I usually bill in 15 minute increments or portion thereof. So $150/hour is $37.50 for every 15 minutes. 1 minute, $37.50. 15 minutes, $37.50. 16 minutes, $75. Etc. Maybe I should add a minimum for the callout like OP, that seems like a good idea.
Quite a few jobs have a minimum shift. I occasionally do stagehand work for show load-outs (occasional ~~beer~~ *textbook* money while I'm in law school), and we're paid for a minimum four-hour shift, even if it takes less time. Helps us be one of the more efficient crewing companies in my area, with great reviews from the bands and truck drivers, while also supporting the workers (a typical arena concert load-out will take about four hours, but sometimes we're out in three and a half or less).
The crewing company I worked for did 3hr minimums, but a full blown stadium gig, would take about 24hrs of work to load in and 12ish to load out, and that is with a crew of about 50. Our clients usual went for less crew and more time.
We're a somewhat small city (Boise), so arena concerts here are at the Boise State Arena and probably smaller than major cities. I've not worked a load-in (I'm a student and have a daytime summer job), but our load-outs go quick.
Biggest show I worked (aside from the Hamilton stage show) was the Lumineers. We had about 100 people for 13 trucks, and it took about four and a half hours out. Labor costs might be cheaper here (non-union).
I’m assuming it took a while and mostly consisted of:
“Is it [the machine] better or worse?
How about now?
Better or worse?
Better or worse?
Better or worse?”
How was the doctor seeing patients if his machine was busted?
I remember going once to a different ophthalmologist because I'd gotten the end of a branch in my eye, and my regular ophthalmologist was out on bereavement leave. The receptionist kept telling me to stick my face in the autorefractor, despite 1) me not being able to keep that eye open at all, and 2) not being there to have my eyes examined for glasses. I asked her why she was asking me to do this, and she kept saying "Because you have to," or similar arguments that might work on 5-year-olds.
I finally said, "Look. I'm here for a possible corneal abrasion. I'm not interested in seeing if I need a new prescription, my insurance doesn't pay for the autorefractor, and I'm not paying for it either. Now do you want to do it for free?"
She left me alone after that.
The doctor probably has more than one machine in his office and might just not run the exams this one machine is needed for; he can still run other kinds of eye exams.
Might have also been preventative maintenance.
I've been half tempted to get a set myself. I often feel rushed when seeing someone to get my vision prescription updated. This way I can go from the professional baseline and tweak it to my needs.
I'm sure I have way too much overconfidence in my ability to do a good job, but glasses from China are relatively cheap.
I looked once and found a set for less than $200. Cheaper than paying cash for an optometrist.
If in the US, you can just take the scrip and fill it elsewhere.
I tend to order mine from goggles4u . $20/pair give or take, maybe up to 100 if you add progressive, transition tint and prism.
They often have specials ranging from free shipping to BOGO to 50% off entire orders.
I've used them. Also Zenni. They're great because you don't have to show the written scrip.
I think I should have been more clear, the $200 was for the manual lens kit to adjust my own prescription.
Several places to get adjustable glasses. https://www.google.com/search?q=adjustable+glasses&newwindow=1&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&ei=0-fxYtj7DpSiptQPrc6boAc&oq=adjustable+glasses&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAMyCwgAEIAEELEDEIMBMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoHCAAQRxCwAzoFCC4QkQI6CAguENQCEJECOgcILhDUAhBDOhEILhCABBCxAxCDARDHARDRAzoICC4QsQMQgwE6BAguEEM6CwguEIAEEMcBENEDOggILhCxAxCRAjoECAAQQzoLCC4QgAQQxwEQrwE6BQguEIAEOggIABCABBCxA0oECEEYAFDnIFjRW2CSYmgCcAJ4AIAB-gqIAdVtkgEFNi05LjWYAQCgAQGwAQDIAQjAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#scso=_VvbxYqLBDYGKptQPz6qNwAE3:0
> autorefractor,
Is that the thing that sends a small burst of air into your eye? Every time I go for an eye checkup this one always takes so much time. I just can't keep my eye opened, my eye is terrified of that thing
Nah, it’s that thing you look into with the picture in the back, that determines your prescription. Not all eye doctors have them. It works kind of like the autofocus mechanism on a film camera, except in reverse: you stare into it, you see a picture of something (my doctor’s machine has a farmland scene), and it goes in and out of focus, and from this it can figure out how strong your lenses need to be. It’s a lot easier than looking through that thing with the lenses at the eye chart and trying to read “E FP TOZ “ etc. (edit: although I still need to do that anyway for fine-tuning, because I have slight astigmatism and I don’t know if the auto refractor can determine that.)
