leaving my job gave a 2 weeks manager very rude.

[purpleRN6163]

I am an RN and just got hired onto a new facility. I have been driving 50 miles one way to work and wanted to find a hospital to work at closer to my home, which I did. I turned in my notice I asked for my last shift to be 1 week and 6 days from then (6 full 12 hour shifts). Well, my manager wanted to have a meeting with me this past week and it was very uncomfortable for me. All she said was how disappointed she was in me for leaving the company. She had nothing nice to say to me at all, no thank you or you've done a good job or good luck in the future.

Nothing!! When she asked me why I was resigning, in the middle of me explaining why, she cut me off. I pretty much had no talk time or say in this meeting. Well at the end of it she guilt tripped me into working an extra day. After I got home and everything sank in, I'm extremely mad for agreeing to work that extra shift, especially after the way she treated me. I start my new job the week after thanksgiving and I still have a lot to do before the holiday so that I can be prepared to start that next Monday. The only free days I have to do these things is this Friday, and what would have been a day off next Tuesday, but now I have agreed to work. I don't think it will all get done in one day.

What should I do? Tell her I can't work? Will this hurt me in the future, she is already really mad and I doubt that she would ever give me a good reference. I NEVER plan to work for this hospital again, and since I was there for less than a year I forfeit my paid time off to be cashed out. HELP!!! Advice needed.

[08RNGrad]

See what your facility requires, my hospital required 3 weeks and my last employer requested 1 month. This matters. If the extra shift you were coersed into taking was outside of the required length required, feel free to cancel, if not, suck it up and work it. Especially after working less than a year, you want to leave in good standing. 1 day of extra work, is not worth it for all the stress. I do sympathize with you, that totally sucks you have to go directly to your next job. Maybe try to kill your mngr with kindness and she will allow you to take some of your PTO before leaving...or there is always a sick day, cough cough. LOL. I know, I know, that is wrong.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

I do get all that, and employers wouldn't think twice about terminating any of us, even on Christmas Eve. However, I kind of feel like walking out is disrespectful to your coworkers. I have had it done to me and it's no fun. Do you have no consideration for any of them? Just another point of view.

If a better oppurtunity presented itself they would leave. Many of my ex coworkers did that. A replacement was never found within 2 weeks. Every nurse had been replaced by a new grad too, so it took a lot longer than even 4 weeks. I dont hold that against any ex coworker. Everyone has to do what is best for themselves. I would go in and maybe stay prn but not for purely altruistic reasons.

[Ntheboat2]

I fully respect those who want to stay and want to do what *they* feel is right; I can't argue with that.

However, I also have to do what *I* feel is right as well, and that means looking out for #1, because my employer will not. I have a family that relies on ME, and if I can't take care of them, then we are all in trouble.

I agree that employers don't care about you and it's really not fair that they can escort you to the door with no notice, but expect a 2-4 week notice in return. However, what's fair and what is actually happening are not the same. They WILL put you on the "do not hire" list if you do to them exactly what they will or have done to you. They WILL tell future employers that they shouldn't hire you. They can get that message across without saying anything at all! It's not "fair" that men get paid more than women for the same jobs either. It still happens!

My family relies on me too, and we're all in trouble if I can't take care of them too. That's EXACTLY why working out a notice is important. I was *almost* in the boat of having to tell my family, "I'm sorry, but I can't get a job because I didn't finish out my notice." Luckily, I got my status changed. I'm certain that my children would rather me suck it up so that they can be provided for vs. going without because I wanted to be a rebel. In this economy, I don't know many people who can afford to have a "do not rehire" on their record because they didn't feel like working one single last shift. Unfortunately, when you're sitting at home with bills piling up and no money to pay them, you can't go back and finish that last shift.

[BlueDevil,DNP, DNP, RN]

You don't owe it her as much as you owe it yourself. Her behavior is a reflection on her, your is a reflection on you. No person is any better than their word. You said you would work, you are honor bound to do what you said you would do. How could you look yourself in he mirror if you broke your word?

[SweettartRN]

I do get all that, and employers wouldn't think twice about terminating any of us, even on Christmas Eve. However, I kind of feel like walking out is disrespectful to your coworkers. I have had it done to me and it's no fun. Do you have no consideration for any of them? Just another point of view.

I am there to work with them. I don't become friends with the people I work with, and I don't "hang out" after work or become overly familiar. I keep my boundaries up. I am friendly, but not familiar.

