RPR stands for Registered Professional Reporter. The test = 225 words per minute Q&A, 200 wpm Jury Charge, 180 wpm Literary. Passing it gives you a $1500 a year raise. Not a lot, but also not a pay cut I'm willing to take right now.
First, a happy memory: I passed my RPR test FOURTEEN YEARS AGO in November 2004. I remember being so excited the day I found out! I went into our computer room at 9121 while we were baking a chocolate cake for a Christmas party we were having... and I checked the list and was so surprised to see my name there! Then I came and told Mom and she was super excited for me, too! The chocolate cake dough just made the moment that much sweeter. ;-)
.....Fast forward several years to 2013, when I had decided that court reporting wasn't for me and I was going to pursue a career in counseling... I couldn't have predicted the way that plan would fall apart and crumble - the last straw being when my alma mater (SNU Tulsa) rejected me for their Masters program after acing every class and getting recommendations from two of their best professors. I'm so done.
Before that dream ended, though, I let my Total Eclipse (CAT software) and my NCRA membership lapse. (NCRA = our national association which charges $280 in annual dues and makes everything as difficult as humanly possible on their members.)
.....Fast forward to 2017, when I decided to re-embrace court reporting and go for my RMR (the next step up at 260 wpm). I rejoined NCRA, asking the woman on the phone for clarification that my RPR certification would still stand. "Oh, yeah, that won't be a problem!"
Orrrrr will it?
I signed up for the CRR (a realtime test), and after practicing, getting ready, completing the online practice test, and jumping through hoops to get a webcam and all the cables and equipment I would need for the new way they administer the tests... THEN they decided to mention that I actually could not sit for that test because my RPR was not current. They offered to let me "simply" pay a $100 fee to reinstate it, but I found that really irritating since the lady on the phone had assured me it was current, so I said no thanks and thought I would just skip taking any more tests.
.....Fast forward to 2018, when the State of OK is bleeding and out of money in every possible area, so they send out a letter saying that anyone whose certifications are not current with NCRA will take a pay cut this July.
*This, by the way, coincides with the $2000 a year raise being given to all Oklahoma State employees in a certain salary range. Oh wait, excluding only the court reporters. Not even kidding. Nothing about it is okay.
Also around that same time, Total Eclipse informed me that I would have to pay $3000 for them to simply update my software to be compatible with Windows 10 - because in addition to the upgrade fee, you have to look backwards and pay them a $300 fee for every year you were not a member. UGH. And no one can stop them, and it suuuuucks. So now my Windows 10 computer is here at home, and I kept my old work computer because a $3000 "upgrade" is too terribly absurd.
I finally paid the $100 fee for reinstating the RPR, and then I have to earn 2 continuing ed credits (CEUs) to make it official. So I attended both days of our state seminar, (which they chose to hold in a hotel downtown where parking was a HOT MESS. So $15 for valet and a $5 tip two days in a row, plus $160 for the seminar itself.)
I thought that would be enough, but I didn't understand that one hour = .1 CEU, meaning I have to attend 20 hours of seminar classes, so the 11 hours of boredom at the OCRA seminar was not enough.
Luuuuucky for me, NCRA offers online seminars for the low, low price of $350. I was so upset by this point I could barely speak, but I really don't want to take a pay cut next month. Not getting the promised raise is bad enough. And I have to be a registered RPR to move forward with any other tests.
At some point today, it dawned on me that I am attending 9 extra hours of online classes and paying crazy fees when I could have just paid $270 to retake the freaking 3-hour RPR test and saved myself loads of money and time and hassle. (A test that I already paid for and passed 14 years ago, if that wasn't abundantly clear!) Then I wanted to scream and punch someone, but I quickly realized that no one who's in charge cares AT ALL, so I'm writing this ranty blog instead.
Soooo $650 and 20 hours later, I'll be an official RPR again. (Still.) And get to keep my existing salary instead of taking a pay cut whilst all other OK state employees are getting raises. Hoooo-freaking-ray.
I am so over NCRA, and I'm over being a state employee! The AC in my office continues to have issues and leak, almost destroying my printer yet again. And they continue to care less and leave it halfway patched up with no ceiling tile in that spot and tiles with water damage all around it. #creekcounty #makeitstop #whydoesnoonecareEVER
As a State of OK official court reporter, we have to buy our own equipment. That includes a computer and printer, a steno machine ($1800 to $5000), and CAT software ($4500 initially plus $600 a year for "support.") #nothanks
Our state association dues are $80 per year and the national are $280. Taking any test with NCRA is $199 to $270 each time, and they are not easy to pass. We have not received a raise since 2005, and we're clearly not getting one this year either. (Meanwhile, Texas CRs easily make double what we make, and the State of TX buys all their equipment, as well.)
GET IT TOGETHER, OKLAHOMA.
No comments:
Post a Comment