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Tips for survival at Transcend - oldmt
Posted: Nov 25, 2009
Repeating the former warnings I have seen on this board and about this company:
1. Get EVERYTHING in writing, no matter how trivial. They are masters of deceit.
2. Say nothing to no one. Get it in writing.
3. If you are forced to talk to a supervisor, just keep your ears open - that click, click, click in the background is that supervisor typing everything that is being said or sending an IM to someone for help with a response that can be interpreted in 2 ways. Remember, this is the gestapo and they use the 2 against 1 or 3 against 1 in trying to beat you up daily.
4. Very few of the team leads and none of the managers can be trusted.
5. Favoritism is rampant.
6. Do not trust the new position of employee advocate. This one cannot be trusted either.
7. Expect to be threatened with losing your job in every conversation.
8. Always have a second job in your back pocket to fall back on. They care nothing about you and never will. The big bosses already made their money, they just try to keep you poor. They do not care about your health, your personal problems, or anything else; they will use everything you tell them against you at some time in the future. This is the scum pond of the industry.
Why are you wasting so much time and energy - HappyMT
[ In Reply To ..]in a position you obviously cannot deal with? There apparently is this notion with MDI employees that they are getting the shaft. I think the problem comes in - it's called CHANGE. Unfortunately, your old company sold and now you're left with either retaining your position with this new company or going elsewhere. Unfortunately, it sounds like your prior employer paid premium. You're just not going to find that ANYWHERE - really. So, you either decide to stay on or move on to a better fit for you. To sit around and think up lists of how to survive at company A is just ridiculous. You're wasting all this time when you could be pounding the pavement looking for the golden job you think you are somehow entitled to by right? Let it go already. Anger isn't going to do anything for you situation.
I hope you find a middle ground or a solution that works for you - I really do!
Clickity, Clickity - A smart one
[ In Reply To ..]Or just ignorant, which one??
I'd say a smart one since I don't have to sit - HappyMT
[ In Reply To ..]around wasting my time thinking of a list of how to survive at a job I hate. You're too funny, really.
HappyMT - anon
[ In Reply To ..]Happy--or management?
Happy and content. Not management, silly. - HappyMT
[ In Reply To ..]I think it's just common sense really. Why would one spend so much time devising a mental plan to stay at a job they despise? If someone feels as though they are being taken advantage of or lied to or underpaid or whatever, maybe it's time to just move on?
dead giveaway - oh, my
[ In Reply To ..]Maybe it is the "time to move on" that confirms you are management. If you are so happy, why would you spend so much time refuting someone else's post? Or, for that fact, even coming to this board? The "time to move on" is what most of the MLS at transcend are objecting to and why they feel that management really wants to get rid of anyone who is paid more than 8 cpl. Why wouldn't they feel they weren't appreciated with attitudes like you are pushing? Why would we want to give up accounts we are used to and have worked on for years, but I guess it will be necessary just to keep our sanity and self worth and not let you and your coherts get to us. I am surprised you did not send out messages telling everyone they were to give thanks at this time of year just because they are lucky enough to have a job where they are abused all the time.
GREAT answer! - And oh, so true.
[ In Reply To ..]
I assure you, I'm not management. I'm just - HappyMT
[ In Reply To ..]someone who really doesn't get the whole make it priority to make yourself miserable? If you're having a hard time believing that what you got in your OLD company and situation is what you're going to find outside of Transcend, you're sadly mistaken. How many companies now a days are you going to find 0.09 cpl or more? My point being, change took place - your comfort zone has been removed. Don't spend your days contemplating and worrying what this new employer is trying to do TO you. You should be more mad at yourself for allowing yourself to get too comfortable in your prior position without entertaining and preparing for the possibility that one day it may go poof. In this economy, it's just the way it is.
How about for just one day, today, you be thankful you have a job? Maybe view it from that angle?
I do hope you sort this misery you feel out. I just hate to see someone feel they are being forced to work under horrible circumstances. Maybe explore other options and then compare to what you have now? Just a suggestion.
You sound like a bankster - We have bills to pay
[ In Reply To ..]Rather than accept this decrease in wages with a "ok, thank you, we realize times are hard and to keep up with competition from foreign lands, we accept this new pay rate," we are saying: We have based our livings on a certain income and now our budgets do not have room for a decrease in wages. Has the upper management also decreased their wages? Probably not. If you expect someone with bills, a family to raise, the rising cost of food and utilities, the inability to access credit and the credit we do have not with interest rates reaching 30% to accept this without kicking and screaming, you are sadly out of touch with human nature.