[SweettartRN]

I will concede that in this case I agree with everyone. The OP did state that they would stay, and therefore should stick by their word.

Had he/she not made that promise, I would say that he/she needs to do what is right for them.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

As a hiring manager, you would fire someone and walk them to the door the week before Christmas if it came down that the "position was eliminated" or "funding was no longer available" and wouldn't think twice about the person or persons again. You can see my other post about at-will employment.....

Quite an assumption, and an incorrect one. Remarkable how you've managed to assess MY character when I've given you no material to work from....although you've provided quite a bit about yours in this thread.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

To the OP:

You said you'd do the time, therefore....do it. Agreeing to cover a shift and then later reneging on it because you didn't feel like it later on is not a reason to leave someone else hanging.

Had you not agreed, different story. But you did, so.....finish the schedule.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Employers have policies about the manner in which separations from employment are to be handled. This is not unique to nursing. If the policy states that 2 weeks, 4 weeks, or some other time period is required in order to, for example, 1. be eligible for rehire 2. be paid for unused vacation/sick/PTO time ... then an employee who is leaving must meet that requirement or forfeit those benefits.

One week and 6 days does not equal two weeks. The manager "guilting" the OP into working that "extra" day may have in fact done her the favor of ensuring that she will meet the 2-week requirement.

And the "mean" part of the story? Look - work is work. Personal relationships are secondary, and don't always exist at all. The OP's expectations for warm wishes of future success and accommodation in scheduling may have been unrealistic, unless that was the relationship she had with her manager prior to her resignation.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Employers have policies about the manner in which separations from employment are to be handled. This is not unique to nursing. If the policy states that 2 weeks, 4 weeks, or some other time period is required in order to, for example, 1. be eligible for rehire 2. be paid for unused vacation/sick/PTO time ... then an employee who is leaving must meet that requirement or forfeit those benefits.

One week and 6 days does not equal two weeks. The manager "guilting" the OP into working that "extra" day may have in fact done her the favor of ensuring that she will meet the 2-week requirement.

And the "mean" part of the story? Look - work is work. Personal relationships are secondary, and don't always exist at all. The OP's expectations for warm wishes of future success and accommodation in scheduling may have been unrealistic, unless that was the relationship she had with her manager prior to her resignation.

Even if the OP had a cordial relationship with her manager in the past, quitting with less than two weeks notice in the midst of the most difficult season of the year for staffing was bound to torpedo it. It would take a far better person than most of us -- the OP especially -- to grin and bear it and then go on to wish her well in her future endeavors. Most of us would be wanting to throttle the OP.

[SweettartRN]

Quite an assumption, and an incorrect one. Remarkable how you've managed to assess MY character when I've given you no material to work from....although you've provided quite a bit about yours in this thread.

I am saying a hiring manager in general.

Regardless, business is business. Judge not, lest you be judged. I am very comfortable with my character and person. If you are not, that's your business.

[MattNurse, MSN, RN]

First, you didn't give two weeks notice. You have one week and six days.

Second, you should have given four weeks notice -- that's the professional thing to do.

Third, that meeting with your boss SHOULD have been uncomfortable for you. YOU have been rude and unprofessional by leaving in the midst of the holidays with less than adequate notice. Why would you expect your manager to have anything nice to say to you?

Fourth, YOU have treated your manager miserably. So your indignation about her not heaping praise upon you and "guilt tripping" you into working an extra day is not only misplaced, it's inappropriate.

Fifth, it's not the manager's problem whether you still have a lot to do before the holiday. YOU have just created enormous problems for HER by leaving with inadequate notice during the holidays. YOU have created problems for the entire staff. Suck it up and work the day with good grace.

Sixth, just because you don't like the advice you get does not mean it is wrong.

Seventh, Consider that even if you don't work for this hospital again, you may find yourself working for this manager again. Or for one of the co-workers you left in the lurch at Christmas. This WILL come back and bite you.

I would never give 4 weeks notice, I would never not quit a job because it is Christmas (I am atheist and don't care about the holidays). Quitting a job is not a big deal, I usually stay at a hospital 1-2 years and have never had an issue with returning to the hospital systems by giving 2 weeks notice regardless of the time of year. I do what is best for me, not some major corporation or a nursing manager.

And I realize that hospitals have policies that benefit them in the way you leave, I will leave on my own terms. Every time I leave a job it is for better money or sign on bonuses, I cannot see myself working a day longer for less pay, it is illogical.