how Did you handle your first mobbing?

[Anjann, RN]

I'd like to know from the more experienced folks out there:

What can be done to minimize the damage that occurs as a result of a mobbing termination?

How do you protect your ability to get another job if the mob won't give you a good (or any) reference? I have one friend who is a nurse that I could use, but she isn't even at the same hospital.

And what do you do if the new jobs wants to call the previous employer that mobbed you? Does that mobber end up burning you so you can't get the job, or do they typically say as little as necessary?

Thanks!

Anjann

[RN1989]

Welllllll, I tried everything - talking with the people, carrying a tape recorder in my pocket, writing rebuttals to everything and giving them to the manager. In the end, I was told by the manager that I was the problem, that everyone including the docs were against me, and that I needed to resign.

I didn't say anything to my new employer, just that I needed a change, as a reason for leaving. They needed a good nurse and knew I was the one. Hired me without being ugly. That job gave me great refs when I left.

Some HR departments will only give the basics - dates of employment, sometimes salary, and whether or not they would rehire you. In TX they can say more than that and some do, some don't.

Your best bet is to find a couple of good colleagues willing to write you a reference that you can send a copy with your application and resume.

[ebear, BSN, RN]

I had a lot of the same issues as RN1989, but was not asked to resign. I resigned myself, though, before it became a problem. I spoke with the manager and filled out an "exit interview" form after the fact. Had no problem with the next hospital at all, and the nurse manager at the former place even apologized that I was treated so unfairly (but did nothing about it). I'd just get out of Dodge ASAP and go on about my life. Some things just will not change until someone with sense sees the light and has the gumption to do something about it. I had never been "mobbed" before or since.

[Seven, RN2b]

Excuse my ignorance- but, what is "mobbing"?

[RN1989]

Bullying, horizontal violence directed at colleagues.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Bullying, horizontal violence directed at colleagues.

Usually started by Managers....

(See Namie and Namie)

[Seven, RN2b]

Bullying, horizontal violence directed at colleagues.

I experienced severe bullying and a toxic work environment for nearly 3 years - horrible, vicious co-workers (not healthcare) - finally left (after being with the company nearly 17 years) to go to nursing school ... very disappointing to hear the concerns of how poorly many nurses treat their co-workers. America needs to catch up with the rest of world when it comes to addresing these types of behavior. It is not tolerated in most European countries and the bullies, and employers who allow such abuses, are held accountable - legally and financially. The environment I was in was toxic to the core - so I had no recourse. It was leave or deal with the abuse. Fortune 100 company too!

www.bullyinginstitute.org

www.bullybusters.org

www.worktrauma.org

[Selke]

I was in a similiar situation. The union rep negotiated me "quitting" instead of me being fired. Very bad racial situation at that place, too. The hospital unit was so toxic I quit the specialty at the time as it completely ruined my desire to do that kind of work. It was a toxic environment even for the medical students, I found out years later from an MD who went to school there (teaching hospital) and we were living in another state .... The only work I could get was agency work. Although it was a huge city, the HR people and managers all knew each other and would call each other, I learned. Off the record, couldn't prove anything was ever said. Several years' worth of cr$%y agency work that did not look good on my resume, I learned, as I tried to get another staff job and could never get hired or past the first interview. I kept trying to get into graduate school to get out of this situation entirely, but my nursing school would not release my transcript (long story, I now have it after moving to another state and winning a lawsuit and finding a lawyer to take the case), and how could I get work references with that kind of work history? I had to leave the state entirely a few years later into another state with such a nursing shortage they basically didn't check personal references, just dates of hire, validity of your license, and warm breath.

Health care was a very poor choice of profession for me the way it turned out. Nursing completely relieved me of the idealistic notion that women are somehow superior to men and that females share solidarity with each other in a patriarchical society. In many ways I feel I wasted my talents but did not know of other options at the time.