A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

MT Now Works at Burger King - Sad

Posted: Mar 22, 2012

The other day I was talking with a friend of mine who has worked in the oil industry amongst others. He said, "Did I tell you that a girl who worked for me was going to school at night to learn how to do what you do?" (medical transcription)

I replied, "No, you didn't. How's she doing?"

"She's working at the Burger King on ________. I asked her what happened to her transcription jobs, and she said there isn't enough work."

Okay? Your point? Funny, a lot of us are miraculously still - Kiki

[ In Reply To ..]
working in MT. Yes, there are probably less jobs to be found but did you consider maybe the reason the (would- be) MT isn't working as an MT is because she didn't have what it takes? I mean, even I could have found something better than Burger King if not for MT'ing. Just saying....

She was sharp as a TACK. - Sad

[ In Reply To ..]
She actually DID work as an MT for a few years. That's why she was an MT, not a "would-be MT" as you put it.

If she didn't "have what it takes," then that wouldn't have been the case -- she would have not made it through school, not gotten a job, or only lasted a short time rather than a few years. In addition, my friend told me that she was smart as a whip.

You're stil working? Got PLENTY of work? Making GOOD money? If so, good for you, as you are one of the lucky ones. Most of the rest of us aren't so fortunate, and that DOES NOT make us subpar MTs. (You guys need to find another tune as that one has gotten really old!)

The detrimental transformation of MT over the past few years has already been posted here COUNTLESS times so I won't repeat it.

She's probably better off. - PassingThru

[ In Reply To ..]
Unlike some here, I never judge people based upon a particular job they happen to be doing at any particular time. That's because I have known several degreed professionals, including Ph.D.s, who have driven a cab between jobs just to make ends meet so they could pay their bills. That is in part because I live in a city with low wages and high unemployment. So working at BK on a temp basis isn't something I would look down my nose at.

If that girl is extremely smart, she will move on to something bigger and better than both BK and MT. There is ZERO future in MT; it's simply not sustainable. Also, IMO the caliber of MTs has fallen off precipitously over the past 15 years or so. Today's MTs are so dumbed down it's ridiculous! Just read ss what they post here ("Copenhagen is a country"; "my male dog is spayed"), not to mention their complete lack of critical thinking skills, zero debate skills, and their irrationality.

She will move on, no doubt to something much better.

At least at Burger King, you have the opportunity - to move up to manager.

[ In Reply To ..]

This board contains about 273+ users at its - peak times and

[ In Reply To ..]
of that number there seems to be a small group who are consistently unhappy.

All I got to say is that there are thousands of MTs out there, but only a small percentage post here as opposed to the many working in this field. So this board does not necessarily reflect the amount of happy MTs or MTs making a fairly good living.

Yes I know it says they have like 25,000 members or something like that, but take into consideration some of those people probably registerd here 10yrs ago and posted maybe twice.

I have never seen the number of users at once even make it to 300 and I've been coming here off and on for about 4mos.

I said all that to say this - Apparently the percentage of happy MTs who are making what they consider a reasonable living outweigh those that come here and complain and insult those who seem to be doing well.

I would'nt be surprised if most of the people who signed up here didn't return to this board based on the amount of negativity here. It is draining and not everyone is in your shoes.

how did you determine that? - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
How can you tell out of 273+ users that a "small number" seems unhappy, and how do you know that out of those "thousands" of MTs out there, that the bulk of them are happy?

You have no proof that the bulk of MTs are actually happy as you have no way of knowing.

Many dont even know about this board and would not post even if they did know out of fear.

I can understand the negativity as the changes are so drastic compared to what they were, however, you have no proof of what "the majority" of MTs feel regarding this profession.

I work with and have worked with many MTs - who are content and

[ In Reply To ..]
and true, most of them dont even know aobut this board. I told one of my co-workers I came here while researching info on a company and she amongst others told me to take what I read here with a grain fo salt.

the rest is common sense, look at the field and look how many MTs are actually out there who don't post here. Read the boards, for every one positive comment you have about 10 negatives. This is excluding the ones who come here strictly looking for info.

I've been in this business for years, worked at a clinic 5yrs, worked at a hospital 10+yrs and part-time off and on for a couple of companies. Never have I ever ran across so many unhappy people until I stumbled across this board.

I see it totally different - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
If you read your post, "for every one positive comment, you have about 10 negatives," that would indicate that more are unhappy.

Maybe the places you worked, and your co-workers were happy, but I have worked inhouse and people were not "happy" about pay being cut and benefits changing.

No one is happy about speech rec, and the pay cut that came with it. How could they be?

I think some people feel they can express their negatives on this board because their identies are not known.

This profession is not thriving, or AHDI would not be advising people to change careers.

