Pay with DICT8 extra

[Gally123]

Hello Ladies - hopefully a new thread for you... @Carosel2 @Whitestar55 @Chrissols @danblack87 @flutterby18 @wfh21 @workingfromhomenow @cherryblossom114 @Lovemydaxie @homeworkmum and anyone else I have forgotten.

Just to give my point of view. Its horses for courses really. Dict8 is great for me because I don't want to go out to work any more and I can type as and when I want to. I'm lucky enough to get some income from elsewhere so it's just a top up and I'm not dependent on it to live on. If I was, I don't think I would be able to sit and type for 7 hours a day as it's really quite tough compared to a "proper" job, where you have other duties, can stop and have a chat, etc, etc. I also have the choice to go away and do something else if I don't like the tasks on offer. Some of the dictations really are dire and it would be great if no-one did them and then perhaps there would be feedback to the client and maybe some improvement, but of course if that is all that you are offered and you need the work that's not really a choice. I would imagine for someone on maternity leave it would be a good opportunity to try out Dict8 when you have a spare moment, even just to type a couple of letters now and again. The feedback can be a bit demoralising/annoying but it's best just to take from it anything useful and ignore the rest - it's impossible to know what the feedback refers to without the original letter for reference.

@danblack87, fair enough.

Within a few posts out came the good old "negativity" comment which is also a way of stopping people from freely speaking about how they feel. IMO it's sanctimonious, deliberate and I can only guess who it is 🤣

@meha5a: Freedom of speech should not be kerbed I agree - everyone has an opinion whether it be positive or negative; that is why we have 'debate. I really like this forum for the most part but, on occasion in the past, it has got rather too personal and I don't know why that should happen; and I don't like it; many reasons I guess, just not my cup of tea

Hi all
I've just posted this in another place. Hey, I was 65 the other day, I'm old and rubbish at all this tec stuff.
I wonder if anyone can help. I haven't worked for a while for Dict8 as I'm recovering from a very broken wrist which I did early January. I disconnected my foot pedal from my laptop when I had the accident. Now I can just about type with two hands again I can't remember how to reconnect it. Any advice would be much appreciated.

@musicismagic333 - have tried going to the "Account" section and at the bottom of the page there is the foot pedal bit.

Hi everyone! I’ve been typing for Dict8 for a while and nice to find some others to talk to as it still feels like I’m not getting the hang of it

Is it normal to get feedback quite a lot?
I was a typist for years and never had any issues but feel like I’m always doing something wrong here haha

Hi @watermellonred. It is usual to get a lot of feedback at the beginning, say 2/3 months. After that it is pretty much a lottery dependent upon who the dictator is (particularly RTX)!!! Don't get downhearted about it, it happens. Just take the feedback as it is .

@WatermelonRed - welcome to our group. Yes the dreaded feedback is normal, esp at the start. However, every now and then you may find that you get a spate of feedback and it does feel a bit like being picked on. After a while people tend to ignore it if it is not constructive. Feel free to let off steam here - we all do it.

Hi Gally123 Thank you for that, I hadn't seen that link before. But it keeps saying "set up has detected foot pedal is currently running. Close all instances of it now, then click ok....." Do you know what that means?

@watermelonred. Welcome. I think we have all had the same experience with the feedback. Don’t let it get you down, it does get better in time. I know it made me feel better when I found this forum and that it was the same for everybody, not just me!

@musicismagic333 - it sounds like your foot pedal should work as you have the software previously downloaded. I would click OK and try it. By the way, every time I log on with my new computer it says "no foot pedal detected" (in red) but when I start work there is no problem, so you might just have needed to plug your pedal back in and do nothing further.

Hi Gally It's working now. Thank you so much.

To Watermelon Red - I'd been a med sec for 30 years when I started with Dict8 and felt very aggrieved and demoralised by the feed back, but the other guys on here helped me keep it all in perspective. You get to realise that if you spend too long on a task, trying to decipher it, will be worth only pennies to you, but sometimes it's worth doing that at the beginning just to get your head around the terminology.

