God Hates Nurses Now

You know that "biting my tongue" thread, and the things we'd love to say to patients but we can't, because we're the nurse? Well, when you're the patient, you can say whatever you danged well feel like to the OTHER patient who is pestering you with his ignorance and stupidity. You can yell at the office staff, too, although it isn't very productive. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

God Hates Nurses Now

I was sitting in the waiting room of my oncologist's office, about an hour into the wait, when I got restless and got up to ask how much longer Dr. "FamousCancersurgeon" would be. "Oh," was the response I got from a overtly tattooed teenager with Raggedy Ann red hair. "We thought you were here to see Dr. Upcomingandsoontobefamouscancersurgeon. Dr. FamousCancerSurgeon is at a conference on the other coast."

"OK," I said rather pleasantly, considering the hour I'd been waiting next to an odiferous and opinionated old fool who kept fingering the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. "I can see Dr. Upcomingandsoontobefamouscancersurgeon. How much longer will she be?"

"Oh, she's at the conference, too."

"So what you're telling me is that I've been sitting here for an hour waiting to see my doctor, who is 3000 miles from here, and you didn't think you should tell me that when I checked in? Or better yet, when you knew she wasn't going to be here for my appointment so I wouldn't have to have driven into the city, paid for parking and taken the day off work?"

"Calm down, Ma'am. Don't get mad at me! *I* didn't do anything wrong."

I go back to my seat and start gathering up my jacket, my book, my purse, etc. Mr. Odiferous picks that moment to start a conversation, bragging that he's turned this cancer deal into a disability and he's collecting disability payments and supplementing that income with driving his son's cab on the weekends "strictly for cash, you know. They'd cut off my disability if I made too much money. Saaaayyyyy -- what do you think of them nurses that are spreading ebola around?"

"What?!" I asked, more in disbelief than in inquiry. NURSES are spreading ebola now?

"Oh, yeah," he tells me seriously. "They're off taking cruises and flying all over the country when they should be locking themselves up at home so they don't spread that stuff around. That stuff is dangerous! I can't believe how selfish them nurses are being! They should know better!"

"I'm a nurse," I say, "And those nurses aren't spreading ebola."

"Oh yes they are! I seen it on Fox! They ought to know better than to be spreading ebola around hardworking people like me!" Telling him that the nurses thought they were low risk to be infected because they were using the PPE their employer had given them and had believed what they were told about ebola being hard to catch, and that the nurse who flew had actually checked with the CDC first and been told it was OK for her to fly made no dent in his certainty that ebola was going to spread to the whole country and it was all because of nurses.

"What would you do if one of the passengers in your taxi looked sick?"

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't let no sick person into the cab in the first place! I ain't going near no ebola without a hazmat suit, and I don't have a hazmat suit!"

He looked at me smugly, certain that he had made his point.

"Well, those nurses took care of a stranger when they knew for sure he had ebola. And they didn't have hazmat suits either."

"So what? Everyone knows God hates nurses now. That's probably why you got cancer."

There's just no talking to some people . . . many people it seems. (Some of them are even among our membership.) I was already angry about waiting for an hour for an appointment that should have been cancelled or changed days or weeks ago, when the surgeons decided to go to the conference across the country. Maybe that explains what I said next.

"And you got cancer because you're stupid and ignorant," I said. There are times when I've bitten my tongue to shreds to keep from saying something like that to a patient. You know, it felt rather good finally saying it to an odiferous old fool who clearly had it coming!

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Ruby Vee

About Ruby Vee, BSN

Ruby Vee BSN

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Emergency, CEN.

Ouch! Good answer. Not overly tactful, but good answer. :roflmao:

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

If I'd been there when you said that, I would probably have laughed right out loud. It's the no doctors in the office thing that really intrigues me. Would Miss Raggedy Ann hair simply let you sit there until it was time for her to go home? Would she at least have given you a blanket and pillow to stretch out on the chairs? I've seen some pretty good dumb in my lifetime, but that takes top spot, I think.

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Specializes in ICU.

Well, at least that guy proved it true that 50% of the population has a below average IQ... sometimes, I really don't want to live on this planet anymore. I really like being alive, but can we just get to the space travel to a new planet part already?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.

Gotta add, just to be "fair and balanced", that Fox News has not accused these nurses of "spreading Ebola around". If anything, their coverage has been very supportive of the nurses and lab technician who are being unfairly ostracized by the general public but rightfully critical of the CDC, who should have never given Ms. Vinson permission to fly on a commercial flight, knowing that she had been exposed to the virus. I mean, she had the common sense and decency to seek advice and permission because she was obviously concerned about the possibility of spreading the disease if she had it, which she didn't know for sure at the time, and they gave her the green light, even though they never bothered to verify whether the thermometer she was using was accurate or anything else.

Not wanting to get political here, and I don't agree with everything that Fox News says, but I wanted to set the record straight on that anyway. "Mr. Odiferous" sounds like an ignorant boor who twists things and hears what he wants to hear.

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Specializes in Oncology.

They would have been calling a code after I strangled him, and possibly Raggedy Anne too. I can't believe they let you sit there so long for no reason.

So AIDs is because God hates gays. Ebola is because God hates nurses? Who will God hate next?

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Everyone knows God hates nurses now. That's probably why you got cancer."

This 'odiferous' ray of sunshine sounds like a typical low-information consumer. I'll bet sharing an hour of your time with him was the ultimate joy (read: not!).
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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Ha, I thought this was going to be about Westboro Baptist Church.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Wow. I wonder which village was missing their idiot?

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

They do walk among us. I am sooo glad not to be one of them....................

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Wow.. First off I would call to let the office manager know that you were checked in and allowed to sit for an hour while there was NO ONE there able to see you, because that HAS to be addressed. Who knows how many others sat there for hours just waiting for an appt that was never going to come. 2nd off I cannot believe someone so ignorant and dumb has survived that far into his life (the old fool). There is so much I could say, but most of it would just get edited out anyway.. So I will say you handled this situation a lot better than I would have. You showed a great deal of restraint. Kudos to you.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

Oh, Ruby, that made me gasp out loud! What a dolt. If he gets sick enough to be in the hospital, who is going to take care of him, since God has decided to smite nurses with Ebola...and cancer? You were far more restrained than I would have been.

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