While kicking and screaming as you put it is only - HappyMT
[ In Reply To ..]a natural part of change, why waste all this time plotting a survival list against a company that you feel is doing you wrong? If you think your prior wages are the norm, then look at other companies and see if they'll help you keep your current living status? The point being, you're not going to find these wages easily anywhere else, so why trash a company because they cannot meet your prior income? It just doesn't make any sense and seems like a lot of wasted effort. Good luck though and if you find the cpl out there that you were being compensated prior, kudos to you.
For now, if it were me, I'd be thankful to have a job. Think of the less fortunate out there that would kill to have a steady income. You're one step up in that department at least, right?
Your way of thinking is exactly what the MTSOs - are exploiting to the fullest.
[ In Reply To ..]Although having a job is usually preferable to having no job, with the unrelenting decline in cpl at these companies, there will soon be no difference. Most of us are just about there right now.
And there's nothing steady at all about an income that fluctuates as much as MT does, not only with hatchet-jobs on our pay that seem to come about almost every year, now, but also with no work. Read these boards. What part of "sitting there twiddling my thumbs, waiting for work to dribble in" constitutes a "steady" income?
You have taken the words out of my mouth - Lynne
[ In Reply To ..]I will pat you on the back. When people don't know what to say, they call you management. Funny they cannot come up with anything else. Why do people sit and wait and cry about a job? I totally agree, move the heck on. If I am miserable, I am not staying. Years ago walked out on a job at a place, had no income at all then and had 2 children at home counting on mother. For the first and last time ever I applied for and got temporary food stamps. I hated the place and did not intend to stay. People, get some kind of backbone here.
You were completely irresponsible and selfish - Unbelievable
[ In Reply To ..]You had 2 children you were responsible for taking care of and feeding. As a taxpayer, I had nothing to do with your very poor decision to get pregnant but you made it my problem when you put yourself on welfare and said I had to help support them, didn't you? If you are so wise, why did you have kids in the first place since you certainly did not care whether or not you could take care of them.
Next, if you are so smart and think you know it all, why didn't you get another job BEFORE leaving the other one? No, you had the nerve and background to get welfare and make everyone responsible for paying for your mistakes.
The people who are complaining are trying to avoid following in your footsteps because you certain do not set an example for anyone to follow.
Excuse me? I got that for 1 month - Lynne
[ In Reply To ..]until I secured another job. Are you being serious? I never stayed on food stamps but know others who did. I never got any aid as far as money, insurance or the light. I have paid in thousands over the years as a taxpayer and still paying in. Lighten up, have worked now over 50 years so if I got say a hundred dollars or so for 1 month out of my life, oh well. You, my dear, on the other hand have never taken care of me because I have never been on the welfare system. Have a good day.
Oh, and now you feel you were justified? - Unbelievable
[ In Reply To ..]You quit a job so you had no income, you had welfare - public handout - because you feel you deserved it because you were unhappy, and you feel you are responsible? We all pay taxes, too much probably, because of low class trash that feel they deserve the handouts because they are unhappy and feel they are better than we are. You are irresponsible and selfish for sure. Food stamps are welfare. It is paid for by taxpayer's money and you are a welfare rat, no matter how you look at it.
From this welfare rat as you call her - Lynne
[ In Reply To ..]Say what you like, am also collecting my SS now and retirement check and still working- am I now taking the work away from someone younger? Oh, well, guess that is how welfare rats act. Rage on, but this welfare rat can double dip and able to take in twice what I did while just working before. I bet that burns your behind also, huh?
Unbelievable, calling others low class trash - - Anon
[ In Reply To ..]Unbelievable, why do you think you are so special that you get to call Lynne (or anyone) low-class trash? Are you so special that you get to judge? Who died and annointed you Queen? And no, I have never been on food stamps, welfare, or any other form of public aid. I have been fortunate in that I have always had work and made good money. But for the grace of God, my situation could be vastly different. Please consider that your own situation could change with one car accident, one merger, one anything. I would not be so smarty-smart if I were you. Why don't you get off it and treat people decently? And as to you, Lynne, don't pay Unbelieveable any mind. Just consider the source. It's easy to beat people up from behind the anonymity of a keyboard. Hold your head high and don't apologize to anyone. You do not owe anyone any explanations or apologies.
Management & CEOs are low-class trash, not MTs. - I hear quacking.
[ In Reply To ..].
What do you think food stamps are? - Are you serious
[ In Reply To ..]Are they a public entitlement because of the color of their eyes? You are the one who posted your tale of woe and condemned others for trying to work through a very unhappy situation, whether it is finding another job or hoping this will might get better if enough people say something and then they can continue doing what they were doing before. We did not ask to be sold like slaves on the block. But, you, miss goody-two-shoes, deliver a sermon on how righteous you are and when the going gets tough you just walk out with no concern about anyone but yourself. Like was said, someone responsible would have gotten a different job first and then quit, not decided the public should take care of your and your stinkin' brats that no one forced you to have.
Could we request management stay off this board? - What????
