I got a new job working with an agency that provides in home nursing care for clients. I have gone to part-time with a hospice job as I felt I was burning out. This new agency is part time also. The main office for the company is in another state, and there is no local boss, so far as I know. They have regional managers, but I don't know who they are, either. Anyway, first assignment they give me is a dangerous client who has threatened several nurses, even with firearms. I have heard of this guy, and I am NOT going into that house. So, I call the staffer to change assignments. No one answers. I leave a message on the voice mail. I also send an e-mail to the staffer. The message on the staffer's voice mail is "You have to talk to a live person if you're calling off a shift" and proceeds to tell you to call a number and dial 0. For some reason, when you call you get an error message that tells you it's an invalid code, it cuts you off and you can't get through. Go figure. (Fairly convenient for the company, though...wow I'm so paranoid at times...) anyway, so I call the night before to make sure it got through. I actually GET a live person after hours who proceeds to be REALLY obnoxious about the whole thing, and says that it's too late to call off, and the staffer is on vacation, so my message of course wouldn't have gone through. Gee, I should have known that when I'm 500 miles away from the office? I stated that I had been informed that the patient in question was dangerous, and I was not going in there as I did not feel safe.
So, I called off my first shift with the company AND peeved someone who is a higher up. But I'm a bit irritated with the whole thing. The staffer I did talk to KNEW who I was talking about and voiced that she KNEW he'd been in trouble before for threatening staff. Then there's the whole phone thing and no information available as to who bosses are and who we go to to voice concerns. I really want to bag it, but my husband thinks I should give it a try with another patient. I hate to burn bridges, but I don't feel good about working with this company. Am I being unreasonable? The pay is good, but so far I am less than impressed. At least with my other job I get to be abused by people I can actually SEE in person.....
