Is there such a thing as "too positive"?

Nurses Relations

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I am an optimist. I try to see the good and positive in all situations. I work with a crowd that seems to be the opposite and today I realized it's starting to get me down. I came in this morning and was asked a question by the noc nurse, but when I tried to answer it I was interrupted with complaints. I was asked a question by my day partner, same thing happened. I hear them griping to each other about all kinds of things.

These people have no idea how good they have it here. I used to work at another facility in a very toxic environment, and in comparison this place is heaven. The other two nurses have never worked anywhere else. I feel like telling them "If this place is so bad, go elsewhere!"

I'm tired of the negativity. Today I'm distancing myself from the others. I gotta do that sometimes or I'll start getting grumpy and yell.

YES!!! Tweety, you just described me to a "T"!!

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Specializes in med/surg.
I totally agree with you on this. My example of the fake "way too happy" thing is Safeway. On the rare occasion that I have to go there at 0600 for milk because I don't have any and I need some for that mocha at home, everybody in the store is so fake perky you just know it is mandated by the powers that be. Not unlike those crappy little scripted things they are trying to shove down our throats too. Don't they know that most of the general public KNOW when you are saying something you are told to say instead of saying it because you genuinely feel it?

Back to Safeway: I would think that at least one of those people would be able to "read" my body language and realize that I do not want to make conversation and that I am not particularly awake just yet, or even happy about being there. Just take my money, give me the milk and we'll all be better off.

:lol2::lol2: You want that then you need to go shopping in a UK supermarket/store!! They'll quite happily ignore you - even if you do actually want some help!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
YES!!! Tweety, you just described me to a "T"!!

A shiney happy people I suppose???

Just don't walk up to me with a big stupid grin and your face and say "SMILE!!!" and I'll let you live. Otherwise you die. :monkeydance:

Actually, I know how to have fun, but I'm not too bubbly giggly about it.

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Specializes in Nurses who are mentally sicked.

I don't know if this is inflammatory to you or not...or my statement is inflammatory to other readers...anyhow, if it were inflammatory in nature...this would be removed anyway....talking about my Constitutional Rights!

My answer to you is this....you are trying to do the impossible. You are trying to change other people according to your owe experience...if things are going your way...I don't think it is big deal. But that is not alway the case, and you are making yourself "suffering."

Life is short! While you still can...enjoy it!!!

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A shiney happy people I suppose???

Just don't walk up to me with a big stupid grin and your face and say "SMILE!!!" and I'll let you live. Otherwise you die. :monkeydance:

Actually, I know how to have fun, but I'm not too bubbly giggly about it.

No, no, no!!! I mean I'm the way you describe yourself....not bubbly, very laid back, hate complainers.

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I don't know if this is inflammatory to you or not...or my statement is inflammatory to other readers...anyhow, if it were inflammatory in nature...this would be removed anyway....talking about my Constitutional Rights!

My answer to you is this....you are trying to do the impossible. You are trying to change other people according to your owe experience...if things are going your way...I don't think it is big deal. But that is not alway the case, and you are making yourself "suffering."

Life is short! While you still can...enjoy it!!!

When did I say I was trying to change anyone? I'm just tired of it. I can't change anyone else, so when the complaining gets to be too much for me, I remove myself from the conversation. The day I wrote this I moved to the other end of the desk and picked up a book and recouped for a while. The rest of the day was fine.

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I totally agree with you on this. My example of the fake "way too happy" thing is Safeway. On the rare occasion that I have to go there at 0600 for milk because I don't have any and I need some for that mocha at home, everybody in the store is so fake perky you just know it is mandated by the powers that be. Not unlike those crappy little scripted things they are trying to shove down our throats too. Don't they know that most of the general public KNOW when you are saying something you are told to say instead of saying it because you genuinely feel it?

Back to Safeway: I would think that at least one of those people would be able to "read" my body language and realize that I do not want to make conversation and that I am not particularly awake just yet, or even happy about being there. Just take my money, give me the milk and we'll all be better off.

OMG, a fellow Safeway hater!!!!