I also think this goes for all profressions right now, people are being forced to take on so much more responsibility at the same or lower wages and in general, people are unhappier than in the past 10 years.

for every 10 negative - posters

[ In Reply To ..]
you probably have 3 people posting. This site is a mere tiny microcosm in the MT industry. I know many MTs who never come here or have stopped by and found it too negative and just went about their way happily earning money.

I want to know why it's such a crime that some of us really ARE happy and really DO make decent money. No one dares make these comments anymore because there will be an almost immediate slap down of them being called a suit, accused of lying, then ridiculed with the prediction - IT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU.

The negative nellies need to get over themselves and figure out there's a reason they are in the position they are in and it's not all the MTSO.

another awsome post. - I thought I was the only one who observed this.

[ In Reply To ..]
.

For every 10 negative posters, there are likely - 200 more out there who are - s/msg

[ In Reply To ..]
equally unhappy, maybe even more so. They just didn't happen to post anything. Or else they don't even read MT Stars. The only happy ones in this business right now are the higher-ups, who are screwing all of us who do the actual WORK.

you prove me correct - thanks

[ In Reply To ..]
No point in sharing you're happy because the nasty posters jump out immediately to tell you you're wrong.

thank you, that's all just thank you - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
it reminds me of the old adage, if you tell a big enough lie, people will believe it - that's the big lie in MTs-ville...the mysterious-as-Big-Foot, only infrequently encountered MT WHO IS HAPPY...I'm starting to think like Big Foot...that MT doesn't exist....

I think you are right on target with that - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
This board has always been known for unhappiness, and an anti-management, anti-credentialing, anti-AHDI focus. This is not representative of the overall MT community.

On one hand, you might think this is because the MTs here got shafted, but when you look at the coding board you see the same people complaining there, as well. There are some who bring the same negative beliefs and focus with them, not realizing that it is out of place in a career field that simply does not have any of the issues MT has now. They will not let go of those beliefs no matter how often the coders explain. When anyone expresses interest in moving into coding, several people who are clearly not coders will instantly appear to discourage them. The insistence that everyone must believe the bad news is so strong that there have even been what appear to be fake posts claiming personal experience with it.

Even more interesting are the MTs who took a coding course and now perceive the same unhappy issues and exhibit the same dysfunctional behaviors as before.

It is like some kind of reverse therapy group for people with disorders. They just feed off each other.

DITTO!!! and a HUGE round of applause. - Excellent post - Hit the nail on the head.

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

On target? - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I am one of the MTs who is fortunately gainfully employed although I know that can change in a heartbeat through no fault of my own. I want to address the coding issue. For some reason, this is turning into an "us versus them" issue, which I do not understand. Not wanting to learn coding is not a character flaw. I completed a coding program and then chose not to actively pursue it at the present time, for personal reasons. I have never discouraged anyone from going into coding, if that is what they want to do, the choice is yours. I can tell you that there are also a lot of unhappy coders out there as well; if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Nothing stays the same forever, that is a fact. Coding is not going away, but the profession is going to experience big changes. Anyone who is not willing to admit that is in denial.

Nobody said it was YOU - Wondering why you think it was

[ In Reply To ..]
That post did not say one thing about you or anything you wrote. Not one mention of the MT who took coding and does not want to do it.

Why would you assume that people are talking about you?

Why would you even need to tell people about your lack of interest in coding? You feel people need to know your truth about coding? That you completed a program and don't want to even look for a job because . . . what? You see some unhappy coders where you work?

You feel you need to save others from making the mistake you made?

If software to do VR can be built, then - software that recognizes - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
key words & phrases in that dictation can be built to code them. It's just matter of time.

Fortunately, that is not all the job consists of - Lots more involved than that

[ In Reply To ..]
For more explanation see the coding board.

Nobody is saying - there are

[ In Reply To ..]
no happy workers. I'm sure there are companies that still are good to work for. You also mentioned you worked in-house. Well, most people that work in-house probably are happier because they are getting paid hourly. Yes people complain of benefits going up and stuff but that is everywhere.

Most of the complaints here are from the "Big 2" where they have totally devalued the MT. I have seen many in-house people happy in their jobs until they were sold out to them, then they are on this board complaining. Many saying, I never thought it would happen to me.

Many thought offshoring destroyed the MT field. Well, I believe speech rec destroyed it more than offshoring. You did not mention whether you have been paid the wages for speech rec, and I am not going to assume you have or haven't, but that is when the complaining really got big. For each happy worker post I see, I see 10 people getting out of the industry. Again, there are some that are happy doing speech rec, but many of the high-volume typists are losing money. Many of the happy people may be new people who really can't put out 200+ lines, many even 300+ lines typing and not much more doing speech rec, and those people are having their pay cut in half. Some that like it happen to have a good program to work on, unlike MModal's (haven't worked on Nuance's,so don't know), so they are not fixing every other word. There are some who are doing okay on MModal's, but more that are not.

