Mad at my manager!

CCU NRS · Aug 19, 2004

it is always go going to run down hill, the shyte I mean! You have to go through the proper channels and then you go for what you know!

nekhismom · Aug 19, 2004

:uhoh3: Yep, you just gotta LOVE managers like that.

Thankfully, not ALL managers ARE like that. Sorry you're having a rough time.

BETSRN · Aug 19, 2004

There are those type of managers everywhere. Work with the L&D nurse manager and forget going through the one who was supposed to help you. You won;t change a manager like that. We have all had one like that at one time or another. Just remember she is a good role model of what NOT to become. Good luck with L&D. You'll love it.

oramar · Aug 19, 2004

The worst thing a manager ever did to me still makes me shake my head when I think of it. I was called at 9 am and asked to come in because the were short on daylight and the poor night nurse had stayed over. I got there on 11am and the night nurse that stayed over was furious at me, she was waiting with her hands on hip. The NM had told her I had agreed to come in at 9 am. The worst thing about it NM had told that lie the NIGHT BEFORE just as the night nurse had started the shift. The NM had told her she had called me already and I had agreed to come in at 9am the next morning. I said, "but I just got the call two hours ago". We went and confronted the NM together and she just chuckled and looked sheepish. I was stunned but I should not have been. Long experience has taught me that when a unit is going down hill managment will resort to anything to cover a shift.

MandyInMS · Aug 19, 2004

The old expression.."Fool me once shame on you...fool me twice shame on ME!" ... Sad, but we have to learn from dishonest/manipulative people in nursing, and in life.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 19, 2004

Sorry about your experience, Pebbles. I had the opposite experience years ago. When the manager on the heme floor on which I was working left, one of the staff nurses applied for (and got) the job. There were several of us working there who had more experience than Kathy, but only one of us had applied for the job. In those days, there was a list that went into every break room with the current job openings, and if you were interested, you put your name up. HR collected all the job openings lists every Friday and put up a new list. Then they contacted whoever had signed up for an interview.

About a month after Kathy took over as NM, HR contacted Linda (the other nurse who had applied for the job) and told her that they were very excited she had decided to apply to float pool because she was just the type of person they needed. Linda, surprised, said she hadn't applied to float pool, but went for the interview anyway because she'd been thinking about it. The interview went well, and Linda took the job.

A month later, Float Pool was again posting an opening, and Deb got a call. Deb hadn't signed up, either, but since she and Linda were great friends and Deb was rather interested given how much Linda liked it, she went for the interview and took the job. (Deb also had more nursing experience than Kathy.)

The third month, there was a listing for the trauma unit. Melanie had expressed a vague interest in the trauma unit, but wasn't ready to move on yet. Guess what? They called her for an interview, and were quite excited to get an experienced nurse apply for the job. Melanie wasn't ready to move on yet. She asked to see the job posting sheet that she knew she hadn't signed. And guess whose distinctive handwriting was on it??? Kathy, the NM. Kathy and Melanie had quite a row, and Melanie took the job in the trauma unit.

By the fourth month, I knew what was coming -- just wasn't sure where Kathy would send me to. It turned out to be the MICU. I had never expressed an interest in MICU, didn't have enough self confidence to think I could do it. But when the job was offered, I took it because I didn't want to be in a unit where my manager was so anxious to get rid of me! It turned out to be the best move of my life. I loved ICU and have worked in ICU ever since.

To this day, though, I think it's strange -- the new manager wanted to get rid of all of her staff who had more experience than she had!

purplemania, BSN, RN · Aug 19, 2004

This is why we have a human resources department, so they can handle transfers without too many personalities being involved.

Mermaid4 · Aug 19, 2004

Not to pick on all managers, especially since I am from a time when they weren't always like that BUT once I found a notebook in the lounge after a meeting between managers who were orienting our new nurse manager..It said "TIPS", which stood for, threaten, intimidate, primise and sweet talk...I believe that pretty much says it all...

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Aug 19, 2004

Well then, maybe I have gotten the worst of it out of the way up front?

My first NM (as an extern) hired me full time--and two others also. How do you get nine 7p-7a shifts each week for one slot on one unit? Later, he asked me to work days "because we need somebody strong on skills and caring." (Okay....) He knew I was a nursing student, and that my school schedule would be inflexible--my working hours would have to be adjusted. However, he had apparently promised some PCT/CNA that she could have any shift any day she wanted. When she came on like gangbusters (not a nice person, she), it was "you two need to learn to get along." Did I mention that the unit was an overflow unit? That it was closed more than it was open that six months? First time I showed up and the door was locked, no note, no explanation, boy, was I confused! (I may have watched too many episodes of "The Twilight Zone.") Happily, the nursing office sent me someplace else every time. Unfortunately, I was supposed to "tell them" (who's "them"?) where I was sent (like, "they" didn't know?) and I still can't get anybody to reconcile the shifts I worked with the shifts I was paid for, so apparently I donated my time.

