Cra Cra co-workers

[NursesRmofun]

I know you have had them. Ones that drove you crazy, acted off kilter, and just made things either more interesting or more difficult. If you can write about them without IDing them, go ahead.

I had one several years ago....omg...I would get to work and had some time between duties. She had a different position, but she also had some seat time. I sat near her and she told me how her meds. weren't working and her whole personal history in a matter of just a couple work days. Then, at some point, I know she was gossiping how *I* was sitting and doing nothing but talking to HER. My mistake was I sat near her. I changed seats after that...to another sitting area all together.

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

OK I think this takes the cake!

When I worked in Mother Baby there was a CNA from L&D on nights (aren't they always on nights???) who was almost blind, almost deaf, and a religious fanatic. They had her transport patients from L&D to Mother Baby and she would bang stretchers with fresh C-section patients into the wall because her vision was so bad (they finally had her stop transporting). She was less than five feet tall and looked, well, crazy. Apparently she came from a lot of money and had an apartment on Central Park South, but would occasionally sleep in subway stations to "preach." When it was wintertime, she would wear her ancient, ratty fur coat over her scrubs all shift, which combined with her disheveled appearance really did make her look like a homeless person.

One night they floated her to work in Mother Baby and she went into a patient's room to make rounds, but didn't say anything to the patient. It being winter, she was wearing the fur coat and the patient freaked out and thought there was a homeless person on the loose creeping through the hospital.

Wonder what THAT did to the Press-Gainey scores 😄😈😇

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

Just thought of another *kind* of co-worker on the side of being fixated with trying to get me to do some of her work. I was a unit manager in LTC and this medication/charge nurse did meds on the usual 30 people. Not easy, but the average patient load. I did some charting, care plans, picking up orders, general manager stuff. She worked 3 - 12 hr shifts and she insisted on *trying to get me to do some meds. almost everyday I worked with her. I think she tried to get me to do some other of her duties as well, but I am not as keen on the memory of what.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

I can't think of any crazy coworker stories, so does that make me the crazy coworker?

Why yes it does ... I wonder what stories your coworkers have about you.

I have one.. We had a nurse who was a "natural nut". Every morning she drank a "smoothie" that I swear looked and smelled like swamp water. She also had to do her yoga stretches in the hallway twice a shift. I kid you not - shoes off doing poses in the main hallways where there was "more room". This went on for over a year until she was finally told she had to stop due to patient complaints.. She took a job elsewhere since we infringed on her rights..

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

Why yes it does ... I wonder what stories your coworkers have about you.

I have one.. We had a nurse who was a "natural nut". Every morning she drank a "smoothie" that I swear looked and smelled like swamp water. She also had to do her yoga stretches in the hallway twice a shift. I kid you not - shoes off doing poses in the main hallways where there was "more room". This went on for over a year until she was finally told she had to stop due to patient complaints.. She took a job elsewhere since we infringed on her rights..

Swamp smoothies and yoga were her life! haha

[PghRN15]

Ah, we had an agency CNA on our unit one night. She sat there and told us that she used to work in an ED and a chest trauma came in. She proceeded to tell us that she jumped on the gurney and proceeded to use her hand to "clamp the bleeder" and that they wheeled her into the OR suite and she didn't jump off the patient until the surgeon was ready to "cut". I just said "you watch far too much television". That put an end to the crazy stories for the night.

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

Ah, we had an agency CNA on our unit one night. She sat there and told us that she used to work in an ED and a chest trauma came in. She proceeded to tell us that she jumped on the gurney and proceeded to use her hand to "clamp the bleeder" and that they wheeled her into the OR suite and she didn't jump off the patient until the surgeon was ready to "cut". I just said "you watch far too much television". That put an end to the crazy stories for the night.

Love that one! Well, I guess there is some small chance it was true...??? lol

[abbnurse]

I have many stories I could tell, but this one really stands out .

A new nurse trained with me for about a week on day shift, before moving to nights (which was the shift he was hired for). It was my habit to say "Just call me with any questions, or any concerns", especially to new nurses, since I was the unit manager. One day about a week later, I got home in the morning after staying at a friend's house. There were thirty-seven missed calls on my home phone from my work number, but no messages on the answering machine (this was pre-cell phone days). I called work, asking, "Hey, is everything ok? Someone was trying to reach me." The nurse on duty said sure, everything was fine. A few days later I saw this new nurse, and he said "Hey, Abby, how's your answering machine? "

The night shift staff began telling me about how people would call during the night and ask for "Shepherd Timothy".....and he would tell staff that the calls were from members of his "flock", and that he needed to "counsel" them.

The holidays came around shortly, and he brought in a gift for every nurse on each shift. Each one of us received a beautifully wrapped bar of soap....Caress, Dove, Dial, Irish Spring, Camay, Oil of Olay......he gave nearly everyone a different type of soap. I received Yardley, which smelled beautiful, and I was somewhat touched by his gesture, since he clearly put a lot of time and effort into selecting and wrapping our gifts. But we were all kind of scratching our heads.....bars of soap?

He didn't last too long on our unit and I have often wondered what became of him....he was an odd one, for sure !

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Why yes it does ... I wonder what stories your coworkers have about you.

Lol. I'm sure they have stories. But I don't know if they are on here. So far, none of these are about me. Or are they?

[NuGuyNurse2b]

I have a weird sense of humor, and I am sure I do things that make people raise their eyebrows, but nothing near anything that's been posted on here!

[SleeepyRN]

One of the outstanding weird characters of my career was an agency RN assigned to my AIDS unit for the first time. She came with glowing reviews from my supervisors. It was night shift so it was just her and me with a census of 15, mixed chronic and acute.

I started out giving her a 30 - 40 minute report on patients, unit routine and her assignment. During the report, she kept interrupting to ask repeatedly whether she had to do vital signs, incontinent care, etc.

After report, I commenced my midnight med pass, during which I noticed that the vital sign equipment was still on the nurses' station counter. The temp was no-where to be found. The supervisor came down and found her standing in a corner of the solarium with the lights off. She sent the woman out to get started on the VS.

About 15 minutes after the supe left the floor, I had to call her back down, same problem. This time the temp was hiding behind the door of the conference room.

The third time she disappeared, she was found in the staff bathroom. She informed the supe that she was having diarrhea and had to go home.

We never found out what her issue was. It was the mid-nineties and many people were still terrified of people with AIDS. My theory is that the thought of actually having to give them direct hands-on care was just too much for her.

I worked that shift with a nurses' aid who was, thankfully, highly competent. Good times

LOL. This reminds me of my high school Spanish class. Our teacher told us a story of a student teacher who, on his first day, walked up to the front of the classroom, stood there, then walked to the back of the classroom, opened the window and climbed out.

[resilientnurse]

I have always known working the floor that there are a lot of "special" nurses abound. However, I work as a Psych NP now. I have done countless psychiatric evaluations on clients who tell me that they are studying to become a nurse or a social worker. So, watch out! There's more coming!

[rnsrgr8t]

I worked nights with a CNA that just creeped me out. It was 1Nurse/1CNA per very spread apart unit. He wore scrubs with a trench coat and combat boots. Everyone thought I was crazy bacause I didn't want to work with him. He gave excellent patient care... UNTIL he came to work with his girfriends hand in his pocket one night. He was actually arrested during that shift. I don't care if you google it because the whole case is public record and this was pre HIPAA. The whole thing was a nightmare.

Ok so now I am totally intrigued and tried to Google it and got nothing!!!