Much anger there is in her

[volksdragon]

I'm posting this here, because if I don't, I'll post it back to the user forums for my company, and that would be poor.



A litttttle backstory. My company hosts a transcriptiont forums board, where Transcriptionists who use our software can come to ask questions, get help, communicate, etc. There are 1-2 very "outspoken" people who come on not to ask questions or help other people out, but to bash our software and rant about how we're ruining the art of transcription with our computers, and how it's our fault that transcriptionist jobs are being outsourced overseas.

In particular, we have one thread that has now been going on since MAY, spawned after one MT posted that she was being let go from her hospital, along with some number of her peers. That particular MT (medical transcriptionist) was relatively sanguine about it, but a particularly thorny person, who I'll call "LT" decided it was time to rant on again about how our company was evil, and how it's our fault this MT had lost her job, and our fault jobs are going overseas. She somehow believes we're telling hospitals to pay MTs less and then fire them. (Yeah, I don't get that either.)

This thread has gone on now for SEVEN pages. Arguments. Counter-arguments by other MTs. Some people telling her to shut up. The whole gamut of responses possible has been explored. Personally, on these forums, I restrict my postings to questions asked of me directly, and to generic help requests that I know the answers to. Today, though, this new post by LT almost broke my resolve.

I have been keeping quiet for a little bit but still reading some of these posts. To those who want to continue fighting for your jobs, congratulations Very Happy Very Happy It is unfortunate that in this country, "We, the people" have to fight for what is ours. As stated in previous post, time to let the public know what is actually going on with this industry and why some of the hospitals' medical records are being breached. It is time to stop being sheeple and start standing on our own two feet and make a difference -- we will not let our jobs go to foreign countries without some type of fight.

And if the powers that be don't like it, well, too bad. They are not the ones losing their livelihoods - we are. I wonder if, oh, let's say, Wiley's job and all those jobs that he can do, would be threatened to go overseas, especially if he has worked for this job for x-amount of years, do you really think he would just rollover and say, well, okay?? Then, again, he probably would, "for the betterment of the company." For any company who would do that to their own people, "SCREW THE COMPANY!!!!!!"

Back to my hole.


Where to start? 'It is unfortunate that in this country, "We, the people" have to fight for what is ours?' Uh, wasn't the entirety of our country based on people fighting for what they wanted?

'we will not let our jobs go to foreign countries without some kind of fight.' Great! Stand up for your jobs. Get the hell out of this forum with your bitching, go lobby your legislators, talk with your managers and owners of your company! Oh, and by the way, GET USED TO A GLOBAL ECONOMY! IT'S NOT GOING AWAY!'

Finally, the piece that most got to me, and why I'm posting....

I wonder if, oh, let's say, Wiley's job and all those jobs that he can do, would be threatened to go overseas, especially if he has worked for this job for x-amount of years, do you really think he would just rollover and say, well, okay?? Then, again, he probably would, "for the betterment of the company."

Wow. Well, this person REALLY has no clue what the hell she's talking about. She doesn't know I've quit companies before in part because of the practices she's railing against. She has no idea how much trouble I've started at companies where I didn't agree with the business practices and management styles. And aside from that, why did she bring ME up in this anyway? I hadn't even COMMENTED on anything she said! Grr.

And in conclusion: LT, STFU, YOU TROUBLE-STIRRING ANGRY PERSON! TAKE YOUR HATE ELSEWHERE!

Comments

[nrubenstein.livejournal.com]

OK, I have to ask: Why the fuck isn't there any sort of reasonable moderation on this forum?

[smurfbrother.livejournal.com]

Saw your userpic and followed to your journal - that e36 M3 of yours is hot hot hot.

[scirocco.livejournal.com]

Nick's got the cars, alright. :)

[hoo.livejournal.com]

Your last job did go overseas.

[scirocco.livejournal.com]

Technically, my job actually wasn't going overseas. Everyone in my group kept their job. I did leave the company because I didn't like what the company was doing. :)

[hoo.livejournal.com]

Well, sort of.

The person now doing your job is in Bangalore, so your job did go overseas.

[scirocco.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think it only did that because I left the space open for the vacuum to fill. Bangalore had more vacuum. :)

[gala.livejournal.com]

Ok. Let's have a chat about medical transcriptionists. Particularly ones who work for the state lab. And the ones who can't tell the hand-written name 'Cannon' from 'Connor'. Because while we're attacking people randomly for their jobs, I'd like to blame you for delaying my newborn's screening test results. Yeah. Thanks medical transcriptionists. Would software have made a difference? Who knows?!

Seriously though. Since when does the worker-bee have any input in whether or not their job goes overseas? A monkey could do my job (not my boss. he's lower on the food chain than a monkey, apparently), and if they decide to (try to) save a few bucks and send it to India or China, what recourse do I have? My company in particular has also dug ourselves into a hole with custom-built software that is clunky and difficult to upgrade and train people on. It makes the job HARDER for us, but provides a small amount of job security. I'm all for standardizing with the rest of the industry, even if it makes my job a little less secure - it means I'll have an easier time (and be more productive) while I'm doing it.

