you've got good reasons to vent

Sounds like you and Patti are great people to work for and I'm sorry you both are having to deal with this.  You sound like you are giving it all you've got and are still getting stung.  I hear the same from the place I work for.  It just seems a lot more people are more irresponsible and unprofessional than they were when I was raised back in the 50/60s.  If you're anywhere near my age, I bet it seems like a different world to you too.  I don't think it's just an MT problem -- I think it is widespread through all fields but unfortunately, in our profession we are confronted with it on a daily basis and it has to be resolved. 

Although I am not a MTSO, I do overflow work from those who had other things to do and put the job second or hire on and then quit and I get their work and my own until they find someone else to hire and hope they stay.  I'm not that great myself by any means but I do get exasperated with the weak links who just don't care and do what you complain of in your first post.  It makes us all look bad.   

As an MTSO you are stuck between the doc and the MT.  Doesn't sound like a nice place to be these days.  You have my sympathies and hopes that the new year will bring you and Patti and everyone else in this predicatment better MTs. 

• When MTSO say they offshore because lack of - good MTs, remind them they dont want to PAY
  • It isn't always a pay issue. Most of you just want to - work M-F, 8-5. We need other coverage too.
    • I worked grave yard for years but then my jobs all - anti-offshoring
      • Where I am now used to off-shore to India at night - sm -
    • Not true for everyone - Lillybelle
    • A shift differencial would help fill some of - those positions. nm
      • Correct spelling would be a guarantee. - nm
        • I spelled it right in my head. Besides, this is - NOT work. nm
  • If they were willing to part with some of their precious $$, - good MTs would come out of the woodwork. -nm
  • One MTSO's opinion - Boo
    • I just don't think if you are hiring ICs - that you can rely on just one person.
    • hire people with solid longstanding work background with good references; like myself - for example- n/m
    • variables - anon
      • quick followup - Boo
        • you've got good reasons to vent - anon
    • I agree - Patti
      • I'll vent and I'll sign my name sm - Lyndia - MT slave
        • You LET self be treated bad. Hard to feel sorry - when you stay in situation & let self be misused.
          • To clarify sm - Lyndia
            • Just more of "why its not my fault." You control - your life. Get proactive, dont be victim. nm
            • You ALLOW this. Keep 1 job while looking for - dream job. It wont come to you. nm
        • another example - Patti
  • for good MTs. If they would pay decent rates, - good MTs would be flocking to their door. nm

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to be crying in our soup over there. 

I've had it up to HERE with doctors who have thick foreign accents and dictate past the speed of sound, expecting that we are to know everything they're saying.

I've had it up to HERE with dictations received that were made on cassette tapes and then fished through onto digital recorders that contain tons of background noise and static, drowning out the dictation on them or making it sound like the doc is dictating from an underground tunnel. 

I'm sending ALL these transcripts back as quickly as they're dictated - looking like swiss cheese, filled with holes and blanks - because it's NOT my fault I can't understand these docs. They don't seem to care and guess what?  Neither do I!  Garbage in - garbage out!  Think they'll get the message?

Now, just let the OM call me about this - after sending her notes after notes on this subject, I'm ready to and WILL bite off her empty head!!

Thanks for letting me vent!

I loved MT because I was good at it and it came naturally to me.  Typing, language, etc.  The perks of working from home and being able to raise my family were a huge plus.  I stayed because in the hayday of MT you could make really good money really fast (2500 lpd @ $0.15 cpl). 

I stayed while my children were young and I could be available for them.  I stayed so I could return to school and have that flexible schedule to juggle everything once the kids grew  older.  I stayed full-time and cut school back to half time so I could take care of my ailing parents and inlaws when the time arose.   

I continue to stay because I still need to finish school (3 semesters to go) and unfortunately my DH is ill and needs someone to care for him now.  I stay because it is convenient, but I do not plan to stay forever. 

I sure miss the big money days, but what money I make now is sufficient enough to pay my bills.  It is a means to an end so to speak and it has been a godsend along the way.  But I in no way plan to stay at it forever.  It served and continues to serve a purpose, but it is no longer what I "love" to do. 

As is my personal experience, my pay is going down every year... harder to find good smaller services, they have gotten gobbled up by the biggies, and the biggies just view us as number to crank out reports that they want to make more and more money as in profits for the company, and will resort to cheating, as in MQ et al. That is my view, I say get out while you still have use of your fingers and wrists :)

used DocQscribe, but I have used Meditech, Cerner, Vianeta, the Precyse platform (I can't remember the name), Dolbey, and  Lanier platform I think was called Cequence (?). 

