Are you my waitress today?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

:madface: I work in an oncology clinic and this was the question ask to me. How would you have responded? :nono: My response was "I did not go to school for 10 years to be called a waitress. I am now 4 courses away from my second master's degree in nursing so I can provide you the best care possible. What do you need."

Tell me how you deal with these kind of comments.

Specializes in ER, Family Practice, Free Clinics.

oooo I so would not have been tactful enough for that question...... Never have been able to keep my mouth shut!

I REMEMBER HAVING SOMEONE CALL ME IN WHEN IT WAS VERY, VERY BUSY AND i HAD BEEN WARNED AHEAD OF TIME THAT SHE WAS VERY DEMANDING. WELL, I WENT ALL THE WAY DOWN THE HALL , INTO HER ROOM AND SHE WANTED ME TO POUR WATER FROM HER PITCHER TO HER GLASS THAT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER ON THE TRAY TABLE. WAS I TO BE HER WAITRESS/ HELL NO, I JUST WALKED OUT!!!:madface:

I guess this is part of me not being a nurse and not having any experience in this field, but I could imagine some sweet little old man saying this and not meaning ANYTHING by it. Waitresses help people, maybe he just meant "are you helping me today?"

Specializes in Onc/Hem, School/Community.
The funny thing is that we nurses are part waiters/waitresses (especially with primary care nursing and not having CNAs to assist). In one minute I can be serving a patient a tray of food, assisting them with their meals, getting coffee, etc - then a second later I can be attaching a defribillator to them, doing CPR, and pushing Vasopressin.

What a career.

Amen to that!:rolleyes:

Specializes in Onc/Hem, School/Community.

.....and another humorous response.

Waitress? I wish! My sister's a waitress and with tips she makes alot more than I do! LOL

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I actually know a couple people who left nursing to become wait staff at places like The Outback. GREAT TIPS and very LITTLE liability or liklihood of being sued for making an error in their work performance.

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I would avoid "shooting from the lip", and use such an occasion to educate the patient (and by extension, the general public) as to what nurses do, what it takes to become a nurse, and so on.

As tempting as it is to deliver a smart-alecky comeback, it demonstrates a certain lack of class, and does nothing to enhance the professional image most of us want to project. IMHO, the best way to change public perceptions is to lead by example, and behave the way we would like to be seen.:)

EXCELLENT!!!!! Right on target.

No need to automatically take insult either. A sense of humor is helpful in most of these situations. The ones who care to be educated, can be. The ones who mean insult, are not likely to change anyhow. I would let it roll off my back like water off a duck. No point in getting that worked up.

Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.

Pt: Are you my waitress today?

Nurse: Yeah, and I spit in the food.

Pt: Are you my waitress today?

Nurse: Yeah, and I spit in the food.

Wow that was hilarious.

Im a pre-nursing student and I have no idea how I would respond. Im sure humor or something tactfull would be apporpriate but what I would WANT to say is "No, unfortunately I aquired thousands of dollars of debt and worked extremely hard to put myself through years school while raising my daughter on my own so that I wouldnt have to be a waitress. However, if you would rather trust a waitress with your medical care Id be happy to get one for you."

Maybe I think oddly, but if someone asked if I was his waitress today, my first reaction would be to assess his mental status!! LOL...I would seriously, honestly and immediately say "did you say waitress? Do you know where you are today, sir? What day is it?"

LOL!

I did have a patient not long ago who, while I was doing a push, announced I was "holding him up" because he "had an appointment in New York and was running late". Ummm....he hadn't had an appointment with ANYONE in YEARS, and not one that HE had to get to himself, rest assured. So....CNA who was with me at the time looked at me, I looked at her, and I of course began asking questions to see if the dude was going down (and remember my IVP). He announces he's going to get there by flying, and he wasn't talking planes, either. Turns out he thinks he's a total riot, and that was his sense of humor. Not funny, but what the hey, he's amusing himself at least. I told him if he pulled that kind of humor again, I'd start testing him for stroke! It was his turn to laugh .

Yeah, let people try to pull the crap they do with a stewardess that they do to us nurses on a daily basis.

They'd be in jail quicker than you can say 'thank you sir may I have another?"

:yelclap: :yeah: :bow: :yeahthat:

Why is it that we do sooooo much and get so little respect?

A friend of mine frequents a local restaraunt and is friendly with certain waiters that they usually get. She and her husband, (both RNs) don't mention their proffessions, but one day, a newer waitress asked what they did. Instead of the usual, we work at a hospital, she says I'm a nurse. To this the woman laughs and says well you're just glorified waitresses! :flamesonb She didn't get a very good tip for that one!

Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

A friend of mine frequents a local restaraunt and is friendly with certain waiters that they usually get. She and her husband, (both RNs) don't mention their proffessions, but one day, a newer waitress asked what they did. Instead of the usual, we work at a hospital, she says I'm a nurse. To this the woman laughs and says well you're just glorified waitresses! :flamesonb She didn't get a very good tip for that one!

I probably would've left just enough tip that she'd know for sure I hadn't just forgotten.

I have a lot more tolerance for that sort of attitude from older people. Their ideas and opinions were formed in a different time.

My late mother-in-law attended nursing school back in the 1930's or 40's. (Never finished). She could never quite get her mind around the concept of a nurse practitioner. She simply could not fathom a nurse being able to write a prescription without directions from the doctor, despite her daughter and granddaughter both also trying to explain it (they both had NP providers). It was just too far outside her experience of nursing.

And I have to say, while there are people who think nurses are waitresses or maids, I've also run into a number over the years who do respect and admire nurses and what we do. It just seems to take about a dozen of those to offset one of the others!

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