[ In Reply To ..]I don't know who you are but you aren't an MT that is certain. Whoever you are, you need to watch the news.
And I want to tell you this - to talk to a fellow citizen in this manner in front of the entire industry however anonymous it is (eyeroll)is the reason why the US is faltering. I have never seen in my life a group of divided individuals as in the US. You spit and kick at each other nonstop all the while your entire country has been looted by thieves and left bankrupt, the US is bankrupt, you know that don't you? It is now owned Communist China - a country your grandchildren will most probably be sending 40% to 60% on the dollar to pay for the behavior of your leadership and that is both parties as they both have been bought off like whores on the bad side of town.
The food stamp issue is so minor in the big scheme, I find it even more belittling of your entire country.
Food stamps are there for people who can't afford food. If you have a plasma TV, have your hair and nails done every month, drive a new vehicle and live in a 200,000 home and THEN get foodstamps, it is alright in this scenario because massive layoffs and underemployment are sending people into negatives. Everyone knows this.
Get your foodstamps, they are there for you at times like this. Having little food in the home is a recipe for disaster in this type of environment as there is a slim but real possibility food shortages could occur within 12 months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZA0qNsf4m0
The above video may or may not be exaggerating but I will say this - Foreign countries are selling dollars as fast as possible,and this will result in your dollar being worth little. It happened in Argentina and it could happen in the states.
Now, I suggest you be nice to your citizens because the rest of the world is your enemy, not your neighbors, coworkers and fellow countrymen. You are on the same ship and it is sinking faster than the titanic.
This is very, very cruel - MDIMT
[ In Reply To ..]These conversations are truly cruel, and I wonder where all this hatred is coming from. The last time I checked, I didn't know that anyone has a special stamp on them that says,"I am better than you." Just because someone uses food stamps does not mean they are low-class trash, and their kids are too. She did not say she was getting anything else. She only took food stamps for a month, and not like those who could work and don't and make it a career. I am sure she takes good care of her children. This reminds me of someone I used to work with, who acted just like this, very cruel, very judgmental and made trouble for other MTs she didn't like. After all, this is a special holiday season where, I hope, we all learn some compassion for one another, not spread hatred, which is why our country is in trouble now.
Not so uninformed person. - You are tragically out of touch with your economy.
[ In Reply To ..]MARTINSVILLE, Ohio â With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.
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The Safety Net
A Program Once Scorned
With millions of jobs lost and major industries on the ropes, Americaâs array of government aid â including unemployment insurance, food stamps and cash welfare â is being tested as never before. This series examines how the safety net is holding up under the worst economic crisis in decades.
Previous Articles in the Series »
The Recessionâs Impact
Faces, numbers and stories from behind the downturn.
Multimedia
Interactive Map
Food Stamp Usage Across the Country
Slide Show
Once Scorned, a Federal Program Grows to Feed the Struggling
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It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.
Virtually all have incomes near or below the federal poverty line, but their eclectic ranks testify to the range of people struggling with basic needs. They include single mothers and married couples, the newly jobless and the chronically poor, longtime recipients of welfare checks and workers whose reduced hours or slender wages leave pantries bare.
While the numbers have soared during the recession, the path was cleared in better times when the Bush administration led a campaign to erase the programâs stigma, calling food stamps ânutritional aidâ instead of welfare, and made it easier to apply. That bipartisan effort capped an extraordinary reversal from the 1990s, when some conservatives tried to abolish the program, Congress enacted large cuts and bureaucratic hurdles chased many needy people away.
From the ailing resorts of the Florida Keys to Alaskan villages along the Bering Sea, the program is now expanding at a pace of about 20,000 people a day.
There are 239 counties in the United States where at least a quarter of the population receives food stamps, according to an analysis of local data collected by The New York Times.
The counties are as big as the Bronx and Philadelphia and as small as Owsley County in Kentucky, a patch of Appalachian distress where half of the 4,600 residents receive food stamps.
In more than 750 counties, the program helps feed one in three blacks. In more than 800 counties, it helps feed one in three children. In the Mississippi River cities of St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans, half of the children or more receive food stamps. Even in Peoria, Ill. â Everytown, U.S.A. â nearly 40 percent of children receive aid.
While use is greatest where poverty runs deep, the growth has been especially swift in once-prosperous places hit by the housing bust. There are about 50 small counties and a dozen sizable ones where the rolls have doubled in the last two years. In another 205 counties, they have risen by at least two-thirds. These places with soaring rolls include populous Riverside County, Calif., most of greater Phoenix and Las Vegas, a ring of affluent Atlanta suburbs, and a 150-mile stretch of southwest Florida from Bradenton to the Everglades.
Although the program is growing at a record rate, the federal official who oversees it would like it to grow even faster.