I hate Safeway. Why can't they let their customers shop in peace? Unfortunately they're the only store in my town, so I'm stuck.

I wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper that they titled "False Friendliness at Supermarket is Annoying" I got an incredible outpouring of positive reponse from that letter, with several people actually stopping their cars to thank me for writing it. The employees at the local Safeway put it up on the bulletin board and they told me that it was the subject of the monthly employee meeting at the Safeway in the next town. In fact, I took care of a pt who worked at that Safeway, and I told her "I'm the one who wrote the letter to the editor" and she acted as if I was a celebrity!

You are walking in the aisle, minding your own business and you pass by the stocker (stalker would be a better spelling). If you get too close he asks "Are you finding everything okay?". You walk through the produce dept and make eye contact with the produce guy, so he asks "are you finding everything okay?". You respond to the phoney cheery hello by and employee walking by, so naturally their response to your 'hi' is "Are you finding everything okay?"

I feel like saying "No, I'm not finding everything okay! I was trying to shop in peace and not answer the same question 5 times while I'm here, that was written by some doofus back at the corporate headquarters! I not a secret shopper and I have a lot on my mind today, and I didn't want to talk to anyone here, especially the pimply stockboy, so go tell your facist boss to GO TO H3LL! Also, I'm not blind and I can see you work here, so IF I CAN'T FIND SOMETHING I WILL ASK!":devil:

Did I mention that I hate Safeway. Then you get to the checkout line and you have to use that stupid Safeway Club Card, then the clerk announces your name to the whole world including the child rapist who is behind you in line and eyeing your children.

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It's bad enough that you're always being asked if you're finding everything okay, but when you can't find something and need help, there's no one to ask within a mile of where you're standing!!!

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And one checker at Safeway told me that one gal who works at a Safeway elsewhere was suspended from her job for two weeks because a customer couldn't find something and asked for directions to the closest QFC, and she gave the directions.

They are a stupid, mindless corporation, and they treat their employees like s#!t. They are the worst about this new corporate trend to force phoney friendliness, and harrass customers with all this unsolicited 'assistance'. What's wrong with these morons? Can't they teach their employees that each shopper is an individual and some people like to shop in peace? What about educating them on looking for non-verbal clues, and respecting individual needs.

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

It makes me ponder just how I may look to others being positive sometimes. To some I may be too much, to others...not enough, or even those (the majority thankfully) that feel I am just right. I just stay myself because that is who I have to live with, and typically go home and do that after work pondering wondering if I was kind enough forgot something..LOL!

I guess it would depend on the pt...that is so very dynamic! A smiling person can be considered fake or rude because their experience is going so horribly that there is no way in their mind anyone could be happy or kind. Or you go in and are poliet and they feel you are being stuffy and not engaging enough...uhggggggg well as they say...can't please everyone all the time huh?

One pt once asked me how I stay so chipper and energetic all the time, and I said "hey, ever had the swing shift coffee the nurses make...wait, I will cut you a slice!". LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OR I once teased a pt about drinking the nurses coffee "hey scoot over so I can get a bit of that protonix drip, I just drank the blackest coffee known to man, and my tummy hurts!". LOL!

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Dove, my daughter has had repeated problems as an employee. She's under 18 and in school, and the union has very strict rules about that. School comes first. They also guarantee that each employee will work the min hours required to get benefits. In the beginning DD was often scheduled for way less than the min, until she went to the union and asked about it. That got fixed. Now they keep scheduling her for when she's supposed to be in school. She keeps giving them her availability and they keep ignoring it. The director once told her that he didn't know if she would make it past probation if that was all she could give him. She told him "Too bad I'm already past probation then, isn't it?" She can't wait to get out of there, but it's the only thing available for her right now. She wants to work at a UFCW store and that's the only one around her. When she finishes school and moves here she will either go to work for the chain that my men work for, or she'll get a job in LTC (she'll be a CNA by then).

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
No, no, no!!! I mean I'm the way you describe yourself....not bubbly, very laid back, hate complainers.

Oh thank goodness you're not one of "them". :chuckle

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