Call offs. I love getting the phone call, hate getting the paycheck

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

It's feast or famine right now in OB. I was put on standby last Thursday, sent home after 4 hours Tuesday, put on standby last night, and cancelled altogether tonight (the upside is I'm enjoying a glass of wine right now). When that phone rings at 1700, I know it can only be work calling to tell me not to come in. It's always a "Yay! Oh, wait. Crap."

I LOVE being able to stay home with my family in the evening, and it's always extra nice to be mentally preparing to leave, and then get this gift of being able to stay home. But DANG, it's hard when the paycheck comes.

I REALLY need to win the lottery.

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Yeah, the only thing worse than working is not working.

I really hate this oncall thing. It really bugs me. Either let me come on or call me off altogether. I'm not going to sit around, twiddling my thumbs waiting for you to call me. I do have a life. (Actually, I don't, but I still resent being told I have to sit around and then jump when they snap their fingers.)

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Specializes in NICU.

I need to win the lottery too :-( We can't have our cake and it eat it too, unfortunately. Feels nice to stay home and when we look at our check or lack thereof it's such a kick in the gut! Why do they keep putting you on standby? Low census?

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Specializes in Medical Surgical Orthopedic.

I never get called off....for me, the issue is whether or not I want overtime when I get called in. It seems to happen every week! I usually decline, but this week I sucked it up and worked an extra day. I'm tired:yawn:

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Why do they keep putting you on standby? Low census?

Very.

Apparently nobody in Colorado was having sex last fall.

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Specializes in Home Health, Nursing Education.
Very.

Apparently nobody in Colorado was having sex last fall.

I lol'd at this one!!! :lol2::lol2::lol2:

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

or the birth control worked well...

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No matter how broke I am, a call off always seems like a gift from heaven.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
I lol'd at this one!!! :lol2::lol2::lol2:

It's funny - where I used to live it was a small community with one hospital. So I'd be at, like, the county fair, and I'd see largely pregnant women there and I'd inwardly groan (ugh, more work for me). I felt like I imagine a postal worker feels like when they drive down the street and see little red flags sticking up on mailboxes everywhere.

Now that I live in a large city with several hospitals, seeing a pregnant woman does not evoke the same reaction, because I don't know that I'll eventually cross her path at some point in the near future.

This really has nothing to do with the response I quoted. I blame the wine.

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My friends and I started reading the obituaries on a regular basis when we were assigned funeral detail. To this day, I read obituaries.

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Specializes in med/surg, hospice.

I started reading obituaries because I am into genealogy but really started paying attention and cutting them out (the people I knew) when I worked at an in-patient hospice...sorry this had nothing to do with the original post...and I can't even blame it on the wine! :bugeyes:

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When we read and discussed the obits, we talked in terms of upcoming business. You see a preg lady, a delivery in L&D. You see an obit, a trip to a funeral service. You see the red flags on the mailboxes, nightmares of being smothered in mail to haul back to the post office.

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