Got fired today

[VivaLasViejas]

Well, tomorrow will be the first day in almost a decade that I will wake up and have nowhere that I need to be. I got kicked out to the curb today. Fired. Canned. Terminated. I've been busting my butt for months, trying to keep up with the incredible workload, and while I'm relieved in a way---I've known for quite a while that I wasn't handling it well---I don't know how to act. I haven't been fired since I was 26 years old and working in a factory where I was let go for being sick too often during my early pregnancy. I'm not really all that worried about finding another job, not with the nursing shortage here in my little corner of the world, but I feel like I must be a total loser to get fired from a nursing home!!

I mean, they didn't even want me to stay on as a charge nurse (I was the resident care manager) or in any capacity, though they did tell me I was re-hireable if I were to get my medical and emotional problems (read: depression) under control at some point. Of course, it was conveniently forgotten that at least part of my current depressive state can be directly attributable to the stresses I've been under as a result of trying to do the impossible, but what the hell.....at least I'll be able to draw unemployment benefits while I sit here and try to figure out what my next move is. Lord knows I needed a break---I've been working 50-hour weeks for 15 months straight, and I am burned out. I can't afford to be out of work for long, but I am going to take a couple of weeks to relax a little, spend some time cleaning my house, and of course look for another job.

I'm so fed up with LTC that I'm considering going to agency nursing for awhile, until I decide what I DO want to do. Making a better-than-average hourly wage, going to a variety of different facilities, and not having any obligation to stay at one I don't like (or deal with the politics) sounds pretty good to me right now.

Thanx for "listening" to my whining......and if anyone has some other suggestions as what I should do next, please offer them. I feel really lost right now.

[Shopgirl2262]

I feel you...I got fired a few months ago from my job. I was so depressed when it happened. It was the only job I had ever known. Well it turns out it was the best thing that has ever happened to me. Now that I am out of that job I have moved on to bigger and better things. I hope that you can take my experience and do the same. You will be in my prayers...and good luck;)

[mattsmom81]

The reality of the workplace: the employer cares little for the worker even if the worker is good hearted and giving , as in nurses. This is hard for us to hear because we try so hard in nearly impossible situations today.

In 'employment at will' states they can and do fire ya for anything.

If you try to invoke the ADA or Family Leave Act they will find another way to get you out..even if it is to drive you out...I've seen it happen. Then it becomes difficult to prove anything...employers fabricate lies about employees all the time. or maybe I just work in a particularly ugly area...I don't know...but I'm amazed to see and hear what goes on.

I was fired once...(it was actually a mutual thing) but it never happened again cuz I had my radar activated after that and always made good decisions for myself...don't give your power away to your employer. Make the first move yourself. We don't have to stay somewhere we aren't appreciated.

Often good nurses are fired because they : offend a manager in some way or don't dance to their tune. Getting sick means we're not dancing to their tune because we can't be as easily manipulated or work endless OT for them if we're sick, can we? Sad truth from my many years of talking honestly with good nurses in my area....who work tirelessly for 15-20 years for a hospital, then they get sick or are injured OJT, and they are run off.

We gotta take care of ourselves...nobody else will. (((HUGS))))to all here. When we are fired we move on to something better, and we learn something about ourselves.