âI think the response of the program has been tremendous,â said Kevin Concannon, an under secretary of agriculture, âbut weâre mindful that there are another 15, 16 million who could benefit.â
Nationwide, food stamps reach about two-thirds of those eligible, with rates ranging from an estimated 50 percent in California to 98 percent in Missouri. Mr. Concannon urged lagging states to do more to enroll the needy, citing a recent government report that found a sharp rise in Americans with inconsistent access to adequate food.
âThis is the most urgent time for our feeding programs in our lifetime, with the exception of the Depression,â he said. âItâs time for us to face up to the fact that in this country of plenty, there are hungry people.â
The programâs growing reach can be seen in a corner of southwestern Ohio where red state politics reign and blue-collar workers have often called food stamps a sign of laziness. But unemployment has soared, and food stamp use in a six-county area outside Cincinnati has risen more than 50 percent.
With most of his co-workers laid off, Greg Dawson, a third-generation electrician in rural Martinsville, considers himself lucky to still have a job. He works the night shift for a contracting firm, installing freezer lights in a chain of grocery stores. But when his overtime income vanished and his expenses went up, Mr. Dawson started skimping on meals to feed his wife and five children.
He tried to fill up on cereal and eggs. He ate a lot of Spam. Then he went to work with a grumbling stomach to shine lights on food he could not afford. When an outreach worker appeared at his sonâs Head Start program, Mr. Dawson gave in.
âItâs embarrassing,â said Mr. Dawson, 29, a taciturn man with a wispy goatee who is so uneasy about the monthly benefit of $300 that he has not told his parents. âI always thought it was people trying to milk the system. But we just felt like we really needed the help right now.â
The outreach worker is a telltale sign. Like many states, Ohio has campaigned hard to raise the share of eligible people collecting benefits, which are financed entirely by the federal government and brought the state about $2.2 billion last year.
By contrast, in the federal cash welfare program, states until recently bore the entire cost of caseload growth, and nationally the rolls have stayed virtually flat. Unemployment insurance, despite rapid growth, reaches about only half the jobless (and replaces about half their income), making food stamps the only aid many people can get â the safety netâs safety net.
Support for the food stamp program reached a nadir in the mid-1990s when critics, likening the benefit to cash welfare, won significant restrictions and sought even more. But after use plunged for several years, President Bill Clinton began promoting the program, in part as a way to help the working poor. President George W. Bush expanded that effort, a strategy Mr. Obama has embraced.
The revival was crowned last year with an upbeat change of name. What most people still call food stamps is technically the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
By the time the recession began, in December 2007, âthe whole message around this program had changed,â said Stacy Dean of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington group that has supported food stamp expansions. âThe general pitch was, âThis program is here to help you.â â
Now nearly 12 percent of Americans receive aid â 28 percent of blacks, 15 percent of Latinos and 8 percent of whites. Benefits average about $130 a month for each person in the household, but vary with shelter and child care costs.
In the promotion of the program, critics see a sleight of hand.
âSome people like to camouflage this by calling it a nutrition program, but itâs really not different from cash welfare,â said Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, whose views have a following among conservatives on Capitol Hill. âFood stamps is quasi money.â
Arguing that aid discourages work and marriage, Mr. Rector said food stamps should contain work requirements as strict as those placed on cash assistance. âThe food stamp program is a fossil that repeats all the errors of the war on poverty,â he said.
Suburbs Are Hit Hard
Across the country, the food stamp rolls can be read like a scan of a sick economy. The counties of northwest Ohio, where car parts are made, take sick when Detroit falls ill. Food stamp use is up by about 60 percent in Erie County (vibration controls), 77 percent in Wood County (floor mats) and 84 percent in hard-hit Van Wert (shifting components and cooling fans).
Just west, in Indiana, Elkhart County makes the majority of the nationâs recreational vehicles. Sales have fallen more than half during the recession, and nearly 30 percent of the countyâs children are receiving food stamps.
The pox in southwest Florida is the housing bust, with foreclosure rates in Fort Myers often leading the nation in the last two years. Across six contiguous counties from Manatee to Monroe, the food stamp rolls have more than doubled.
In sheer numbers, growth has come about equally from places where food stamp use was common and places where it was rare. Since 2007, the 600 counties with the highest percentage of people on the rolls added 1.3 million new recipients. So did the 600 counties where use was lowest.
The richest counties are often where aid is growing fastest, although from a small base. In 2007, Forsyth County, outside Atlanta, had the highest household income in the South. (One author dubbed it âWhitopia.â) Food stamp use there has more than doubled.
This is the first recession in which a majority of the poor in metropolitan areas live in the suburbs, giving food stamps new prominence there. Use has grown by half or more in dozens of suburban counties from Boston to Seattle, including such bulwarks of modern conservatism as Californiaâs Orange County, where the rolls are up more than 50 percent.
