Absence of Manners

Nurses General Nursing

Published

i'll admit to being somewhat cranky today, and this is a vent. this is only a vent. please do not accuse me of being mean to or mistreating anyone i'm venting about! but i swear, people's parents neglected to teach them manners!

the hospital cafeteria has wifi, and i know that you're bored waiting for uncle zeke to get out of surgery. it's great that you can sit in the cafeteria with your laptop and surf the net. however when lunchtime comes and you're not eating, just surfing, please get up and go somewhere else so that all those people standing around with trays full of food and peering around for an empty table can sit down and eat!

didn't your mother teach you that it's rude to sit in front of grandma, who is npo for the or, and eat your tacos or fried chicken? grandma can't eat and she's very hungry. please go somewhere else to eat your bagful of fast food and come visit grandma when you're done.

poppop had surgery, he's getting diuresed, his mouth is dry and all he wants is a big glass of water which he cannot have. it's rude to sit there and slurp on your big gulp in front of him.

i know you're a brand new np and all, and very proud of your degree, your knowledge base and your new prescribing priveledges. you would look every so much more professional, though, if you weren't chewing a big ole wad of gum with your mouth open and snapping, cracking, popping and blowing bubbles!

yes, the intensivist is slow, he's boring and he's old fashioned. it's excrutiating to watch him tackle the keyboard on a cow. but that's no excuse to be on the other cow shopping for stilettos during rounds! nor is it cool to be texting your husband, your best friend, or your husband's best friend instead of paying attention to what the nurse has to say.

i know you graduated from man's best nursing school last month and that therefore you think you know everything. but please, i'd rather have you ask what you think is a really stupid question than try to give blood through a d5w carrier, use ffp as a carrier or push dilantin through tpn. and it's really not cool to give the 20 meq of kcl iv push, either!

i know that you think 15-b's 20 or so relatives who average two teeth and thirty-two tattoos each are immensely entertaining. i might think so, too, if i could get past them to take care of the patient. we have rules that state only two visitors at a time -- please enforce them. if you let all and sundry hang out in the patient room eating their kfc and drinking their big gulps (see above) and then i tell them they need to follow the rules about no food, no drinks and only two visitors at a time, i become the mean nurse. that's not fair!

i appreciate that you're 30 years younger than me and ever so much more good looking than i ever dreamed of being. that does not mean, however, that it's cool to roll your scrub pants down to your hips so that your thong pokes out the top even when you're not bending over. nor is the push-up bra that's spilling the girls out your v neck very professional, either!

please hang up the cell phone so i can assess you. please get off facebook -- you're sitting in my chair and using my computer and that's just not cool. and please, if you work here, come and help me clean up poop even if the packers are winning in the next room!

Specializes in Gerontology.
don't ya just love it when the white scrubs have been washed so often they're threadbare, and you can count the pubic hairs . . . .

ewwwwwwwwwwww

Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
I agree with all of your vent. I hate when the visitors are in the bed with the patient. Especially my teenage patients with a boy/girl in bed with them and with a parent right there. I say "Only one person in that bed and it better be my patient!" Yes I am the mean nurse!

It could be worse.

Granddad was seriously obtunded, contracted in a fetal position from home care. Family refuses to make him a no code - there would be one less government check coming in if he passes. Mom insists on leaving teenage daughter at hospital overnight to "learn tube feeding".

I go to do evening tube feeding. Teen nowhere in sight. I go to do midnight tube feeding....teen nowhere in sight.

I go to stock family room....door is looked. Sounds coming from behind the door remind me of a Media film soundtrack. I pound on the door and finally have to get security to come up and force the lock. What do we see but teen daughter and unknown male still (STILL!!!!!!) getting it on, on the family room couch.

And they had the nerve to get torked off when we interrupt them and get them out.

Then, they pull the same stunt 3 nights later....not to mention Mom then finds out and screams at management about why WE weren't watching/managing her daughter.

Maybe you should not have to ask ,but rather or not you are struggling or "gasping" common courtesy toward vistors go a lot further that just stepping on their feet or ignoring them like they are not there especially when the visitors are a member of the patient's family ,now in the case of an emergency maybe not ,but under normal circumstances common courtesy counts.

Specializes in adult ICU.

caroladybelle ---

That was HIDEOUS. That was worse than any story I have by a long shot, including the one in which "McDreamy" was on call, and we found a used condom in the trash can of the staff bathroom after a miscellaneous sleazebag (hooker?) no one knew (on the weekend) was hanging around the hallways....

Ugh, we shouldn't even have to ask. If you see me struggling to reach the IV pump to add time/volume, or *gasp*, reach my pt. to auscultate breath sounds, get the Flip away so I can do my job. I should NOT have to ask you to please excuse me or to step aside.

Ah if I've told them to be quiet and they're still talking I'll tell them to go away. I asked nicely once.

Ah if I've told them to be quiet and they're still talking I'll tell them to go away. I asked nicely once.Once AGAIN Common courtesy goes a long wayquote]

I had a really particularly nasty and ill mannered visitor just the other day, I started to smile at her when I conjured up this image in my mind.

lipstick-on-a-pig.jpg

Ah, the things I have said to people within the confines of my mind! :)

Meh... the freakin' scrub thing!! Drives me absolutely NUTS!! Wear cute scrubs girl, do your thing! But for goodness sake PUT YOUR BUTT CRACK AWAY!! Don't make me start referring to you as "the Cracken". To your face, of course. In a pirate voice. In the middle of the full nursing station.

Because I will, if I have to. ARRRGHH....

Oh my oh my... I bet you are a hoot to talk to in person.

That is the funniest thing I've read in a looooong time!

Specializes in CT stepdown, hospice, psych, ortho.
I'm with you on the gum chewing! I hate, hate, hate the sound of gum smacking, the look of gum rolling around in someone's mouth etc, etc etc. I'd rather have to go and deal with an exploding colostomy that listen to the sound of someone chewing gum!

Hahahah woooow, that really made me chortle. Yeh, so it annoys me (the snap, pop, snap sound) but I think it's a smidge better than an exploding colostomy. To each his own though.

Really don't want to see butt crack, whale tail or tramp stamp on staff. Don't want to see any of these on visitors either, but can't do a whole lot about that.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
it could be worse.

granddad was seriously obtunded, contracted in a fetal position from home care. family refuses to make him a no code - there would be one less government check coming in if he passes. mom insists on leaving teenage daughter at hospital overnight to "learn tube feeding".

i go to do evening tube feeding. teen nowhere in sight. i go to do midnight tube feeding....teen nowhere in sight.

i go to stock family room....door is looked. sounds coming from behind the door remind me of a Media film soundtrack. i pound on the door and finally have to get security to come up and force the lock. what do we see but teen daughter and unknown male still (still!!!!!!) getting it on, on the family room couch.

and they had the nerve to get torked off when we interrupt them and get them out.

then, they pull the same stunt 3 nights later....not to mention mom then finds out and screams at management about why we weren't watching/managing her daughter.

i know you're frustrated, but you've made my morning. i'm laughing so hard i woke up the dog, who is now barking at me because no one ever laughs in this house at this hour! (we're not morning people!)

Specializes in Gerontological Nursing, Acute Rehab.
don't ya just love it when the white scrubs have been washed so often they're threadbare, and you can count the pubic hairs . . . .

can't count what they don't have.....but that's another thread! :eek:

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