Absolute FED UP with these expectations - MT SLAVE

I am absolutely fed up with being an MT and I am about to leave this field for good. Over the years, I have worked for several MT companies and I know that quality is important. I understand that the reports have to be correct and quality has to be high. However, what I need to *** about is what these MT companies are REALLY doing to us.

First of all, to be an MT, we went to school. We studied our butts off and we paid an outragous fee to get this diploma. We took tests and passed them. We completed assignments. We read hundreds of pages to earn this diploma. BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH. In order to be hired by an MT company, we have to take a stupid test. Our resumes and our diplomas are not enough to show who we are or what we know. Our experience means **** to these MT companies. They make us take a stupid test and ONLY if we pass it with some outragous score of 95% or better do we get hired. This alone is an insult. Really. How many jobs in this world make you take a test before they hire you? Not many....unless it is a basic skills test or a personality test. NONE of them test you on the position you are applying for. NOT EVEN DOCTORS HAVE TO TAKE A TEST WITH THE HOSPITAL BEFORE THEY ARE HIRED. Their resume, experience, and degrees are enough to show who they are and what they know. Why does an MT company think they are any different? Even if you are applying for an IC position...you have to take and pass that damn test. Would you give a plumber a test before you hire him to fix your comode? I think not.  What an insult to you and your education and experience.  Ok...so now you passed the ignorant test and you were hired.....only to find out that the test you took is NOTHING LIKE THE FREAKING JOB YOU ARE ACTUALLY DOING. You are tested on your typing and are hired to do voice recognition.  (**shaking head in shame***). However, congratulations on your high score on your test...it got you hired...but it did not get you any higher pay....all it was was an insult to your intelligence, education, and personality.

When you get the MT job, you enter the job thinking it is actually a good job. In the job ad, they blow up the position, telling you that there are benefits, competitive pay, good working conditions, support, plenty of work.....all BS...anything to get your attention...it is a trap with a raw piece of meat and you are the starving bear that gets trapped right in it. Little did you know that you were being misled right from the start. Think about it...have you really had a job that gave you what it promised in its ad?

Once you get the job, you are trained (SOMETIMES). However, the training is usually vague and rushed. You are given account specs and are expected to have them memorized word for word.  You do some reports, you get some feedback which is always going to be wrong because you are new and are learning the system. You are always going to have mistakes in the start, and the MT companies usually understand that. However, within a week or so, you better have every single one of those mistake rectified and off QA or you are fired. (Most jobs in the working world have a probation period and an organized training program....most MT companies DO NOT have this). I have even worked for companies where I had absolutely NO training or training that last 30 minutes. Training with these MTSOs is a pathetic joke. Basically, you better know how to do the job perfectly before you are hired, because chances of you getting a decent training is slim to none.

The worst part of this job is when you are finally off QA and are working on your own. Every day, you spend the majority of your day in front of the computer working on reports (mostly VR nowadays, but there is still some typing). In a day, a full time MT will VR about 2000 lines and type maybe 1000 lines. To do this, you work your *** off. You complete several reports. You try your best, but what the MT company does not realize is that you ARE human. You WILL NEVER have 100% work 100% of the time. I know, most of them want 98% or better...but NONE of them provide you any feedback telling you how exactly they calculated your score. All reports are different lengths, so some reports will weigh more than other when calculating a score...so if you screw up on a short report, with one small mistake such as a comma, you will receive a low score. We are NEVER offered an explanation of how our scores are calculated. We are simple told our quality is not good. RARELY are we ever told that our quality is good. We get absolutely NO recognition for a job well done. NONE WHATSOEVER. However, it can be guaranteed that you will definitely know about your BAD WORK. These MT companies expect us to work 24/7, they expect us to jump at their cries for help, they expect us to be 100% perfect, 100% of the time or 98% so they say..yet they pay us like we are worthless pieces of trash. The pay is a joke. Come on people. If they want and expect perfection, don't you have a right to be paid for that perfection?  Those of you out there making 3, 4, 5 cpl...who are you kidding? Even at 5 cpl (which is rare), 1000 lines at 98-100% would only be $50. REALLY? Is this what you went to school for? Is this what you passed their ignorant test for? They want perfection, yet pay us like ***. For your 1000 lines, they are earning hundreds of dollars, and you are walking away with pennies.  Well, bad news for these MT companies...MTs are HUMAN BEINGS. They WILL make mistakes. Their work will NEVER be 100% all the time on every report...especially if you are offering them *** non english speaking dictators all the time. PLEASE. MT companies are severely abusing MTs. MTs are educated people who are dedicated to their jobs, who work hard to do their best, who put up with inaudible dicators...these MT companies need to start respecting their workers more. Start supporting them and definitely paying them more. If it were not for their MTs, the stupid company would not exist. I swear, being an MT is like working in a virtual sweat shop....regardless if you are an employee or an IC.