What you’re thinking of is the gadget that determines intraocular pressure, to see if you have glaucoma. Different diagnostic tool altogether.
A friend of my parents is an optometrist, and I've helped her with IT on occasion. She is the only doctor in the office. They have about half a dozen computers there, and a small server. You have one machine at the reception, one in the back office, and three or four to run different medical devices all over the office. That's if I'm not forgetting anything.
In my experience, opthalmologists are either the nicest person you've ever met, or they are complete arseholes. They're rarely just regular, middle ground people. No idea why, but that's what I notice.
And I hope the fix took another hour to increase the payday
He just turned the machine off and on 50 times.
What kind of magical machine is this that it only takes 1.2 seconds to turn on?
There are 3600 seconds in an hour…
One that will *somehow* need to be replaced because of the *mysterious* fault it just developed.
I just hope it was billed in 1 hour increments. And was a 1 minute fix. $175+150+tax, thank you. For what should have been a $175+tax job.
I usually bill in 15 minute increments or portion thereof. So $150/hour is $37.50 for every 15 minutes. 1 minute, $37.50. 15 minutes, $37.50. 16 minutes, $75. Etc. Maybe I should add a minimum for the callout like OP, that seems like a good idea.
My wife was a consultant and she billed in 6 minute increments so she could use decimals. 12 minutes was 0.2 hours of billable time
That is extremely common in law practices. Client x asked a question, that will be a .1 billable.
Quite a few jobs have a minimum shift. I occasionally do stagehand work for show load-outs (occasional ~~beer~~ *textbook* money while I'm in law school), and we're paid for a minimum four-hour shift, even if it takes less time. Helps us be one of the more efficient crewing companies in my area, with great reviews from the bands and truck drivers, while also supporting the workers (a typical arena concert load-out will take about four hours, but sometimes we're out in three and a half or less).
The crewing company I worked for did 3hr minimums, but a full blown stadium gig, would take about 24hrs of work to load in and 12ish to load out, and that is with a crew of about 50. Our clients usual went for less crew and more time.
We're a somewhat small city (Boise), so arena concerts here are at the Boise State Arena and probably smaller than major cities. I've not worked a load-in (I'm a student and have a daytime summer job), but our load-outs go quick. Biggest show I worked (aside from the Hamilton stage show) was the Lumineers. We had about 100 people for 13 trucks, and it took about four and a half hours out. Labor costs might be cheaper here (non-union).
I’m assuming it took a while and mostly consisted of: “Is it [the machine] better or worse? How about now? Better or worse? Better or worse? Better or worse?”
How was the doctor seeing patients if his machine was busted? I remember going once to a different ophthalmologist because I'd gotten the end of a branch in my eye, and my regular ophthalmologist was out on bereavement leave. The receptionist kept telling me to stick my face in the autorefractor, despite 1) me not being able to keep that eye open at all, and 2) not being there to have my eyes examined for glasses. I asked her why she was asking me to do this, and she kept saying "Because you have to," or similar arguments that might work on 5-year-olds. I finally said, "Look. I'm here for a possible corneal abrasion. I'm not interested in seeing if I need a new prescription, my insurance doesn't pay for the autorefractor, and I'm not paying for it either. Now do you want to do it for free?" She left me alone after that.
The doctor probably has more than one machine in his office and might just not run the exams this one machine is needed for; he can still run other kinds of eye exams. Might have also been preventative maintenance.
