My employer called a couple of hours ago asking me to work tonight. Honestly, I have been shoveling snow for hours and am tired and sore and absolutely do not feel like driving in to work and staying up all night. We are chronically short staffed and I feel guilty for not answering my phone or calling back, but I'm afraid that if I call back I'll cave in and work, and I REALLY don't want to.
Also, yesterday when my street was drifted shut and I was unable to get out to drive to work, I asked if they would send someone in a 4WD to come and pick me up, since they had said that they would offer this to everyone who couldn't make it in due to the weather but they told me no, because I live in an outlying area, but that I would still be charged with a call off. Does this seem right? I was willing to work, I just couldn't get there and they backed down on having someone come and get me as promised.
I'm feeling pretty conflicted right now; angry, guilty, frustrated, anxious...
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I was married yesterday at 11:30 - work had the cahones to ask if I'd pick up some hours later in the day. Haha plus, i was on champagne número dos and wasn't in any condition to work.
Congratulations!
Anyone remember back before we had answering machines, voice mail or caller ID? When the phone rang, you answered it because you didn't have any idea who was calling or what it was about. I married another nurse -- he was in the Float Pool. We got at least three calls before the start of each and every shift: "Could Ruby come in and work extra?" "Could Tomas come in and work extra?" "Could EITHER of you come in and work extra?" So at approximately 5 AM, 1 PM and 9 PM, there were three phone calls. Once someone calle me at 5 AM (After I worked 3-11 the previous night and didn't get to bed until past 1 AM), I can't get back to sleep. But it might be important -- what if one of my parents was hurt? The calls started the same evening we were married.
We went out and bought one of the first answering machines with our wedding gift money. And that pretty much ended the days of me answering my land line.
Oh do NOT feel guilty. And you don't have to justify to us (or them) why you don't want to work. You could want to sit on your butt watching the entire contents of your DVR (which is a night everyone should get to have without explanation). The important thing is it is your time, on your night off and you don't need to explain your reasoning to anyone.
I don't ever answer the phone when work calls. I like to know what they want first. I want to think about it and plan my day if I personally decide maybe I do want to pick up. And I get some ridiculous calls too. One time a manager called me at 0930 to ask me about a med I gave at 0600. I hadn't gone to bed yet and called back worried I had made a med error (doubting that I had indeed checked it, checked against the MAR and scanned it...the patient had multiple meds due at 06 and 09). Manager goes "no we just wanted to know if you gave it." "Well, yes. I charted it, right?" "Yes, but the family member wanted to know." "I guess I don't understand. Couldn't you have seen from the charting that it was done?" "We just wanted to double check." Whaaaaaa????
Our facility just went to the text notifications which I like. Also the charge doesn't have to worry too much about sending out requests early or late. And you can Opt Out if you want too (which I did when I was on vacation and getting 3-4 a day).
Specializes in RETIREDMed nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Yeah, I think the on-call may have tried to call me three times today.....not sure, because it isn't an office #.....but, honey, if you ain't gonna leave me a message.....
I don't feel obliged to answer the phone; as I've said here before, I believe a phone is a convenience, not my own personal dictator.
Oh, and I especially​ won't answer when the caller ID says "unknown", "not available", or "blocked".
I used to ignore calls to come in, especially after the scheduler at my first job literally conned me into working a double shift. then my boss talked to me about not returning the scheduler's calls. I returned calls after that, and I rejected about 75% of requests to come in.
I still return every call I get about picking up shifts, and I feel no guilt about refusing to pick up shifts.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Years ago, a new manager mandated that when the charge nurse tried to call someone in to work extra, she kept track of whom she called, what time and what response was given. If you said "no" twice in a row, you were summoned for a disciplinary meeting. Now I'm a believer that my time off is MY time, and the phone I pay for (before cell phones were smaller than a briefcase and before caller ID) was for MY convenience. Since I had no way of knowing who was calling, I just didn't answer the phone. Ever. If someone left a message and I wanted to talk to them (we had call screening on our answering machines in those days), I picked up. If not, not. The charge nurses started documenting "Left message" after my name. Before long, there was a "left message" after every name on the roster because NO ONE was answering their phone. The policy went away very quickly after that.
I was married yesterday at 11:30 - work had the cahones to ask if I'd pick up some hours later in the day. Haha plus, i was on champagne número dos and wasn't in any condition to work.
Years ago, a new manager mandated that when the charge nurse tried to call someone in to work extra, she kept track of whom she called, what time and what response was given. If you said "no" twice in a row, you were summoned for a disciplinary meeting. Now I'm a believer that my time off is MY time, and the phone I pay for (before cell phones were smaller than a briefcase and before caller ID) was for MY convenience. Since I had no way of knowing who was calling, I just didn't answer the phone. Ever. If someone left a message and I wanted to talk to them (we had call screening on our answering machines in those days), I picked up. If not, not. The charge nurses started documenting "Left message" after my name. Before long, there was a "left message" after every name on the roster because NO ONE was answering their phone. The policy went away very quickly after that.
Insane! No way would I attend a disciplinary meeting for not answering a phone call on my time off. Unless of course I am being paid to answer the phone, but no...not gonna happen. Nobody is ever paying me to sit home and wait for the phone to ring, we don't do "on call" where I work.
I left that job awhile ago but I thought "You got nerve". They also had a nerve to make me a "no call no show" when i specifically told them where I was going. On top of that there was a postcard from my destination. I told them to get that off my record. LTC's are notorious for causing problems.
Anyone remember back before we had answering machines, voice mail or caller ID? When the phone rang, you answered it because you didn't have any idea who was calling or what it was about. I married another nurse -- he was in the Float Pool. We got at least three calls before the start of each and every shift: "Could Ruby come in and work extra?" "Could Tomas come in and work extra?" "Could EITHER of you come in and work extra?" So at approximately 5 AM, 1 PM and 9 PM, there were three phone calls. Once someone calle me at 5 AM (After I worked 3-11 the previous night and didn't get to bed until past 1 AM), I can't get back to sleep. But it might be important -- what if one of my parents was hurt? The calls started the same evening we were married.
We went out and bought one of the first answering machines with our wedding gift money. And that pretty much ended the days of me answering my land line.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,053 Posts
Congratulations!
Anyone remember back before we had answering machines, voice mail or caller ID? When the phone rang, you answered it because you didn't have any idea who was calling or what it was about. I married another nurse -- he was in the Float Pool. We got at least three calls before the start of each and every shift: "Could Ruby come in and work extra?" "Could Tomas come in and work extra?" "Could EITHER of you come in and work extra?" So at approximately 5 AM, 1 PM and 9 PM, there were three phone calls. Once someone calle me at 5 AM (After I worked 3-11 the previous night and didn't get to bed until past 1 AM), I can't get back to sleep. But it might be important -- what if one of my parents was hurt? The calls started the same evening we were married.
We went out and bought one of the first answering machines with our wedding gift money. And that pretty much ended the days of me answering my land line.