While food stamp use is still the exception in places like Orange County (where 4 percent of the population get food aid), the program reaches deep in places of chronic poverty. It feeds half the people in stretches of white Appalachia, in a Yupik-speaking region of Alaska and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Across the 10 core counties of the Mississippi Delta, 45 percent of black residents receive aid. In a city as big as St. Louis, the share is 60 percent.
Use among children is especially high. A third of the children in Louisiana, Missouri and Tennessee receive food aid. In the Bronx, the rate is 46 percent. In East Carroll Parish, La., three-quarters of the children receive food stamps.
A recent study by Mark R. Rank, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, startled some policy makers in finding that half of Americans receive food stamps, at least briefly, by the time they turn 20. Among black children, the figure was 90 percent.
Need Overcomes Scorn
Across the small towns and rolling farmland outside Cincinnati, old disdain for the program has collided with new needs. Warren County, the second-richest in Ohio, is so averse to government aid that it turned down a federal stimulus grant. But the market for its high-end suburban homes has sagged, people who build them are idle and food stamp use has doubled.
Next door, in Clinton County, the blow has been worse. DHL, the international package carrier, has closed most of its giant airfield, costing the county its biggest employer and about 7,500 jobs. The county unemployment rate nearly tripled, to more than 14 percent.
âWeâre seeing people getting food stamps who never thought theyâd get them,â said Tina Osso, the director of the Shared Harvest Food Bank in Fairfield, which runs an outreach program in five area counties.
While Mr. Dawson, the electrician, has kept his job, the drive to distant work sites has doubled his gas bill, food prices rose sharply last year and his health insurance premiums have soared. His monthly expenses have risen by about $400, and the elimination of overtime has cost him $200 a month. Food stamps help fill the gap.
Like many new beneficiaries here, Mr. Dawson argues that people often abuse the program and is quick to say he is different. While some people âchoose not to get married, just so they can apply for benefits,â he is a married, churchgoing man who works and owns his home. While âsome people put piles of steaks in their carts,â he will not use the governmentâs money for luxuries like coffee or soda. âTo me, thatâs just morally wrong,â he said.
He has noticed crowds of midnight shoppers once a month when benefits get renewed. While policy analysts, spotting similar crowds nationwide, have called them a sign of increased hunger, he sees idleness. âGenerally, if youâre up at that hour and not working, what are you into?â he said.
Still, the program has filled the Dawsonsâ home with fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and meat, and something they had not fully expected â an enormous sense of relief. âI know if I run out of milk, I could run down to the gas station,â said Mr. Dawsonâs wife, Sheila.
As others here tell it, that is a benefit not to be overlooked.
Sarah and Tyrone Mangold started the year on track to make $70,000 â she was selling health insurance, and he was working on a heating and air conditioning crew. She got laid off in the spring, and he a few months later. Together they had one unemployment check and a blended family of three children, including one with a neurological disorder aggravated by poor nutrition.
They ate at his motherâs house twice a week. They pawned jewelry. She scoured the food pantry. He scrounged for side jobs. Their frustration peaked one night over a can of pinto beans. Each blamed the other when that was all they had to eat.
âWe were being really snippy, having anxiety attacks,â Ms. Mangold said. âPeople get irritable when theyâre hungry.â
Food stamps now fortify the family income by $623 a month, and Mr. Mangold, who is still patching together odd jobs, no longer objects.
âI always thought people on public assistance were lazy,â he said, âbut it helps me know I can feed my kids.â
Shifting Views
So far, few elected officials have objected to the programâs growth. Almost 90 percent of beneficiaries nationwide live below the poverty line (about $22,000 a year for a family of four). But a minor tempest hit Ohioâs Warren County after a woman drove to the food stamp office in a Mercedes-Benz and word spread that she owned a $300,000 home loan-free. Since Ohio ignores the value of houses and cars, she qualified.
âIâm a hard-core conservative Republican guy â I found that appalling,â said Dave Young, a member of the county board of commissioners, which briefly threatened to withdraw from the federal program.
âAs soon as people figure out they can vote representatives in to give them benefits, thatâs the end of democracy,â Mr. Young said. âMore and more people will be taking, and fewer will be producing.â
At the same time, the recession left Sandi Bernstein more sympathetic to the needy. After years of success in the insurance business, Ms. Bernstein, 66, had just settled into what she had expected to be a comfortable retirement when the financial crisis last year sent her brokerage accounts plummeting. Feeling newly vulnerable herself, she volunteered with an outreach program run by AARP and the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks.
