Anyone ever said something completely dumb because they were really nervous?

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Once, in an interview (non-nursing job), I was asked that age-old question, "Tell me about some of your strengths and weaknesses". My reply for my weaknesses:: "I'm always late." Needless to say I didn't get the job.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I tend to ramble on, lose track of my story and add a million pointless details, and then end all of my sentences with "....so...."

I hear myself doing it and it makes me crazy!! I can't believe I'm gainfully employed sometimes!

It's OK...I do that sometimes as well. It means something positive; at least in my experience, mean "energetic". ;)

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

I don't have to be nervous to get mush-mouth; it's a natural born talent!

I have posted this before, but......

Before we were married I stopped off at my boyfriend's apartment briefly after a trip to the grocery store; I told him: "I can't stay long, because I have a bag full of cars outside!"

And one time trying to come up with the term "pack-mule" and failing, I did at least get in the periphery of the ball-park by saying "tote-donkey" instead!

Have also referred to Sears and (JC) Penneys as "Peers and Senneys".

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Okay this isn't my story to tell, but a coworkers:

Nurse was talking to a patient as she was about to place an IV. A doctor walks into the room just as the nurse warns, "Ok here comes that little prick I was telling you about."

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I once worked around a nurse who really was very, very mentally challenged, shall we say. (In home health) Even the clients noticed this and always complained. The "less than wise" behavior was so bad, so consistent, and so downright dangerous to the patients, that this person got booted from every case. She used to yank the feeding tube loose from the g-tube when moving the patient (or otherwise) and would leave the mess for mom or the next nurse. This happened often. When I talked to her about it, at a mother's demand, she replied that she didn't know how she could prevent it. "By looking under the blankets, sheets before you leave the patient? Do you ever check your patient?"

Needless to say she would also leave the patient in a soaking, wet diaper, so it was obvious why she would never see that the bed was filling with the runaway feeding.

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In an interview I was asked something along the lines of "where did I see myself in the future with my nursing career" and I replied, "I don't know. I haven't given it much thought"

Instantly, I was like did I really say that.

When I was asked where I expected to be in my career in five years at an interview, I replied that

"I see myself as being employed". The icy, cold, hateful stare back told me all I needed to know about how that interview was going to turn out.

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A few years ago, when I joined a large consulting firm -- one of the "big wigs" asked me about my family and how old my kids were. I don't know why -- perhaps because I found this partner to be intimidating -- but I said my kids were 3 and 5 years old. They were actually 8 and 10 at the time!

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
I once worked around a nurse who really was very, very mentally challenged, shall we say. (In home health) Even the clients noticed this and always complained. The "less than wise" behavior was so bad, so consistent, and so downright dangerous to the patients, that this person got booted from every case. She used to yank the feeding tube loose from the g-tube when moving the patient (or otherwise) and would leave the mess for mom or the next nurse. This happened often. When I talked to her about it, at a mother's demand, she replied that she didn't know how she could prevent it. "By looking under the blankets, sheets before you leave the patient? Do you ever check your patient?"

Needless to say she would also leave the patient in a soaking, wet diaper, so it was obvious why she would never see that the bed was filling with the runaway feeding.

This person needs to be "done unto" as she has done to others; it's a lot different when that happens! Let her lie in a wet, messy bed for a while and see how much she likes it!

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
When I was asked where I expected to be in my career in five years at an interview, I replied that

"I see myself as being employed". The icy, cold, hateful stare back told me all I needed to know about how that interview was going to turn out.

This question is one that has always flummoxed me. I'm with you, caliotter3; I personally have no big goals to advance up the ladder. I just want to keep working at the job I enjoy. Why would it be necessary to make up some glorified goal just to make the interviewer feel all warm and squooshy for you?

Being employed in this day and age is no small thing!

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This question is one that has always flummoxed me. I'm with you, caliotter3; I personally have no big goals to advance up the ladder. I just want to keep working at the job I enjoy. Why would it be necessary to make up some glorified goal just to make the interviewer feel all warm and squooshy for you?

Being employed in this day and age is no small thing!

By the way a lot of people act, sometimes I think this one is an ego booster for the interviewer (esp. if they are in the chain of command). They have something that you should aspire to, so hearing you say that you want to be what they are, or have the education they do, etc., helps to make them feel superior in the moment.

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This person needs to be "done unto" as she has done to others; it's a lot different when that happens! Let her lie in a wet, messy bed for a while and see how much she likes it!

She might not be able to make the mental connection. The person was really the most intellectually feeble person I have ever met in the nursing profession. After all I heard about her and experienced firsthand, I believe that she honestly should have been weeded out of nursing school. That intellect had to show back then. And the employers did no one any favors when they moved her around from case to case for years while not providing work to qualified nurses.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
She might not be able to make the mental connection. The person was really the most intellectually feeble person I have ever met in the nursing profession. After all I heard about her and experienced firsthand, I believe that she honestly should have been weeded out of nursing school. That intellect had to show back then. And the employers did no one any favors when they moved her around from case to case for years while not providing work to qualified nurses.

Sad and very scary!

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Oh, and if I had a dollar for every time I absentmindedly ask an NPO patient if they are getting hungry and ready to order breakfast/lunch/dinner.....

I once was so nervous about my first PEG tube feeding (it was of course in front of my clinical instructor so I was even more nervous). I asked my NPO patient with a trach if he could state his name and date of birth. He just glared at me, and my instructor was about to die laughing while we talked about it post conference.

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