It is one thing to pay such a low pay, how about those MTSOs out there who short change you or don't even pay at all or pay whenever they feel like it. I have worked for companies who didn't even bother to pay me what they owed me...they shorted my check...or how about those that don't even pay at all? I have been the victim of both situations...short changed and no changed.  It is very clear that our work is not valued in the least. To expect me to be one 24/7 or when ever the so-called schedule is, and working like a slave for basically nothing... and to have the check short changed or not to receive a check at all is SO WRONG. It just makes me sick to know my hard work and dedication is not valued...even by paying me a few pennies.

The biggest joke in the MT world is the CMT and the QA....did you take it further and get your CMT? Did you pay the extra $500 minimum to get that so-called CMT. HAHAHA what a joke. Congratuations...you are now qualified to earn 1 cpl more than the MTs who have no CMT.  Are you QA? Go ahead and apply for that QA position. In that position, not only do you have to know MORE than the MT, you have to train, teach, educate, and answer MT questions. You have provide feedback to the MTs...much more work for the QA....you will get 1 cpl more...but you will be lucky if you are even making half of what the MT is making. You know more, you do more work, the company depends on you big time...but you will be lucky if you are making half of what the MT makes. (I once had a QA position that paid 2 cpl while the MTs made 7 cpl...No joke).

Here is something to think about....if MT companies want 100% perfection from their MTs 100% of the time, then why dont they require every single report be QAed? That way, if the MT made mistake, the QA would catch them before it goes to the client and 100% is more possible... and this is NOT a bad thing. Think about it. In the real world, every single author who publishes books has every single word they write proofed, not once, but several times by proofreaders and editors before publication. Writers, journalist, screenplay writer, every single writer out there will have their work proofed by a proofer or editor before it is published or submitted to the client. Why in the *** do these MT companies think that they don't need proofers? Why do they think that MTs are better than God and never make mistakes. The only way an MT will get their work proofed is if she sends it directly to QA or if it is audited. Otherwise, the MT is not supported. The MT is on her own to produce 100% quality work for basically nothing in pay...and will be fired if 1 mistake is found...fired with no explanation, no proof of the mistake, no documentation, nothing...just FIRED.

Come people. It is time MTs wake up and see what these companies are really doing to them. It is occupational abuse. It is not fair.  I am sick of this career and I am seriously thinking about leaving it. I am sick of being abused and used. These MTSOs are making BIG bucks from their clients and paying us peanuts. They don't care about us. They put all these big ass demands on us, but do not want to pay us or offer us what we are really worth. Even a little bit of respect would go a long ways....just think...when was the last time your boss said "thank you" or "good job".....(have they ever said it???)

Yesterday, alone, I worked 12+ hours. I did about 1500 lines typed. I worked my *** off. I was almost in tears with tiredness by the time I went to bed last night. I went to bed at midnight with plans on getting up at 6am to start again. My fingers hurt. My back hurt and I knew I was only a short way from developing carpal tunnels. I ignored my family, I missed my favorite TV shows...all to complete the work and help out when I was needed.  I made about $100 for the entire day. Not too bad of pay (if you consider $8 an hour good pay...that is $8 for the education I have), but what I had to endure to get that pay....pain...both physically and mentally, missed family time, I did not take the time eat well...and above all, I got an email this morning from my boss saying that if my quality did not improve, I would be let go. There was no thank you for your time. No explanation of the errors I made, no score, nothing. When I asked about my errors, all I was told was that I was not following format (format...and my company does not even have specs)...they never told me what format I screwed up or what was wrong.  I am absolutely sick of being used. I busted my rump trying to do my best. I worked all day. I listened to dictators over and over. I double checked everything thing...I could not even get as much as a simple thank you....but NOPE....guaranteed...I was called out on mistakes that they could not even tell me and that I have no idea what they are. I am sick of it.

Does any one else feel the same way? Is there really a good MTSO out there who will respect the MT and pay them a decent pay, decent hours, training, support????? I am ready to leave this field. I am tired of making other people rich, while I stay poor and depressed. I am tired of not being respected.  I am tired of giving it my all and still being forced to stay on welfare and never having enough money to pay bills or eat... while my MTSO rakes in the dough and lives the lavish life with 3 homes, weekend vacations, etc. 

What do you think?