Having assumed that poor people clamored for aid, she was surprised to find that some needed convincing to apply.âI come here and I see people who are knowledgeable, normal, well-spoken, well-dressed,â she said. âThese are people I could be having lunch with.â
That could describe Franny and Shawn Wardlow, whose house in nearby Oregonia conjures middle-American stability rather than the struggle to meet basic needs. Their three daughters have heads of neat blond hair, pink bedroom curtains and a turtle bought in better times on vacation in Daytona Beach, Fla. One wrote a fourth-grade story about her parents that concluded âThey lived happily ever after.â
Ms. Wardlow, who worked at a nursing home, lost her job first. Soon after, Mr. Wardlow was laid off from the construction job he had held for nearly nine years. As Ms. Wardlow tells the story of the subsequent fall â cutoff threats from the power company, the dinners of egg noodles, the soap from the Salvation Army â she dwells on one unlikely symbol of the security she lost.
Pot roast.
âI was raised on eating pot roast,â she said. âJust a nice decent meal.â
Mr. Wardlow, 32, is a strapping man with a friendly air. He talked his way into a job at an envelope factory although his boss said he was overqualified. But it pays less than what he made muscling a jackhammer, and with Ms. Wardlow still jobless, they are two months behind on the rent. A monthly food stamp benefit of $429 fills the shelves and puts an occasional roast on the Sunday table.
It reminds Ms. Wardlow of what she has lost, and what she hopes to regain.
âI would consider us middle class at one time,â she said. âI like to have a nice decent meal for dinner.â
Matthew Ericson and Janet Roberts contributed reporting.
Suit. - Pehhh
[ In Reply To ..]
Old MT - Anon
[ In Reply To ..]Gee, sounds just like MedQuist during my hellish years there. It seems that they learned their lessons well......
Drama - MT ME
[ In Reply To ..]Even trying to take the middle road here with what you posted, if just half of what you said were actually true, would people still work there? Seriously?? I'm sure they have their issues, but it can't be THAT bad can it? Did you say you work or have worked there? I mean, why should we believe what you are saying? Just sick of the drama, and why unnecessarily worry people who are making the leap to go with Transcend? It's hard enough as it is to go with a new company, without people acting paranoid.
It does not matter... - Jenny
[ In Reply To ..]anyway. This really does not have anything to do with Transcend. It is happening all over. We only have about 10 years left (if that much) in this industry. In the next 10 years, all the work is going to India anyway just like the U.S. textile industry in the 1970s-80s.
How can anyone make a reasonable living as an Medical Language Specialist? I have seen the writing on the wall for several years. The phasing out of MTs began with MedQuist, and it will continue until MTs are editing reports for pennies on the dollar.
Alarmist you cry? Hmmm, ask the people of West Point, GA whose town used to be a center for textiles and now has bent over to have a huge KIA plant in their town so that the area can survive. The selling of America has been happening for years and will continue to do so.
Good luck next generations!
I know about the plant in West Point but also - L
[ In Reply To ..]some countries have set up plants here in the US including Volkswagen in Chattanooga and in Atlanta recently posted about a company from, get this of all places, India who had to set up here for some reason having to hire US workers. Donât ask me why, do not remember the details but hiring I think over 1000 for new office in Atlanta. As far as reasonable living in MLS, I make alright say a week for around $750 a week and mostly VR, that is an 8 hour day by the way.
Wow, I am impressed. - Jenny
[ In Reply To ..]Good on ya!
You make that with Transend? nm - wondering
[ In Reply To ..]XX
Nope, another place - L
[ In Reply To ..]NM
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Oct 02, 2014
Ok> I just have to ask and I know it is all going to be negative, but here it goes. I am a divorced 52 year old woman who has found herself out of job managing transcription. I have now been with Nuance for two months. I have a mortgage and oodles of bills. Is there any way possible I can survive being with them. The first few weeks I started, I found my average hourly to be around 8 bucks an hour......I was sick. Now, almost 3 months later, closer to ...
F.I.E.S.A. Survival Strategies
Jun 29, 2014
Bear in mind that planted errors are being utilized to weed you out. (You are being told it is so that you become a better MT). So, if you decide to stick it out and learn the Nuance system of scoring reports, here are a list of the things I know they watch for when planting errors throughout the reports. I think we have to stick together, so here ya go! (Wish I had had a QC share this with me): Things to watch out for: medication allergies to prescribed medications (we shoul ...
Tips
Mar 23, 2010
Anyone got tips on pacing themselves or how to make things go smoother. I am a new MT and really want to do well since I left a good job to work from home, as it was a dream of mine. I realize that patient is a virtue. Something that I would like to possess more of. I am setting up my shortcuts, and feel like I am working my fingers to the bone, and not getting anywhere. Any tips and advice on things that will help me move right along will be much helpful. ...
MQ DQS ASR Tips
Jul 15, 2011
Been tracking my work for the last couple of years on ASR, am able to calculate my paycheck usually within a dollar of what it should be upon deposit into my account, and thought I'd share some tips I've learned from ASR: Keep your fingers on the keyboard. Anyone who says they are bored doing ASR isn't doing it right. It is just as challenging as typing, even more so because of the concentration required. It is much like playing the piano in that one's fingers are always mov ...
