Print And Share

by Joe NightingMale Premium Member

Updated Sep 21, 2007 at 01:54 PM by Joe NightingMale

I'm just curious as to the demographics of the profession I'll be joining. Long ago nurses were required to be single (not divorced) and I'm curious to see what the situation is today.

So are you:

Married? Divorced? Separated? Non-traditional relationship? Widowed? Never married?

I'm in that last category, and I'm hoping it won't lead to problems. With male nurses assumed to be gay my lack of a spouse/fiance/girlfriend may feed that stereotype.

And sometimes people without spouses/families are given disproportionate amounts of work...or have to endure frequent inquiries about their relationships.... and attempts by co-workers to set them up on blind dates.

Hasn't happened to me yet, but then I haven't worked in the nursing field. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I would expect to find a heavy emphasis upon relationships in a field so female-dominated.

[ktwlpn]

Re: A quick poll: What's your marital status?

Originally Posted by Joe NightingMale

I'm just curious as to the demographics of the profession I'll be joining. Long ago nurses were required to be single (not divorced) and I'm curious to see what the situation is today.

So are you:

Married? Divorced? Separated? Non-traditional relationship? Widowed? Never married?

I'm in that last category, and I'm hoping it won't lead to problems. With male nurses assumed to be gay my lack of a spouse/fiance/girlfriend may feed that stereotype.

And sometimes people without spouses/families are given disproportionate amounts of work...or have to endure frequent inquiries about their relationships.... and attempts by co-workers to set them up on blind dates.

Hasn't happened to me yet, but then I haven't worked in the nursing field. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I would expect to find a heavy emphasis upon relationships in a field so female-dominated.

I'm married.I don't see relationships taking up to much of our time at work these days.We do tend to gravitate towards people that we have something in common with-I am not "making the scene " so I tend to hang with other men and women with families."Going out" bores me to death.However in my experience most single men seem to have ONE thing on their minds-and it isn't meeting ang marrying the love of their life.People will offer to hook you up-take it as a compliment.As for people thinking you are gay-who cares? Just don't get pulled into any drama-I have worked in hospitals where if you were seen speaking to someone in the elevator you must have been sleeping with them...

[sharona97]

Re: A quick poll: What's your marital status?

MARRIED 29 YEARS TODAY!!!!!!!!!

[Marie_LPN, RN]

Re: A quick poll: What's your marital status?

I was on the dating rollercoaster in school. I was single when i started my first nursing job, then in dating hell. I could have said 'heck' for a nicer terminology, but that also would have been an understatement. Between blind dates, i-wanna-see-you-and-i-wanna-see-other-people BS, etc. Then there was Mr. It-took-me-5-months-to-realize-i'm-not-ready-for-a-relationship (that was his excuse to get out of the relationship). Ironically, i was heartbroken by that guy, but when i evaluated that relationship, it was very one-sided. And booooorrriiing. He was perfectly content to ONLY eat, sleep, _____, and watch TV. I had realized that i had stopped doing a lot of the things that i liked to do when i was with him.

So i set out to be me, if that makes any sense. I picked my needlecrafting again, and decided i didn't give a flying rat's rear if people think that yarnwork is an old lady habit. I spent time at bookstores, museums, church, watched Golden Girls all i wanted to, etc. etc. I finally decided that wouldn't settle for less than i deserved.

Ironically a MONTH after that is when i officially started dating my friend Matt, a couple of WEEKS later we got engaged (we'd actually known each other for 5 years or so by then), and 6 months later got married.

That was a year ago.

And he loves Golden Girls.

All the while, i kept my relationships out of work. I avoided blind date set-ups from co-workers, because i knew if i said yes that i'd get grilled. Plus i would have felt like i was mixing work and personal life.

But anyway, there's still the assumptive co-workers, which, honestly, i just wanna smack sometimes. s First they assumed that i'd want to work more because i was single. Well now it's assumed because i'm married with no kids. And i can almost guarentee that the next rationale would be "you have kids, you could probably use the extra money."

Arg.

Alright, i think i've rambled enough here lol.

[DutchgirlRN]

Re: A quick poll: What's your marital status?

Married 31 1/2 years. First Marriage.

[Joe NightingMale]

Re: A quick poll: What's your marital status?

Originally Posted by ktwlpn

.People will offer to hook you up-take it as a compliment.

Hadn't really thought about it that way....I guess they wouldn't offer if they didn't think you were good enough or didn't care.

Unless they have some hideous relative they're trying to get married off...

[Spidey's mom]

Re: A quick poll: What's your marital status?

Married. 4 kids.

steph

[ktwlpn]

Re: A quick poll: What's your marital status?

Originally Posted by Joe NightingMale

Hadn't really thought about it that way....I guess they wouldn't offer if they didn't think you were good enough or didn't care.

Unless they have some hideous relative they're trying to get married off...

If she comes with many goats it COULD work out....a really REALLY large dowery....

[Elvish]

Re: A quick poll: What's your marital status?

Married 5.5yrs

[Devil_Duckie]

Re: A quick poll: What's your marital status?

Married, for....sixteen days now! We are still very much newly-weds! Because we lived together for the past year and a half, we've felt all but married until we made it 'official.' But, it is a great relief to be out of the dating game!!! Working as a registration clerk in a busy ED throughout nursing school, I had everyone from paramedics, nurses, doctors, and patients hitting on me and it (to put it succinctly!) sucked! All I wanted to do was to get in, do my job, and get out!

In my experience, work and relationships definitely do not mix. I'm glad I have a hubby now who appreciates me for the confident, independent woman that I am. Not to mention he's my best friend and partner in crime!