We've all complained about toxic workplaces and toxic managers. Now that I've been a manager myself for a while, I realize there is a type of healthcare worker whom I never even knew existed when I was a floor nurse: the toxic employee.
This is the employee who:
1) Believes with all their heart that they are the ONLY COMPETENT WORKER IN THE FACILITY. That means everyone else---including you, their boss---is a blithering idiot.
2) Lets the rest of the staff know this as well, in no uncertain terms.
3) Knows everyone else's job only slightly better than they know their own, and proceeds to "diss" other workers while neglecting their own duties.
4) Goes right over your AND your boss's heads to the 'top dawg' every single time they disagree with anything you say or do.
5) Says one thing to you, then something completely different to the next person. And when you confront them about it, they immediately claim the other person is lying.
6) Tells you, "Oh, I LOVE working here, give me as many shifts as you can" and then whines to your boss that "she's making me work too many hours".
7) Says, "I would NEVER quit my job here, I love the residents too much" even as they're filling out applications (on company time) for other facilities.
8) Calls off an hour before the beginning of their shift, explaining that their spouse/child/babysitter/grandparent/dog is ill.........then you find out the next day they went to a basketball game.
9) Puts in their two-week notice, then calls off for the rest of their scheduled shifts.
10) Quits at a time when they know staffing is at its tightest. Yet when that blessed day arrives when they finally leave, staff morale goes through the roof, residents breathe a sigh of relief, and the administrators break out the non-alcoholic champagne and sing songs like "Ding-Dong, The Witch Is Dead" and "Thank God and Greyhound She's Gone".