I will say, I have never seen the amount of people getting out of this field like I do now, so maybe there are reasons people are complaining on this board now.

Basically, these big companies would really like all of us gone but their software won't allow it, as they thought, so the only other thing to do is rip off the employees to make up for all the money they invested in software that they thought could do the job of humans.

You make valid points and I can't disagree with - that.

[ In Reply To ..]
I have done it all, speech recognition as well. I am fortunate to still make good, but I work hard and aim for a certain dollar amount each day/paycheck and I am never out of work.

You made some good points - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Those are legitimate complaints. You presented them in a mature, well-thought-out manner.

If the discussion here was of that caliber, there wouldn't be a problem. In fact, as a group, a lot could be done to help each other and create solutions for transitions and futures.

That is not what we see, though. That is not what we were talking about. We were talking about the screaming negativity that erupts over even the most minor and innocent things. And even the most potentially positive things.

There are coders, some of whom are former MTs, on the board who come here to help MTs transition. They want to provide accurate information, warn about scams, answer student questions, and HELP those in need. They recognize that some need to leave MT just as they themselves did. They are not trying to force this on anyone. Yet, they are viciously attacked in nearly every thread by the same aggressively negative people who post disordered venom on the MT boards who would not know what coding was if it bit them on the asterisk.

THAT is what we are talking about.

Exactly. I agree 100%. - see msg

[ In Reply To ..]
She is right. I myself was referring to the viciously negative and agressive people. Though I can't prove it, I am willing to bet it's pretty much the same group.

200+ users at any given point in time... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Nobody stays here for the whole day long. People come and go but the count stays. So you can't say it's a small group of MTs. People don't read posts again and again. A viral post usually gets hundreds of views within few hours.

I trust MTStars community (with all the negativity) for two reasons.

1 - Unbaised opinions because they don't accept sponsorships for MTSOs (like many other sites). You can speak about any MTSO here without any fear. Here, I never saw any favortisim for MTSOs over the years.

2 - See Job Seekers board and Company board side by side. The companies that are bashed like anything on company board still posting jobs on Job Seekers board because they know it's the best way to reach US MT community online. Do you know my favorite keyword being an MT when I started surfing online? yep, "Medical Transcription Jobs" and still it is. You need to check what comes up in Google when you search for it out of 4,020,000 results. I am not saying it represents the whole community but every MT who is online today knows about MTStars.

3 - I haven't seen any other MT community with 275+ users online yet. In my opinion MTStars is the busiest one. All I want to say at the end is that it doesn't represent the WHOLE MT community but it does represent the MAJORITY and it's in thousands not hundreds for sure.

I beg to differ. Been an MT for 20yrs and never - heard of this site till a few months ago.

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

you might want to widen your horizons - because

[ In Reply To ..]
there is another site that has many, MANY more job listings than this one does. Most employers have learned NOT to post here and they are able to attract MTs, imagine that.

No way this site reflects the MAJORITY of MTs, not even close.

Not valid assumptions - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
200 is less than 2 per state. They are not all MTs. Some may be curious, some MTSOs, some foreign, some children, some reading posts thet got linked to in Google, some students who want to cheat on assignments, some who only want to post political rants, some from organizations that see themselves mentioned here, and who knows what else. I have known at least two authors who used boards like this for reseach and character development. I have also known of people who enjoyed pretending to be MTs or doctors or musicians or whatever the board was for and posting like some kind of role-playing game. There are probably a thousand a day -- not even MTs-- who read the jobs board and perhaps a few hundred who pick up prayer requests.

The most important point to make is that the majority of people on any board NEVER post. Only a small percentage register and an even smaller number post more than once.

Some of the views are deliberate and accidental repeat views. Some are probably views by search engines and bots.

The end result is that there is a very small number of actively posting participants here. Fewer still post in any given forum.

The proportion of viciously angry posters is probably much lower than you would believe from the frequency and screaming visibility of their posts. Given their negativity and propensity for attacking, they have pretty much driven positive people into silence. Of course it looks as though they represent the entire industry! They are the only ones they allow to post here.

You wouldn't be seeing this kind of thread now if a couple of coders hadn't been so shocked by the outright fabrications that they stood up for their profession.

Not Valid Assumptions - I COULD KISS YOU!! - see msg

[ In Reply To ..]
You said it all and you said a mouth full. Yes, the negativity drives the positivity away. Birds of a feather flock together. There is no place for those who are successful as an MT on this board.