So I solved that problem, I did. When school got ready to start again, and said PCT took the only days I could work, I moved to another unit, where that NM said she wanted me, after the nurses on the day shift there found out I was a nursing student--I was "recruited." When I got there, there was a new NM, big smile, southern accent, and such a liar!!! I trained for monitors (it was a tele unit) and she said I could expect to do monitors (rather than floor duty), then when I got ready to do them, said I'd have to wait and what did I expect? (Well, what she said was what I expected, actually!)

One morning I went with a PCT, just to back her up--provide moral support, after a couple of the RN's ganged up on her (they really were kinda rude). All I was there for was moral support. I'd had a problem too, but I preferred to overlook it and just keep on working.

The NM (let's call her NM#2--so appropriate for many reasons! :imbar ) turns to me and says, I hear you had a problem too. I thumbnailed it for her, minimizing. We got a huge gung-ho speech--she was going to confront the nurses, we are all supposed to be on the same team, yada yada yada. Oh, and the doozie: I'll keep your identities secret, this isn't about individuals, this is about the unit culture and team work.

yeah, right.

She named names, she looked at the offending individuals and the two of us. By the time it was over, we were not anybody's favorite. And all I did was go along for moral support. (Never again. Never, ever again.)

Long story short, it got way, way worse. I determined I could not work there. She agreed, said she'd give me great references, would specifically recommend me to her buddy in the float pool "before somebody else snaps you up."

Are we seeing a pattern here? No? Keep reading.

I had 11, count 'em, eleven interviews. With one exception, they were all great. One even offered me a position, shook on it and said I'd be on the next schedule. They all got cold feet after a few days. NM#2 said "no one ever called me for a reference." (Interestingly, NM#1 used the exact same words. Exact.) The lone exception to the good interviews? NM#2's buddy in the float pool.

Oh, yeah, I got great references.....

So now I'm casting about looking to see what's out there for a new grad. In the mail comes a big envelope about my retirement, that I have to transfer the money, since I was terminated in March!!! Can you believe it? Didn't even have the chachkas to tell me!

I thought it was a mistake. I called HR. The only mistake was that NM#2 told them I had resigned. Oh? News to me. I'm still thinking, this was a mistake.

So I send her a benign happy little email. Does she remember me? (oh, yes.) Guess what, I'm about to graduate! All A's! NCLEX should be fine--I'm ready to work in a couple of weeks, with my shiny new RN! (oh, how nice, you need to get into the internship program.) Can you believe HR thinks I don't work there anymore? (No answer, just some pap.)

I keep pressing, gently, nicely, giving her all kinds of opportunity to tell the truth. Finally, I get this barrage of nasty. Yes I should have been told (blamed it on the admin asst "who should have sent [me] a letter"), but I hadn't worked in six months (not so--despite her apparently admonition to the contrary, one sweet night nurse called me in in January to work a day shift they were short on--I could've hugged her!). She kept me from getting work, even on her own unit (she was "unable" to use me there PRN?), lied to HR about my "resigning."

I do have some concerns about the kind of reference I'm going to get, trying to get my first job, but we'll see..... can you believe she and NM#1 actually encouraged me to apply to work at that hospital? They've got to be kidding!!!!!!

BTW, this was a hospital in Dallas. Anybody want to avoid it and her? Email me privately.

nekhismom · Aug 19, 2004

Yep, I'm having issues of the same kind in a way, chris. Can't wait to leave this state. I'm not in dallas, though. But it seems to be the norm to try to blackball anyone who is a) not from this area, b) not a foreign nurse, c) does not come with 10+ years experience or d) is not used to being used as a handmaiden rather than a nurse. Don't you DARE move here from another state or even another area of texas....you will be ostracized. Don't you DARE come here with less than 10 years experience if you are not a foreign educated nurse, or we will ALWAYS treat you terrible, no matter what. And don't you DARE come here and think that hey, you MIGHT be able to handle some tasks, you know basic care, CNA level tasks as a new RN, without someone constantly breathing down your neck and without you constantly kissing butt to be a favorite. I mean, you're JUST an RN, you can't POSSIBLY have ever performed patient care in your life, you can't possibly KNOW a single thing about how to take care of a person, or about any diseases, etc, etc.

Man, I have a lot of anger built up in me right now. SOOO not good. I can't WAIT to get out of here!! Sorry you are having such a rough time, Chris. I know you had hoped that getting your RN would help you out, not cause you to be harassed so.

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Aug 19, 2004

And I'm so sorry you're having such a rough time!!! This is quite a change from how you felt when you first got to where you are. I know we shared some nice emails.

I don't have my RN yet, and I expect good things will happen when I do. There's plenty of fish in the sea, and plenty of jobs here on land. When you finish your stint down there, you might think about coming up here.....

At least you have one friend up here already--me!