ASR Tips Revisited
Jan 28, 2010
Have read through numerous tips on this board on how to increase productivity (TY), but for the life of me can't seem to make much progress. There is one HUGE hurdle that slows me down terribly. At the very beginning of dictation, where the dictating physician says all the mumbo jumbo that should not be in a report - ADT info - we are to place a skip marker (and as far as my experience, it doesn't make much sense to place any more unless there is a blatant gap where none of the garbage ...
Burnout: Any Tips To Get Over It? Sm
Jan 31, 2010
I have been an MT for 13 years and lately I have been suffering from severe burnout. I need the money so badly!!! But it seems impossible to stay focused on my work. Sometimes sitting down transcribing is nearly impossible - feels like trying to swallow bad cough medicine or something! I have tried putting up pictures of reasons I need to be focusing and typing and have tried challenging myself with line counts, etc. I just dont seem to be able to do it. ...
Tips For Success With VR
May 14, 2010
Learning to use VR can be accomplished by any MT who has solid MT skills and is knowledgeable about their work. I do not believe newbies or grads within their first 2 years should be using VR without QA backup (just my opinion). 1. You have to want to learn to use it effectively. If you try to do it kicking and screaming, being obstinant, you simply will hinder your learning curve and depth significantly. 2. It takes time. You will not learn it overnight.&nb ...
Any Tips About Proofreading
Jul 26, 2010
Any tips about proofreading? I am an MT intern consistently getting high 90s for grades in Acute Care but 99% is required to pass the program. Tps for perfecting MT proofreading would be appreciated. I seem to make dumb mistakes and just don't see them when I proofread. Maple Grandma ...
What Are Your Production Tips?
May 15, 2011
I know that everyone says there is no money in VR, but sometimes you have to take the job you are given and be thankful for that. The account I am working on is 99% VR. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on being productive. For example, do you look at your report first and fix any obvious errors and then listen to the dictation or do you just jump right in with the dictation and do it all then? Currently, I make about 5cpl for VR, which compared to some quotes I have rea ...
Tips For Motivation?
May 18, 2011
eee gads, every have one of those nights, or one of those weeks? what do you do when you just can't seem to get in the groove? maybe its the mt week contests and knowing I will never win anything (even though I meet all the production requirements) plus just plain wore out from trying to move for the past week or so. tried to get some PTO, but never get approved. and then add to it the 3rd shift blues. no matter what, just can't keep my eyes open! ...
SR Tips & Tricks
Sep 09, 2011
I am fairly new to SR and have been doing it for about a month. Does anyone out there have any tips to share on how to become quicker? I have memorized keyboard commands and am trying to speed up dictation. Is that all there is to be successful at this? ...
Extext Tips?
Jan 20, 2012
Any tips on editing in Extext? ...
Tips For Those Just Starting DQS 7...smg
May 15, 2012
If you don't like those panels on the side of your text screen showing, you can drag the right and left margins of text screen to widen the text screen. You can also drag the upper and lower margins. You can enlarge the size of the font and change the style of the font (which only will change it on your end, not the client's end). I am not in the program right now, but I think it is under Tools at the top, then click on the tabs to see which one has the font ...
Proofing Tips
Jun 01, 2012
Would anyone be willing to share their proofreading tips. I find that VR requires a much higher level of concentration and focus to catch errors. The text on the screen can become a blur. After a couple of hours it is so easy to "hear" what the voice engine blew out and not catch a small but significant error. I am finding that something that needs to be deleted from the text is actually harder to catch than something that needs to be changed or added. Any tips would be helpful. I do see m ...
Editing Tips
Sep 13, 2012
Hi! How do you all do it? I have a job that is 70% editing and about 30% typing. I can't seem to get any faster with my editing. I have tried to teach myself to only edit when absolutely necessary (not that I agree with that) and I have turned the speed up. I am not sure where I am going wrong? I try to keep with account specifics as well. BUT I do admit that I still throw in a comma where I think things could be confusing or put in a period with a ...
Marketing Tips?
Jun 25, 2013
I will appreciate any marketing tips anyone can share. I'm a small MTSO and recently lost a client not due to EMR but the client went bankrupt and still owes me some invoices. I've tried cold calling which worked a few years back but nowadays it doesn't seem to work anymore. Thanks in advance. :) ...
Need Advice/tips
Aug 29, 2013
I think I read every single line along with the speech, and I think I double check every single ADT, too. Then I get back my report back from QA and it's obvious that my mind wandered because there will be a line that is completely off and/or a wrong ADT. Do you all do this and if not is there any tips you can give me to help me keep focused? ...