So yes, you are right, the negative nancy's have taken over. Misery is like a disease, it sucks the life out of you. Of course you find very few positive posts on this board because anyone with an optimistic attitude or successful mindset has long since bypassed this board. Hence, it has nothing to offer them.

There are many MTs out there still making a good living, happy with their jobs, and many of which have never even heard of MT stars and those that have who are doing well would not frequent a board like this.

Wow such awsome posts in this thread! I love it.

OCCUPY MT STARS!!!!! OCCUPY MT STARS!!!!! Woooooooo! - The Forces of Good

[ In Reply To ..]
Spread the word!

I personally know at least half a dozen MTs - See message

[ In Reply To ..]
I personally know and have worked with at least half a dozen MTs who refuse to come to this board for any reason due to the constant barrage of negative posts. One actually tried posting something positive in response to a question about an MTSO, and she was attacked by several negative posters, who accused her of being a "suit," "management," or just flat-out called her a liar. Obviously (and understandably), she never returned.

I think Cher does as good a job as possible when something is actually a "bannable offense," but I suspect her hands are tied in drawing that fine line between a post being negative and a post being abusive/bullying. If she had to ban every poster with whose opinion she disagreed or whose attitude she didn't like, that would probably just leave a handful of posting members.

I have been an MT for over 25 years and had never heard of this site until about 2 years ago, I believe, and that was an accidental stumble-upon when I was Googling a term. I was excited to find the site and told my co-workers so that they could enjoy it, too. As you can see above, they tried it but left due to the negativity.

We all have opposing opinions about any number of things. Constructive debate is healthy. Just because I like Company A does not mean another poster won't despise Company A, and I would hope that the person who despises Company A would post their differing opinion in a RESPECTFUL, POLITE, COURTEOUS MANNER...NOT by calling me a liar, a suit, management, or insult me personally as if they know me because I dare to be content.

THAT is where I wish a posting rule would evolve; any accusatory posts containing the above words would result in that poster(s) being banned. Demanding common courtesy on these boards might discourage that pack of hyenas from spewing their venom over every single post from the main board to the community board to the gab board to the new MTs board, etc. We're all (presumably) well-educated professionals and the downright hatefulness and vindictiveness contained in some of these posts is inexcusable, no matter what one's employment or financial status is. It is not the fault of other posters if someone is not content with their employer or job, and to see positive posters bludgeoned day in and day out on these forums just makes me shake my head.

Sad.

Amen! - Thank you.

[ In Reply To ..]
I, too, have known about this site for years, but never came here because I could not post without being, as you say, bludgeoned. It is as if there is an official negative opinion with which you must agree or WHAM!

When I read "Tribal Leadership," I began to understand what I was seeing here.

The Forces of Good thank you for your support.

School, experience, skills - What else would you expect?

[ In Reply To ..]
From what you said in your first post, this person was still in school. OK, so now they are finished. Let's look at what we have left.

School is at night. That indicates it is in the local area, so it is probably a program that is not associated with success. We have known for more than a decade that adult night schools, "technical colleges," and community colleges do not produce MTs who are ready to work.

You do not know that she worked well for a few years. Given the school, she may have lost office job after office job due to her skill level. That is what "not enough work" tells you. She never got a solid job ecause she didn't have the experience or skills. Few do even in the first few years unless they attend a reputable school.

Nothing unusual about this scenario. Same thing we have seen since I started MT . . . wanna-be attends some night school, learns who-knows-what, can't get started due to lack of skills, decides it is not for them.

This happens to people in all kinds of work, as it happens. Nursing, dental assisting, computer programming, accounting, etc.

As for her being sharp as a tack . . . well, perhaps she is the wrong kind of tack. Nuclear physicists are pretty sharp, but some of them can't type and do not know a comma from a period. And if she is that sharp, why didn't she go back to being a nuclear physicist instead of BK? It is just that someone coming from a responsible job in a field like nursing, teaching, or anywhere they have had work experience beyond bagging burgers does better in MT.

Just saying that there is a lot here that doesn't meet the eye. I would not assume this person was the same kind of MT that others here are. To me, she appears to be another person who never made it into the field due to poor training.

School, experience, skills - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I attended a community college for my MT training and was hired for an acute care transcription job before I finished my program. That was more than 10 years ago, however, and as you say, not all schools are created equal. I was at that job for 5 years, and it led to many other great MT jobs. Some people go to school at night because that is what fits their (and the instructor's) schedule, it does not mean the program is lacking. As an MT, "not enough work" tells me that the company she worked for ran out of work and did not have enough transcription to keep everyone busy, she couldn't make any money, or a combination of both. She may have been laid off because they had to cut staff and she was "low man on the totem pole." So yes, there is a lot here that does not meet the eye. I can't comment on the choice to work at Burger King, I guess a person does that they think they have to do.

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