Out of all the different platforms I have typed on, I have liked EXText the best.  In my opinion, it's very user friendly, easy to learn, and I really like ESP which is the built in abbreviation expander.  Plus it is very easy to create your own normals which I love.  My fingers literally never leave the keyboard because there are macro keys for everything.  You can use your mouse if you prefer or learn the function macros.  I love it.  I think I'm more productive on EXText than with any other platform.

I love my husband because:

1.  He's thougtful...calls or emails me several times a day.

2.  After almost 20 years together, he still gives me chills when he walks in the door after work.

There are so many more reasons why, but you said 2...

for stick with MT and even coming back after a couple of absences:

1. I love the work. It satisfies my need to be in the medical field (quit nursing school way back when - bonehead move on my part!) without having to go back to school or actually deal with people too much.
2. My husband is disabled and my boys are teenagers. If I worked outside the home in another field, I'd be spending everything I made on paying someone to take care of things at home.
3. I really like the company I'm with. Been with 'em now for about 4 years and have loved nearly every minute of it.
4. I'm too old (44) and set in my ways to retrain in a new field and get used to dealing with office politics again.
5. The money that maybe I'm NOT making, I'm also not spending on gas, clothes, lunches, etc. that are part of working outside the home.
6. Did I already say I love the field?

1)  That seemed to be what everyone was hiring for.

2)  I hoped to make more money that way.

3)  After being an MT for 14+ years, I had a lot of confidence in my abilities as a transcriptionist.  Honestly, I didn't realize how much I didn't know.  I feel like a dang newb again

I answered your question above where you posted it as well.  I must have misunderstood your post, as it seemed that you were challenging me.  But, I was just trying to say that I don't want to debate the fact as to whether or not the queue is shuffled, cause I see it happen.  I don't know their reasons, but this new shuffling maneuver only happens on one account that I work on there, and it just began about 5 weeks ago.  It is really difficult for me to get a decent line count now, as all of the reports that I get are laborious since the reports that I find to be easiest are always being shuffled to the bottom of the pool.  I understand that it is not a prison and that my only option is to get out the kitchen if I can't stand the heat.

1.  A lot of companies are hiring and do overhire to get their backlog down.  Once their backlog is caught up, they weed out. They don't have to let people go, they can manipulate their queue until they quit.   And please don't say this isn't true because one of my ex-friends who was a production manager actually told me this.

2.  Benefits are based on production.  If management can hire a lot of people, they can produce a lot for their clients, they still get the same bottom dollar.  Yet, if the queues or servers are controlled, they can avoid overhead on benefits if production quotas are not met. 

3.  Why pay domestic employees 7 or 8 cpl when they can pay offshore MTs 3 or 4 cpl?  They still have the same amount of production and still make the bottom dollar, yet they can control where the reports are going and who is getting them. 

It all comes down to bottom dollar to management and owners.  They can control whatever and whomever to achieve their goals.  Not all companies are like this, but it is becoming more and more common.

It is tougher beginning at such a late grade, but it can be done.  I started my son in 9th grade 9 years ago, so obviously I know a little bit about it.  I also had a great friend who homeschooled her high school kids, so she could get me started with a lot of support and encouragement.  Be sure you're ready to be with this child 24/7, because that's pretty much how it will feel.  We did have problems with the school but tried every avenue to solve them before saying, "We don't need to put up with this, we do have a choice," when the school counselor said that we didn't have a choice.  They thought they ruled my son's world;  they were WRONG.  I AM HIS PARENT, I believe I do have his best interests in mind when making choices for him.  We are a Christian family, so it was easy to start by investigating Abeka Books for materials;  bear in mind you'll have to buy all your own materials, nobody helps with that.  My son now has his degree and is IT manager at a bank, looking to make VP. 

You'll need to check out the homeschooling laws for your state, they vary.  Just do an internet search for homeschooling laws for your state.  Check around for homeschool groups, there are several out there.  But, the biggest thing is just to make sure that you and your child are committed to working together to do this.  It does take a lot of commitment and communication to do this and do it right.  BEST of luck to you whatever your choice.

So, PFFFT to the person who says kids need to be in school.  I know better and obvious hundreds or thousands of others do too.