constant complaining

[Izzy11, NP]

I'm not sure if this is a generational thing or a gender thing. I'm in an accelerated RN program so about half the class is in their 20s and half in their 30s and 40s (with two guys in their 50s). We have 30 women and 7 men. There are a group of about 10-12 students, all female and all in their 20s, who complain about everything and want everything handed to them on a platter. A few examples:

When we had our med checkoff coming up, there was a school-wide email outage so there was some problems getting the med list to everyone. The checkoff was on a Friday and the Wednesday before, our lab teacher said that people could do the checkoff the following Friday instead if they wanted to. The immediate response was "can we do it on Tuesday?"

Our teachers stopped reviewing tests in class because people argued so much about the questions. They would spend literally 10 minutes arguing about one question.

One teacher planned to have a regular class during finals week. Students complained so much about it, she finally relented and said she would do a review session during the regular class time, starting at 8. The immediate response was "can you start at 9?"

And my favorite is the student who - not once but twice - has asked a teacher to give her credit for a test question she got wrong because she filled in the wrong bubble.

I don't know if it's a generation Y thing or a gender thing, or just the luck of the draw. They have such a sense of entitlement about having everything handed to them. It got so bad that a few of us actually went to one of the teachers to tell her that the complainers don't speak for all of us.

Does anyone else have to deal with this crap?

[caliotter3]

The brown nosers from "the good side of town" used to irritate the heck out of me. But I figured if they needed to brown nose to get ahead of everyone else, more power to them. I didn't have time to complain that they got most of the classroom attention. I was too busy trying to keep up with my multiple jobs and child rearing problems to worry about their sniveling.

[Aberdeen]

I had a fellow student in Microbiology who was apparently an amateur immunologist and felt the need to correct the instructor on a regular basis. It would have been one thing if she would have been correct, but 99.9% of the time she was wrong. I finally snapped in lab one day during a group project when she informed me that “just because there is contamination on the plate, doesn’t mean that we can’t still use it.” I calmly looked at her and stated “Were you not paying attention the first day when the instructor told us NOT to use contaminated plates and tubes; and has it ever occurred to you that the logic that you are using right now is probably the reason you are taking this class for the SECOND time?” You could have heard a microbe sneeze after I said that. I’m not a mean person, I’m actually really nice, but sometimes you have to draw the line in the sand.

[Bob_N_VA]

I think you nailed both of the factors involved. Best thing to do is to stay above the fray. Instructors know who the whiners are. Its unfortunate, but there is always an element that cries "Not Fair" if they think they have been slighted. If they think Nursing school is rough, wait till the real world...

I guess I'm lucky though, I haven't seen much of that in my class. Knock wood.

[pielęgniarka, RN]

I know someone like that!!! He failed the RN Nclex 5 times.... stating he didn't agree with the answers (Nclex was "wrong") and that's why he couldn't pass.

[Screen name]

There is a group like this is my class. They complain about clinicals, but when someone else shows any signs of stressing out and makes a "whining" type comment they attack and say to suck it up. They show up late for tests and finals and are still able to participate. They cheat and lie to get their way and several students have made this known to faculty and teachers basically tell us they will not do anything. They will make perfect scores in some areas and completely fail others - then you know what material they have been cheating with.

But I agree with pielegniarka, at the end of the day you'll probably pass NCLEX your first try... they will be several months behind you having to try 4 or 5 times before finally passing (waiting 45 days each time they fail). I think these girls are just in it because they feel the need (due to family or other outside source) or joke that they are just trying to find a doctor to marry and they really don't want to be a nurse at all.

[Mike A. Fungin RN]

That was pretty much my experience in nursing school, to a "T"

[Izzy11, NP]

Thanks for the replies. I know at the end of it, those of us who just do what we're supposed to do are going to be much better off. They had a couple of people who graduated last year come talk to us a few weeks ago, and one of them said that the older students had a much easier time finding jobs than the younger students. He attributed it to the older ones being better at networking and I'm sure that's part of it, but I'm also sure that part of it was the younger students were expecting jobs to be handed to them without having to put any effort into it.

Anyway, I just needed to vent after a tough semester. We're back at it on Tuesday.

[Z A C H]

The vast majority of the time I come across students that complain about everything and annoy the rest of the class it's middle aged women.

[Izzy11, NP]

The vast majority of the time I come across students that complain about everything and annoy the rest of the class it's middle aged women.

The older women in our class are just as annoyed with the complainers.

[Screen name]

Nope. Ours are a group of about 4 or 5 blond bimbo's who think they are little princesses.

[Intern67]

Does anyone else have to deal with this crap?

Yes. I immediately instituted a policy of "never complain." You never really win. If I see a problem I can help with and offer a solution, I do that, but I let my classmates do the whining.

And boy do they.