Basics that I would like from an agency

[Kyung]

These are the basics that I would love from an agency

Pay me on time
Pay me correctly - if you say this is the page rate, please pay me the page rate discussed plus any and all additional items discussed.
If there is an error in billing on your part - when I bring it to your attention, please correct it as soon as possible.

Note - I do not care about the type of work or the amount of pages - these are things that are beyond the agency's control.

In return, I think an agency should be able to expect the following from a reporter:

A reporter who arrives at the deposition on time or early.
A transcript that is on time.
A perfect transcript (just kidding) No one is perfect. How about a transcript that is done to the best of the reporter's ability with the understanding that verbatim and perfection is the goal we're striving for.

These are the basic mininums necessary to promote good reporter/agency relations.

In short, like love please don't make promises you can't keep. If you don't promise me the moon, I won't expect it. If there are issues, talk to me.

I would love to hear from agencies on what they expect from a good reporter.
I would also love to hear from reporters about what they expect from a good agency.

Page rates are not the issue here, but the type of support we're getting and providing to the agency and vice versa.

[Judy]

Kyung,

If you'd be a member on depoman.com, you'd know I was married to a court reporter who was also my business partner. You'd also know that he's a lazy piece of !@#$ that, of course, thought he did it all. He didn't know the first thing about paying the reporters (this is in '87 when there were actually enough depos on calendar to have staff reporters for our small, little agency), the receivables, or any of the payables, for that matter. Alas, sometimes it's easier to get rid of the dead weight and just do it yourself instead of always hoping they'll figure it out some day.

:)

Judy

[Kyung]

Judy, good for you!!! You're a trooper. I bet the reporters you work with appreciate you very much. And honestly, I probably would have done the same thing, made sure everything was clear before I went in in terms of work and stuff.

But really, wouldn't it have been nice to have some help so you didn't have to do everything yourself?

[Judy]

That's funny about payroll.

I'm pregnant with my first child, a planned C-section for the 13th. I wake up on the 11th and am in ~light~ labor. Okay, guess we're doing this sometime today. But first I went into the office and cut the payroll checks. Then I went to the doctor's office for a confirmation of labor, then straight to the hospital. I mean, first things first, people.

[Kyung]

I've had that happen to me as well. The payroll person was having some kind of problems and they couldn't get to the payroll. I ended up having to show up on their doorstep to get paid. It was ugly. I felt really bad. But I had to do what I had to do.

I mean, these are businesses. If the regular person can't do it, they need to get someone who can help them out. It would probably take some stress off them so they don't have to worry about it.

I know if it were the other way around, and we owed them a transcript, they would be riding us like no tomorrow.

[Kyung]

Love it!! Once in a while I have to put on my Sherlock Holmes hat. So much fun!!!