O & 6 (maybe more), 1 RT Hookup (maybe more) -- Get paid for O & 1 (maybe O & 2)

[Quyen]

Pharmaceutical patent case, so you can anticipate that it's going to be very technical and difficult. It's a contract case, and all the defense attorneys have decided that they're going to split the cost of the O & 1. So, yeah, they're going to SHARE. You MIGHT be able to get the other side to order one copy. You MIGHT have to provide more than one RT hookup.  Doesn't matter how many RT hookups you end up getting on this job nor how many copy orders on the defense side. You will ONLY be paid for ONE O & 1 and 1 RT hookup, and maybe one copy if the other side orders it. So, an O & 6 (maybe 30 or 100) with 1 (maybe 30 or 100) RT hookup(s) job, but you will ONLY be paid for an O & 1 (maybe 2) and ONE RT hookup.

Are YOU going to be the reporter to take this job?

Do the right thing. Do YOURSELF, fellow reporters and the industry as a whole a favor: JUST SAY NO!!!  Make that a HELL NO!!!

[Amanda Leigh]

I'm kinda partial to the one that pays me $22 a page when $22 a page is what's comin' to me, with roughs and hookups--but that's just me ;).

[kathy - iamwrdsmth]

now you're talking, and that's why I got into this business!!!

[Dean Morris]

I completely agree, Amanda Leigh!  I really don't understand the Lets Make a Deal mentality; never did; never will.  On class-action suits, the same atty represents many plaifs.  The atty takes his 35-40% cut from EACH of the plaifs.  There is no Lets Make a Deal in "attorneyland," only, it seems, in "reporterworld," where agencies have cast spells over reporters and made them think $12 is a "great amount of money," when, in reality, reporter is entitled to $22, for example.  If atty doesn't want to pay for the service, atty doesn't receive the service.  It's a lot of work involved in what reporters do, paying for certs, education, support staff, etc., etc.  I wish reporters would stop cheapening themselves and their work products.

[kathy - iamwrdsmth]

I am with you, Deanna!!  We are a valuable part of the process!

We must not let them cheapen us or our skills

[David Levy]

The agency I'm talking about is an agency that I worked for, for about seven years.  I don't think you want to work for them.  There are other issues with them.  Certain reporters get all the best work, and you coming in haven't got a chance unless they invite you and make you certain promises, which they cannot fulfill without taking something away from the others.  The nonreporter salespeople seem to be the ones who determine which reporters will go to "their" clients.   The reporters are never, ever supported when anything goes wrong.

[Amanda Leigh]

No, I wouldn't want to work for them--on many levels.

[Roberta-Anne Schmitt]

Happy with $10 to $12 a page anytime?  Even if you SHOULD BE getting $15 to $20 or even $25 per page???  Don't think so.  Capped rates are merely to screw the reporter, yet again.  Just say no to capped rates.

[Janet]

Amen, Quyen!

 

[Denise Paddock]

No skilled and respectable professional would EVER take a job under those known conditions.

You get what you pay for.  Everyone knows this.

[kathy - iamwrdsmth]

and we've got to stop making excuses for our prices, like 'it took xxx long to get through school'

or 'this is a really hard program' etc.

plumbers don't make excuses for their prices, you hire them or you don't

electricians don't make excuses for their prices either, and those skilled persons charge a lot for their services.

what we do is hard work, takes long unbroken hours of concentration.  We are doing more than "just pressing buttons on that machine."

as an industry of reporters we need to stand up for our skills, and teach the newer reporters the same.

thanks for letting me vent.....

kathy

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Kathy, you hit the nail on the head.  We charge for what we do for exactly that:  what WE do, not our equipment.  The training we've taken makes us what WE are.  We may vary a little in that I do not believe that every court reporter in the country should be paid well simply because they've figured out how to write some words on a machine.  I would never support a reporter who didn't have the skills AND smarts to be in our profession.  We have a glut of reporters in this country.  I say kick them out and let someone who knows how to drive, drive.

[Dean Morris]

Kathy, I understand what you're saying, but I guess I don't agree with how you arrived at your point.

Doctors and dentists justify their prices, as the world is constantly questioning them, and the reasons given by their advocates are: the length of time it took to finish school, that their schooling was a "really hard program," the cost of the program/schooling, etc.  I hear it from my neighbor-advocates of doctors and dentists.  Sad that we don't hear that: This doc deserves more money because he's a skilled surgeon versus the Joe Schmoe doc who has a drinking problem and can't determine a right leg from a left leg, etc.

Frankly, "what we do is hard work," sounds to me like whining.  Housekeeping workers, construction workers, etc., give the same arguments.

Again, I agree with your point, but not the justifications.  I do think that our training matters, the cost of the training matters, the cost of the upkeep of certifications matters, the knowledge we've acquired through those certifications matters, the level of our skills matters, the ability to adapt to change in a constantly-changing profession which requires top-notch technological skills matters, the cost of the equipment to maintain technological currency, our professionalism matters, our customer service matters, and a long list of other things matters, including providing the human element which surpasses any product a company utilizing digital equipment could possibly offer.

That's why we deserve to be paid appropriately.  No reason to give excuses.  Just the facts.