Bad day. -long post-

[esand]

Okay, well...

Last week my HR called and asked me to come in and train on a completely new hall for 2 days, and then start working on it the third day. I was cool with that because I need hours, and because I like my job. The two training days went by extremely quick and were difficult because this hall has double the residents on my main hall. I was on the-verge-of-getting-sick nervous every single night before bed because I knew I'd probably mess something up the next day.

Anyway, I had my first day as an actual aid out of orientation on this hall today, and it went terrible... An RN had come in to fill a CNA spot until 12, so she was my main co-worker. We came in at 7 and started working. It all went great and we worked very well together. However, when the time for her to leave came around, I found out that I was going to be working with another aide that I'd met before. She's notorious for taking too many smoke breaks, not really doing much, and trying to throw other CNAs under the bus.

Now, our normal breaks are 5 minutes. At one point in time, she stayed gone for 35 minutes and left me on a hall by myself with 26 residents. We can't both take a break at the same time, so I was dying for my break by the time she came back. I was really craving a smoke (Bad habit, I know..) when she came back in the middle of lunch time and she told me to go take a smoke. When I went out, I was rudely interrupted by my mentor CNA saying "You may not take a f***ing break at this time, put that cig out and get in here." Now, I feel that is uncalled for for many reasons, I felt insulted. My partner had told me that it was okay to go, I didn't understand. When I came inside, the mentor was waiting for me and started talking really, really sternly at me, cursing at me and the whole shebang. When I said "Please calm down" she glared at me and said "You'd better button that lip. I'm your mentor." And I was taken aback because I was very friendly about it. I was just trying to make things less angry, more peaceful, and I was trying to explain myself. She said that the girl I was working with had told on me right after I left for taking a break during a mealtime. I was never told not to take a break during a mealtime and my partner had told me to go.

I went back to my station so angry that I was tearing up and bright red. My partner looked at me and said "What?" Like she didn't know what happened.

Then when 2 O'clock came around, my co-worker was on another one of her long breaks and had been gone for over 20 minutes when a resident started yelling out that she'd been waiting to be sad in her chair for a long time. Now, this woman is 100 and not exactly a spring chicken, so I'm scared to transfer her alone. She was screaming louder and louder and I was trying to calm her when she started standing up alone, so I flipped out and called for my co-worker. But, she was still on break. This woman is a two person transfer, so I of course didn't know what to do. I ran over and tried my best to get her to sit back down and she started falling. She screamed the whole way down, but I held her hands and lowered her very slowly, making sure she didn't fall.

I bursted into tears, knowing my job was over. I looked outside the door and my co-worker had just come back and was -surprise- texting at the desk. I yelled for her and she got the nurses. They came in and saw that the resident wasn't hurt at all, took her temp, etc, and then helped her into a chair. My mentor even came in, which made me feel worse. After one occurrence where I looked like an ass, I now looked like an even bigger ass.

Everybody kind of glared at me and the like for the rest of the shift, and I cried in the bathroom a few times.

Worst day of my life, but I have a day off tomorrow and on Tuesday I get to go back to my home hall, where all I have to deal with at any point in time are 12 residents.

Has anybody else ever messed up as bad as I did?

[cherry_blossom]

U didn't mess up...u need more help. I refuse to do work until I'm assisted. You can only do so much ps....your boss could get into a tremendous amount of trouble for speaking to you like that! BUT you also told her to calm down.....so. Always remember that everything is documented so don't say anything. Hold it in, document everything, and then go and speak with HR. Or say something like " can we discuss this after my shift with another staff present in private"? But welcome to healthcare. Don't let it bother you...just let it go. If you hold on to negative stuff like this it'll just make you feel horrible. Oh, also document the other staff member abusing the break times. Good luck!

[esand]

I hate to say it this way, but if I asked to speak with her in private with another team member, word would spread fast that I was trying to stir up things, it wouldn't be good. This facility is full of gossip. And I didn't tell her to calm down, I asked her to, because I wanted to resolve the issue like adults without yelling. She's really not my boss, she's just the one who trains new CNAs. :/ I wasn't trying to come off as rude, I was trying to fix the situation.

But thank you...

[morte, LPN, LVN]

make an appointment with HR, and calmly explain everything that happened. Your mentor was not acting like one, should have had your back on the timing of your break, a simple correction was in order,not yelling. The patient transfer, big issue with non helping fellow aide, that needs to be pointed out, again calmly, professionally. You may need to leave, sometimes jobs are just not savable.