CNA frustrated with co-workers!!!

rivershark2005 · Aug 16, 2012

Monday was my last day of orientation. I worked three different halls in four days, working the same hall both Sunday and Monday. On Friday, my very first day, I was on a mostly female hall, most of whom would not let a male take care of them (as far as changing clothes, changing briefs, etc). Everything was good until around 7. Now, granted most of the residents were in bed, but the two girls I was working with took their break together. We are given a 30 minute lunch break. They took an hour and fifteen minutes. By the time they got back, we were slammed with lights and I didn't get a chance to take my break until 9.

Saturday went smoothly, as I was working a different hall (the rehab hall) with three girls. They all took their breaks seperately and made sure I got my break.

Sunday night, everything went smoothly until 9:45. A couple of lights came on at the same time and I answered one and asked the girl on the hall with me to answer the other. When I came out, the light down the hall was on and she was still sitting at the desk. I went down the hall and all the resident wanted was some help finding her remote. When I got back to the desk (9:55), I was told, "This close to the end of shift, we don't answer call lights." I was flabbergasted. It didn't so much surprise me that she would ignore a call light, it surprised me that she would openly tell me not to answer one close to the end of shift.

Monday was almost okay. The two girls I was on the hall with were nice, very prompt answering call lights, and very understanding of a few residents not wanting me to put them to bed. Then, at 7, they took their breaks together. Luckily, this time, I didn't have any problem being the only one on the hall.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I went in to get a copy of my schedule printed out since my supervisor hadn't hung it on the cork board with my name on it. Apparently word had gotten to her from the adminstrator that I would be open and honest about any problems I saw. She asked me into her office and asked me to close the door. I sat down as she printed out my schedule. She got it printed and looked at me and asked, "So, have you had any problems?" Of course, this kind of scared me, so I asked what she meant. She told me that the administrator had told her I was going to be a good employee but that I would share with her if I noticed anything that was off. I told her about the being left alone on the halls, about being told not to answer call lights after a certain time, and that I almost didn't get my break my first night. She was taken aback by what I told her. She said that she would remedy the situation. Then she went on to tell me how some of the residents had come to her and told her how much they like having me there. She said that a couple of the residents were the type that never complimented anyone (but, to be fair, both of them have known me since I was a bump in my mother's scrubs).

I think you're going to find coworkers that you disagree with no matter where you go.

star.crush · Aug 16, 2012

I been there. I know how it feels.

duskyjewel · Aug 21, 2012

Know what ****** me off more than anything about these seemingly endless threads about bad co-workers, lights not getting answered, etc? WHERE THE HELL is the management?! WHY are they allowing people to get away with acting this way at work? I have never been in a situation where two aides from the same unit would be allowed to go to lunch at the same time. I remember talking to my charge a couple times about problems I had with co-workers, and her telling me that I needed to remind them to do such and such. I said, "We are all adults, and we all know what our jobs are. Why should I have to remind them to do their jobs? Besides I am new and the bottom of the totem pole here, so how popular will I be if I am going around telling people how to do their jobs?" Instead of stepping up and doing her management job, she wanted to pawn it all off on me. Another aide approached the clinical director of our floor about persistent problems with non-teamwork and difficulty completing her work because of it, and basically got told to just fake her charting to make it look like it got done. I don't understand how people who are so BAD at dealing with people and asserting authority get management positions in the first place.

Are there any nurse-managers here who can enlighten me? Why are these bad apples allowed to continue doing their jobs crappily, taking advantage of your good employees, and grinding them down with frustration to the point where they leave? Then all you are left with is the bad apples and their poor care, because you ran off the good employees by refusing to discipline or get rid of the bad ones. Why would you, as a manager, choose that route? Especially in this awful economy, when there are 100 applicants for every job opening, you could replace bad employees easily. So why don't you?

mstearns09 · Aug 21, 2012

Know what ****** me off more than anything about these seemingly endless threads about bad co-workers, lights not getting answered, etc? WHERE THE HELL is the management?! WHY are they allowing people to get away with acting this way at work? I have never been in a situation where two aides from the same unit would be allowed to go to lunch at the same time. I remember talking to my charge a couple times about problems I had with co-workers, and her telling me that I needed to remind them to do such and such. I said, "We are all adults, and we all know what our jobs are. Why should I have to remind them to do their jobs? Besides I am new and the bottom of the totem pole here, so how popular will I be if I am going around telling people how to do their jobs?" Instead of stepping up and doing her management job, she wanted to pawn it all off on me. Another aide approached the clinical director of our floor about persistent problems with non-teamwork and difficulty completing her work because of it, and basically got told to just fake her charting to make it look like it got done. I don't understand how people who are so BAD at dealing with people and asserting authority get management positions in the first place.
Are there any nurse-managers here who can enlighten me? Why are these bad apples allowed to continue doing their jobs crappily, taking advantage of your good employees, and grinding them down with frustration to the point where they leave? Then all you are left with is the bad apples and their poor care, because you ran off the good employees by refusing to discipline or get rid of the bad ones. Why would you, as a manager, choose that route? Especially in this awful economy, when there are 100 applicants for every job opening, you could replace bad employees easily. So why don't you?

The problem at our facility isn't necessarily management; it's the fact that they can't keep help, and good help at that, at our facility. Some of it is management, especially when the DON's niece is one of the aides and the niece is completely lazy, sloppy, and a pain in the keester. They keep her around because they are already short and the rest of us get to clean up after her. Until she does something completely egregious, she'll likely always work at our facility. I stopped counting the number of times nurses have reported her and other aides have reported her. All she gets is a slap on the wrist. I'm just waiting for her to seriously screw up so maybe something will be done.

I should note that I live in a very, very rural area and getting enough help is a problem. My facility doesn't pay enough to encourage people to stay or apply. Most of us are driving an average of 15 miles one way to work and are probably doing our best to keep gas in our tanks, let alone pay the rest of our bills.

However, I have to agree with what you said. Unless people start stepping up and doing what their job description says, the rest of us are going to suffer the consequences, and sadly, our residents will suffer, too.

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Aug 21, 2012

I said, "We are all adults, and we all know what our jobs are. Why should I have to remind them to do their jobs? Besides I am new and the bottom of the totem pole here, so how popular will I be if I am going around telling people how to do their jobs?" Instead of stepping up and doing her management job, she wanted to pawn it all off on me.
Why are these bad apples allowed to continue doing their jobs crappily, taking advantage of your good employees, and grinding them down with frustration to the point where they leave?

They keep the bad employees around because they kiss butt.

As for the management expecting YOU to keep people in line... been there! Anytime there is a problem and I talk to the DON about it, instead of taking the steps to solve the problem she just tries to get me to tattle on other employees. One time a coworker started bossing me around telling me to help her with something when I was in the middle of taking care of someone else, so I told her no. There was another girl on the floor that day that had been up at the desk kissing the nurse's butt for the last half hour-- why wouldn't you ask her instead of someone who was busy actually working? Well she went crying to the nurse about it and I got written up for refusing to help. This p*ssed me off so I went to the DON to argue the write-up. I ended up telling her that people don't always drop everything to help me every time I ask and I put on my big girl panties instead of running to the nurse about it and trying to get people written up... and these are instances where the other aide ISN'T busy, just lazy! I was told that I need to be firm with people when they won't help me and yadda yadda yadda. Um, no. It's not MY job to manage other people, it's YOURS.... and you have proven to me already that when someone makes a legitimate complaint against someone else, you personally do nothing about it.