Well that was fun!

Last night I worked my first real MT shift. I'm not gonna lie, it was rough. First, I had a bunch of systems issues which slowed me down, then the report itself was tough (found out later it's one of the hardest docs on my account - what a way to start!).

I only ended up doing 1 report because there was only one other person on last night to help me, and she was off at 10:00. By the time I figured everything out (and lost the report once when I was about half way through) I probably made about a dollar an hour. Definitely not going to be worth it if THAT keeps up very long!

There are a few things you have to remember about me. First, I'm old. This technology is for the young whippersnappers who were using computers before they could talk. The first I ever knew anyone to have a home PC was when I was a senior in high school. All through college even, most people still used typewriters. There were computer labs at the school but as far as having home PCs, that was for the rich. My parents got one when I was probably in my sophomore or junior year, but since I didn't live with them that didn't help me. I never once had a roommate with one. Thus, at my college graduation in 1995 I had probably typed a total of 2 or 3 of my papers on a computer. Everything else was on my typewriter. Holy shmoley, my kids do not even know what a typewriter is. I am old.

Second, my professional background is mostly in training. I worked for several years as a trainer for Sears call centers, including writing training materials for a time. It was a job that I loved. We gave our trainees 40 hours of paid training to learn how to schedule service appointments and handle customer service issues. Eight of those hours were working on live calls with someone there to help you. I might be biased, but I thought our training was fantastic and people were prepared to do their jobs when they went live.

I kind of feel thrown into the fire here with this new job. I received less than 4 hours of training on the system itself (of course I'm not counting the 2 years it took to learn the medical jargon and learn how to organize reports) and most of that was watching a trainer as she maneuvered through screens and I jotted down notes, never actually putting what I was learning into practice. Almost half of that also was training on the time card system and the quality system, which were very easy to actually figure out on my own. After my first shift, I am yearning for training that goes through things step-by-step and lets me practice it instead of watching someone else. And I also think it would be great if I could work with someone for the first several reports, so I have their help and feedback along the way. And one other thing - I think they should pay minimum wage at least while you learn (say the first 20 reports, maybe?) so that you can take your time and do it right without feeling like your time is just going down the drain. Basically right now I just feel like I wasted an evening with my family and got myself more confused than ever. :-(

To their credit, this company did say up front that they require 2 years of experience, so they are probably working mostly with people who have done this sort of thing before and can learn their system quickly. They waived that for me because I was referred by a friend and because I was an honor graduate of my program.

Essentially, I feel pretty unprepared. Okay, make that very unprepared. I'm kind of dreading trying it again and wasting my time. I guess I need to give myself some time (a week maybe?) to see if I can figure out all these kinks and actually make some money. If not, it's just not worth it to spend this many hours of my life (36 hours a week, overnight, yikes) doing this, and other options are looking pretty good!

I'm smart enough to not waste too much time on this transcription thing. If it's not significantly better within a week I think I will have to say goodbye to this little dream and do overflow work for my cousin instead (she actually contacted me again yesterday, oddly enough. It's a sign.) No sense locking myself into 36 hours a week for a job that pays close to nothing and leaves me frustrated.

If I wanted that I'd just keep being a full-time mom. :-) Kidding.