@WatermelonRed, the feedback can get a bit disheartening when you're on your own and to be honest, I started to have a lot of self-doubt. I found it easier to say to myself I was no longer a medical secretary but a medical transcriber (type everything as they dictate then it's their problem not yours). I find this forum hugely supportive and hopefully you will too so welcome.

@danblack87

Hi *@watermellonred*. It is usual to get a lot of feedback at the beginning, say 2/3 months. After that it is pretty much a lottery dependent upon who the dictator is (particularly RTX)!!! Don't get downhearted about it, it happens. Just take the feedback as it is .

Thanks! I seem to get mostly RTX ones - are they notoriously worse dictators?!

[quote Gally123]@WatermelonRed - welcome to our group. Yes the dreaded feedback is normal, esp at the start. However, every now and then you may find that you get a spate of feedback and it does feel a bit like being picked on. After a while people tend to ignore it if it is not constructive. Feel free to let off steam here - we all do it.[/quote]
Yes that’s how I feel like I’m being picked on, I’m also sure they aren’t consistent with some things they feedback but and being able to see what I’ve typed is annoying. Thanks I have started to try ignoring it but think I’m too sensitive!

Thanks everyone for such a lovely welcome!
We had no internet at home on Thursday PM & all of Friday so I lost the two busiest days I usually have which is a shame!

Does anyone get random letters that don’t belong in the speciality/specialities they type for? I had some at the start of the week, but not complaining as had none from the one I’m actually meant to type for

[quote Meha5a]@WatermelonRed, the feedback can get a bit disheartening when you're on your own and to be honest, I started to have a lot of self-doubt. I found it easier to say to myself I was no longer a medical secretary but a medical transcriber (type everything as they dictate then it's their problem not yours). I find this forum hugely supportive and hopefully you will too so welcome.[/quote]
Thank you that is a really good way to look at it. That’s how I’ve been typing and it feels so odd to words things the way some of the dictations have been!!

@watermelonRed: Thy are notoriously the worse dictators.

@watermelonred: Getting tasks that are in the wrong Specialty are rare. I just type them and send an e-mail to info@dict8 with the task number to let them know so that the hospital are aware.

I've had loads of a speciality I'd never done before, but I had worked for an agency many years ago and sort of got used to trying to get my head around new terminology. I've even started to write words in my little black book again, hadn't done that for years.

[quote Meha5a]@danblack87, fair enough.

Within a few posts out came the good old "negativity" comment which is also a way of stopping people from freely speaking about how they feel. IMO it's sanctimonious, deliberate and I can only guess who it is 🤣[/quote]
Yeah, it's bordering on gaslighting.

To all the newbie transcribers, I agree, don't be dishearted by the feedback, the proofreaders are usually fellow transcribers and they appear to use a protocol and like traffic wardens I think they have to fill a quota haha, they seem to proofread everyone in turn, or if there's been a 'complaint' from the dictator about something. When there's enough work available the typical earnings seem to be around £50 - 60 pounds a day, but it's quite gruelling and takes longer to earn that amount than it would in an NHS job, in my experience, but it is great being able to work from home and have time off when you like, the unpredictability and relatively low pay can be stressful, but on the other hand it's always there as back up occupation.

I've known so many med secs register with Dict8 over the years, but hardly any of them did any work for them, think the pay rate was too low for them to bother when they were already working full-time.

You can get at home typing via on line agencies who advertise, but I always find they want more hours and set days, and I'm a year off retiring so the flexibility works for me. However, I think the rate has been the same for 20 years or more, they really should up it.

@Whitestar55, I agree with you, it is really hard going to get to £50.00 a day whereas only a few years ago I was able to go to £80.00 + a day without being so stressed and making good money per month: that is why I have stayed with this firm even though their pay per line has not budged (and if you search the internet there were complaints about this as far back as 2004). My dissatisfaction has been over the last few years (pre COVID and beyond). The only thing that is stopping me earning my previous money is the very poor dictation and it's as simple as that.

@Meha5a I agree about the poor dictation plus I'm also finding having to type more unpaid 'note to secretary' lines is having an impact as they are becoming more frequent and over the day add up quite significantly in unproductive payless time for us. I don't remember this being so prevalent in the past.