I'd tell this person just what you said here: You know nothing about me, my work ethic, and my previous working history. Why even bring me into this?

Out of curiosity, why hasn't this particular thread been locked? If it's devolved to this state, why keep it going?

[bramblekite.livejournal.com]

ick. I'm sorry that's happening. Some people would rather fight and be angry with anyone rather than deal with the idea that maybe their own behavior and attitudes are the main contributing factor to their own misery.

*hugs* and congrats to you for keeping to the moral high ground. Maybe if everyone quits responding to her, she'll have to take her negativity elsewhere.

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

You know, her ranting sounds an awful like many seamstresses when the sewing machine was invented.

They were furious that their livelihood was being mechanized. There were cases where seamstresses actually stormed and destroyed the premises of companies that manufactured sewing machines and industrial looms. London saw a few full scale riots over the issue.

Perhaps LT should put on her big girl panties and face the fact that no job lasts forever. When I was in college, one of my business professors told us that we would probably have seven careers in out lifetimes, not jobs, but careers, and that statistically, four of them hadn't even been invented yet.

Got a link to the forum? I could register under a non de plume and post the same thought as a response. :) Perhaps I can even mention having left one of my past jobs because I learned the job was being shipped to India and I had no interest in spending time unemployed.

[marmota.livejournal.com]

Oy. It sounds like if this person spent as much time jobhunting, retraining, (or hey, here's a thought; transcripting) as they do ranting on the forum, they'd be considerably better off.

There is some concern that the process calls for somewhat fewer transcriptionists, but from what I've seen so far many, perhaps even most, institutions that automate discover it's so much more efficient that they then extend transcription services to a wider range of clinicians and physicians. So, the transcriptionists that can train up don't have to worry all that much about getting dropped.

I really don't get the "losing {our} jobs overseas" angle, though; sending patient data to be processed out of the country violates HIPAA.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I love the insinuation that you are singlehandedly behind the moving of jobs overseas. I guess I didn't realize that you are actually an Evil Overlord working for Evil Screw-The-Man, Inc. Good job - I hope you got a nice pay increase!

That woman is wacky.

[cos]

Modern luddites are a legitimate warning sign of things that are going wrong, though as individuals they're often frustratingly unreasonable :/ Can you just ignore this thread and not look at it any more? I suspect that's what a lot of the more reasonable people on the forums have already chosen to do, and her continued posting isn't reaching many people.

[scirocco.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much my plan here, and why I'm venting to my journal instead. :)

[technoluddite.livejournal.com]

Yes, exploiting the proletariat is one of my favorite hobbies, why do you ask?

Congratulations. In addition to being a QA Manager, you're now a representative of the global capitalist economy, and the official voice of THE MAN.

Hey, this weekend, let's put on some heavy boots, find some poor people, and stomp on them.

[stemware.livejournal.com]

this same argument has played itself out repeatedly. People should understand that some day their skills need to change or they may have to change careers to keep a job. Back in the 1970s Katherine Graham broke the unions at the Washington Post because they insisted on using old equipment and not modern computerized printing presses because it employed four times as many workers. Even now, the CWA insists on having a man in each central office to diagnose circuit faults rather than using remote diagnosis capabilities that have been built into phone switches for twenty years. It sucks and in the end it costs the customers, the workers themselves, a whole lot more.

[metalliman502.livejournal.com]

she must have been beaten with the stupid stick when she was growing up

[asmodel.livejournal.com]

Actually, in some cases, advances in technology make for a much more interesting job. In the case of my occupation, in the olden days, a secretary used to be someone who would type up her (it was usually a her) boss's correspondence. Now with advances in word processing, this main task has been taken away, but the job itself hasn't been. Instead it's been upgraded to being an executive assistant, with much more interesting tasks, more responsibility and more pay. The best thing is that the qualifications haven't changed. You still only need the ability to type to start out in clerical work, and you learn the rest on the job. This clearly hasn't happened yet with LT's job, but not all is necessarily bleak in the long run.

[greyhame.livejournal.com]

Wow. You know, I'd actually forgotten we even have those boards. Sounds like I was better off not remembering!

I didn't know that "what is actually going on in this industry" — by which I assume is meant either the outsourcing of transcription generally, or the way our products save hospitals money by improving transcription efficiency — was in either case a big conspiratorial secret or, for that matter, in the first case somehow our fault. When did we become the single biggest force in the transcription software market, again?

Also fun is her use of "sheeple," favorite word of Paulbots and Truthers.

[nemomori.livejournal.com]

If you EVER need someone to unload on the stupid just link me to your forums and I will unleash a torrent on the moronic people that will make their eyes bleed.