Despite the ups and downs of my job at St. Thomas, those 11
years were really some of the best of my career. Most of the time, it was just plain fun. I made some great friends, one of whom is my
best friend today, and whenever I get back to my hometown of Akron, I usually
get together with all of them. I was
born in that hospital, and the story goes that my tear ducts were blocked, and of
course they had to be opened. They
definitely turned the faucet on to full because now I can cry at the drop of a
hat, especially if it’s a cute old man’s hat.
I was almost going to say that the hospital is sentimental
to me because I have had several family members treated there and even died
there. Kind of sounds off, though,
doesn’t it? No, not sentimental, but a
lot of my family history took place there, so maybe that is a better way to
describe it. Most of that happened
before I worked there and even at times when I was too young to be a
visitor. I did wind up transcribing my
paternal grandmother’s death summary. It
was completely random that I got that dictation, because there was no way to
tell what was on each tape. I could have easily handed it off to another MT
without a problem or question. I wanted
to do it, though. It kind of felt like a
last task I could complete for her at the end of her life. Obviously, she would not have cared either
way (the last thing my grandmother was was sentimental, but that’s another blog
entirely). No MT transcribes at 100%
accuracy, but I can assure you that particular report did not have so much as a
comma error. You’re welcome, Grandma.
I truly feel that the good times far outweighed the bad
times during my time at St. Thomas. I
would say about the last year or so was when things got downright nasty. We had a new office director who seemed more
concerned about having authority over everyone than managing the office. The MTs worked in an alcove away from the
phones and business of the office, which was great to have that quiet space
with no distractions. A few of the
officer workers could see us from their desks.
Oftentimes when you would get stuck on a dictation, you could easily
hand over the tape to the MT sitting next to you for help. Sometimes we would have a laugh over what I
thought I heard over what was really dictated and the same when an MT asked me
to take a listen. We usually got along
great and often would even work through our lunch or take a short lunch to keep
things caught up. That is how dedicated
our team was.
The reason I describe the above is because one day I got
called into the director’s office. This
was the same director who did not appreciate my wanting to display my CMT
certificate. She proceeded to let me
know that goofing off during office hours would not be tolerated. Another weakness she displayed was not being
able to read people, because otherwise she would have asked me why my jaw was
laying on the floor. If you suspect I
did not particularly have any fondness for this person, your suspicions are
correct. One of the office workers saw
me and another MT goofing off, since obviously making sure the report was
accurate by having a co-worker listen to the dictation is considered goofing off. Insert sarcasm at your discretion.
I explained to Ms. Powerpuff (no, I did not call her that,
but the temptation was mighty strong) the procedures for determining difficult
dictation was sometimes having to ask someone to listen to the dictation. While I was at it, I also informed her how we
handle things when the dictation gets behind, with taking shorter lunches,
sometimes no lunch and just grabbing a very quick bite during a 15-minute break,
keeping references updated, and a few other things I can’t recall anymore. There
was no apology for the misunderstanding, no admitting she was wrong for not
following through with what an office worker tattled to her, no effort to
understand our jobs and what that involved.
That was pretty much a typical day by the end of my career at this
facility. I was going home almost on a
daily basis ranting and screaming at my husband about the horrible day I
had. He is a patient man, but even a
patient man can take so much.
I was fortunate enough to be acquainted with a local service
owner, as I had worked some evenings for her for a short while to earn a little
extra money. I had heard that she was
looking for a full-time MT. The minute I
heard that, I literally went down the hall to a pay phone (you can google that
if you don’t know what that is…) called her, and she set up an interview for a
few days later. Even though she did know
me and my skills, she still wanted to chat about the job, schedule, accounts
and so on. She hired me on the spot, and
I left St. Thomas 2 weeks later. I gave
up benefits, including paid vacation, to a job that had no benefits and
sometimes even having to work into the evening to get the daily dictations
done. This was also my first experience
with getting paid by the line rather than an hourly wage, so my income depended
on how much I could get transcribed in a day.
What is the whole point of this story? I actually have 2 points to make. First, when you find yourself in a bad
situation, it’s important to always take the high road and act professional,
even though you may be screaming and swearing your head off inside. I did speak up for myself and even defended
all the MTs when I had to, but I did it respectfully without yelling or being
unkind. It’s not easy, but you can let
someone know you are upset without showing anger, and that is what I did. I was never so happy to walk away from a job
as I was the day I left that one, but I also felt very proud that I conducted
myself professionally in what was an extremely difficult work environment. My poor husband had to take the brunt of my
frustrations, but that is also why he was so supportive of this move. Yes, I
can still see him doing the happy dance on that day. Especially in today’s MT working world where
most of us work from home, supervisors, directors, and even co-workers change
jobs all the time, so you never know when you might wind up working again with
the very person you left behind. That
person just might remember those “uncomfortable” times and how you conducted
yourself. So never let anyone say you
were not professional at all times in your behavior and your work ethic.
Second, you should never be afraid to make a job
change. Medical transcription is not an
easy profession, but most of us do this work because we love it. Because of the stresses and challenges we
face on a daily basis, if you are not happy with the work environment, then you
are putting yourself in an unhealthy situation—physically and mentally. Keep your skill set at its maximum best, even
if you are working in an office setting with one specialty. That is going to keep you prepared to make a
move if you need to, whether you are leaving at your choice or the choice of
the employer.
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