to work less at night though, but I working on that. My downside is I do not get the same dictators day to day, there are a few I do on a semi-regular basis though, some generate great lines but take longer to do that other doc's and are not "money-makers", I also do not get paid for spaces so that hurts a bit too.  This is WP5.1 too.....so very antiquated but that is what the hospital uses, so not much choice there. But I understand what you mean about the C-phone. I was just doing another job with C-phone recently...they incidentally did not tell me how to get off of the system, which was very simple.  I'd finish a job, then hit stop and hangup if I wanted to get off or quit working.  That is what you need to do if you want to sleep, eat, etc.  Don't feel guilty, do what you signed up for, believe me they watch the pools and will get others to do the work you don't finish.  If they get on your case remind them that you are only PT and only want 500 lines a day, etc.  It's not worth killing yourself over.  Good Luck.
How to start own account

 


If anyone can help me or direct me where to find help, I'd greatly appreciate it!  I work part-time for a company that does not mind if I have my own clients as well (as long as I don't compete for theirs of course).  I use a c-phone.  My doctor would like me to do some transcription work for his office - I am trying to find out what equipment or program I need for him to be able to dictate and for me to be able to transcribe his dictation via my c-phone through the internet.  What equipment or program would I need and how do I do this??


 


Thanks so much for any help!!!


Just DONT start a Monster account!
I did, and first of all, nothing that even vaguely resembles what I wanted to find ever comes up. Instead, my inbox is swamped with emails from them about jobs for software engineering, nursing, receptionist, etc. keep coming in, even though I was very precise about ONLY wanting to see MT & legal transcription jobs.

Tons of spyware, too. The ads for Viagra, Rolex watches and porn tripled after I joined Monster.

So finally I got bored with them and wanted to UN-subscribe. There is NO PLACE on their website where you can do that. All you can do is make your account inactive. (Though they CLAIM if you call a phone number and give them lots of person information [yeah, RIGHT! In their DREAMS!], they will unsubscribe you.)

So I finally put their website on my SPAM list, and hopefully that'll stop their emails.

DON'T put all your information on this company's website! Heaven only knows who they're giving it to.
HELP with Shorthand. Suddenly today when I tried to start work today.sm

my ShortHand would type only the first letter of an expansion and then take all the letters away!  I checked and the Type It button is grayed out!  I have restarted the computer and looked on the Shorthand Help menu but can find nothing that applies.  Can anyone please help me ASAP?  I am lost without it!  TIA


You go by your schedule and have no work. Everytime I get on to work, there is always work.
x
Then you would have no life at all except work, work, work if you did that. I wouldn't do it. nm
.
Have a hospital I work for and they consistently change work types and do line counts. (sm)
Management just doesn't understand in order to crank out the work you need to be proficient by typing the same accounts. Go figure, they just don't get it ??
Usually work "live" on a Cphone, while connected. There are ways to record & work off line, bu
s
I work for Warminster at MQ and I am sick to death of being jerked around with no work all the time.
I would like a job where I can depend on the work and it does not seem to be in this office of MQ.