POSITIVE Tips For A New MT Please
Sep 21, 2014
Hello, I will be starting a full-time transcription job October 7th. I have about 3 years experience in medical transcription, but have never worked for straight production pay, never worked from home, and have never transcribed 8 hours a day, every day. I have been reading these forums and have read all of the negative thoughts about getting into medical transcription. That's not what I'm looking for. I would like tips for starting with a new company, new dic ...
Productivity Tips
Jan 13, 2015
I'm wondering if anyone has any productivity tips for staying focused that they'd like to share. I've been doing this for so many years, but it seems like a daily struggle to sit still for six to eight hours a day and just type report after report, especially when the laundry and housecleaning always seems to be calling out to me. I've tried the 25 minutes on/5 minutes off without much success and am wondering what else works for people. Thanks for any sh ...
Research Tips?
Mar 24, 2015
What are your favorite research tips? Any suggestions on how you cut down research time and increase productivity? I need to get my productivity up, seriously! Would appreciate any suggestions to that end, thanks! ...
Tips For VR Success (what Worked For Me)
Oct 20, 2009
Trust me, I understand the agony of going from transcription to editing. If you have a great dictator, it’s not so bad but fewer accounts and fewer dictators fit that bill any more. Doing editing on a heavier basis daily also begins to make it more of a concern if you are not making up the difference in your production compared with your transcription line counts. Here’s how I worked my skill set up to where I needed it to be. There are several th ...
Tips On Typing With A Broken Leg
Feb 15, 2010
Does anybody have any experience typing with a broken leg? I broke my left leg (thank goodness, not my foot pedal leg!) this weekend. I don't have the luxury of taking time off, but I'm finding it exhausting keeping this leg elevated and sitting upright like we were taught to do. I'm in a full-leg cast, and it puts a heck of a strain on my gluteus maximus muscles. I have a feeling I'll just have to keep trying new positions till I find one that works, ...
M-Modal..producitivity Tips Anyone?
May 05, 2010
Company has recently started switching work from straight typing to VR editing using M-Modal. They claim it is 85% accurate....I beg to differ. I'm thinking MAYBE 60%. Does anyone have any tips on how to increase productivity with this program? I want to give it a solid shot before I look at other opportunities that are out there.....or, God forbid, have to develop job skills entirely outside of transcription. ...
Tips For Using The Mttest.com Site
May 12, 2010
The site is very literal. Here are some tips. Objective: 1. Thoroughly read the instructions. Don't try to think about the instructions - simply read them and follow them. For example if it tells you to type the correct spelling of a word into a field (picking a misspelled word out of a phrase), only type that word - not anything else. 2. Look up every single word and definition before you make a choice. I don't care how much you T ...
Tips On Staying Focused Anyone?!
Oct 12, 2010
Normally, I'm very disciplined about work. I have a very stable job, very good pay, great accounts. I am just having trouble staying on task. Mind you, I do not have to just push and push. I just need to relax and complete a report, upload it, do the next one. I can breaks when I want to. There is NOTHING wrong with my situation except as soon as I start a report my mind goes to a zillion other things I would rather be doing. I can hardly get thro ...
Your Tips For Staying Attentive.
Dec 30, 2010
I am an independent contractor and do the transcription for a busy family practice office. I use Instant Text, macros and autocorrect, and I also use my timer to keep myself productive. But sometimes I struggle with productivity and focusing. I'd love to hear people's tips here on how they stay focused when your mind is pulled other places, and, also, your best tips for increasing your speed! I just know there is a wealth of information here. Even shaving a few ...
My Concentration Sucks...tips?
Jul 12, 2011
I have a great job working at home editing. I love it. I've been in transcription 12 years but lately have the worst concentration ever. I find myself getting distracted by the Internet..Facebook, Google, Yahoo, CNN. You name it I'm there in between reports. I know I'm not giving it 100% at work and wish I could concentrate!! FWIW I can't sleep either. Total insomniac. I'm not very productive because of this distractibility and it concerns me a lot. Does anyone have tips ...
Any Tips On Landing First Coding Job?
May 05, 2012
I passed my CPC test in April and have been searching for a job. Everyone wants experience. Can anyone share any tips for landing that first coding job? And, is it true that people will hire a CCS with no experience? Thanks for any help! ...
Okay, Lets Try Tips/hints Again
Apr 01, 2014
The next tip/hint I have for everyone is the comma, semicolon, and colon. First of all, UNLESS YOUR DICTATOR IS VERBATIM, ignore their punctuation. Most doctors I have experience with wouldnât know proper punctuation if it bit them in the behind. Just because they say âcommaâ doesnât mean their correct. I wonât say much about the comma, because I think we all pretty much know how to use that. However, the semicolon stumps some people, especially doctors. A semicolon ...