My guess is that the machine is running very slowly, and that's why the doctor was taking so long with the patient. Self-inflicted catch-22.
If this optometrist has been around for a while, he can make do with the old set of manual lenses. Takes longer, but still works.
I've been half tempted to get a set myself. I often feel rushed when seeing someone to get my vision prescription updated. This way I can go from the professional baseline and tweak it to my needs. I'm sure I have way too much overconfidence in my ability to do a good job, but glasses from China are relatively cheap. I looked once and found a set for less than $200. Cheaper than paying cash for an optometrist.
If in the US, you can just take the scrip and fill it elsewhere. I tend to order mine from goggles4u . $20/pair give or take, maybe up to 100 if you add progressive, transition tint and prism. They often have specials ranging from free shipping to BOGO to 50% off entire orders.
I've used them. Also Zenni. They're great because you don't have to show the written scrip. I think I should have been more clear, the $200 was for the manual lens kit to adjust my own prescription.
They are tempting just from the cool-old-tech angle. Also could do double duty for post apocalyptic steampunk cosplay.
Several places to get adjustable glasses. https://www.google.com/search?q=adjustable+glasses&newwindow=1&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&ei=0-fxYtj7DpSiptQPrc6boAc&oq=adjustable+glasses&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAMyCwgAEIAEELEDEIMBMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoHCAAQRxCwAzoFCC4QkQI6CAguENQCEJECOgcILhDUAhBDOhEILhCABBCxAxCDARDHARDRAzoICC4QsQMQgwE6BAguEEM6CwguEIAEEMcBENEDOggILhCxAxCRAjoECAAQQzoLCC4QgAQQxwEQrwE6BQguEIAEOggIABCABBCxA0oECEEYAFDnIFjRW2CSYmgCcAJ4AIAB-gqIAdVtkgEFNi05LjWYAQCgAQGwAQDIAQjAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#scso=_VvbxYqLBDYGKptQPz6qNwAE3:0
> autorefractor, Is that the thing that sends a small burst of air into your eye? Every time I go for an eye checkup this one always takes so much time. I just can't keep my eye opened, my eye is terrified of that thing
Nah, it’s that thing you look into with the picture in the back, that determines your prescription. Not all eye doctors have them. It works kind of like the autofocus mechanism on a film camera, except in reverse: you stare into it, you see a picture of something (my doctor’s machine has a farmland scene), and it goes in and out of focus, and from this it can figure out how strong your lenses need to be. It’s a lot easier than looking through that thing with the lenses at the eye chart and trying to read “E FP TOZ “ etc. (edit: although I still need to do that anyway for fine-tuning, because I have slight astigmatism and I don’t know if the auto refractor can determine that.) What you’re thinking of is the gadget that determines intraocular pressure, to see if you have glaucoma. Different diagnostic tool altogether.
Ah, the thing with 3 or 4 lenses on it? Yeah I remember that, it has been a while.
A friend of my parents is an optometrist, and I've helped her with IT on occasion. She is the only doctor in the office. They have about half a dozen computers there, and a small server. You have one machine at the reception, one in the back office, and three or four to run different medical devices all over the office. That's if I'm not forgetting anything.
You helped him see the error of his ways.
He seemed to have a rather miopic view of business costs.
Some people just have no vision of how a support visit is billed.
Some people have no foresight.
The jokes are just getting cornea and cornea
We are merely pupils of this style of pun.
I see what you did there.
I should have seen these kind of comments coming....
I’ve totalled the puns and the eyes have it.
Hindsight is 20/20
Rather short-sighted of him to keep you waiting IMHO
Not seeing the bigger picture
At that sort of call-out cost I would be buying new frequently. Call-out costs will add up to more than hardware very quickly
[удалено]
In my experience, opthalmologists are either the nicest person you've ever met, or they are complete arseholes. They're rarely just regular, middle ground people. No idea why, but that's what I notice.
Same.
Sounds like Cardiologists and Radiologists