Assertiveness being seen as aggressive

Hello. I am a middle-aged male nurse. I often find that if I ask another employee to do something in their job function (i.e. toilet a patient, answer a call light) that some are very quick to imply that I am using a condescending tone. My two cents is that some employees get very defensive when asked to do to their work, regardless of how professionally or tactfully they are asked.

There is always a reason why people complain, I am pretty sure not only one pt had complaints on u, if not the manager would not pick on u all the time. Reflect on ur behaviours first. As we know the tone of voice, facial expression and gestures(pointing fingers) can be mistaken as aggresive instead of assertive. Also the words we say can be a different meanings as the person who receives the msg.

It depends whether if the person who asks u to do something is "really" busy or just being lazy. If the person is busy I will help with no problems

When I moved to FL from the Midwest, it disturbed me that often my sentences would get finished by the person I was speaking to -- incorrectly-- and it seemed that everyone was in such a hurry that a problem was not assessed properly before action was taken.

I was in a different nursing culture and their care model was completely different than the one I was trained to. Yes, it took some adjustment. I just started really paying attention to coworkers' interactions, tried to lay low and just observe until I got the hang of it. It's not "me," but I've adjusted.

I am a female and I get this all the time. I am a Texan and I like in the Seattle area where people are kind of laid back. I tend to kind of loud and people take it wrong. They think I am yelling at them when I am not and they think I am prejudiced, which I am not. I have to make a special effort to be nice. Even when I want to ring their neck. I can't get some of these people off their butts with a crowbar.