Do You Ever Ignore Your Employer's VM When They Try to Call You In?

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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...

Yes, you have some serious chutzpah! :up:

LOL, it was the ADMIN coming up with this plan that had the chutzpah (nerve, gall, sheer audacity)! ME, otoh, was merely using my invisible verbal racquetball racquet to deflect the....flying excrement....coming my way! ;)

Should probably also mention that the facility I USED to work for was also famous for offering nurses rides via our Security's 4x4 trucks; they'd tell us "no problem, we'll come get you!" AND THEN....wait for it.....no one is available to take you home at the end of the much-needed shift. :madface: Guess it was a shorter drive to pick up the nurse and deliver her to work than it was to take her back home?!

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Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

Isn't that what voice mail is for?

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
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...

I am not certain why you would choose or prefer to feel guilty about the short staffing.

You are obviously not responsible for staffing the unit with competent nursing staff.

You are obviously on an unpaid day off.

There is no clause written into your contract that you must 1) answer the phone, 2) return their call, 3) work on your days off because the facility is having staffing issues, or 4) have more concern for either the patients or the staff on the unit than the employer and facility has.

Personally, I take their calls whenever possible and decline the offer of work.

Any whining or coersion is met with a question of what bonus or benefit they are offering for the additional work. When they admit that they are offering nothing beyond what they are required to provide (OT per law) I decline. If they offer me something for working extra I request that they forward that offer to me in writing and provide my email address.

Most of the time the employer is just looking to bully some female nurse into feeling guilty about having an unpaid day off while her co-workers are struggling and short staffed.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

I wonder if coming in to work extra for tonight's blizzard would cancel out the previous occurrence for the OP.

She needs to use this as leverage. Using email to have them put it in writing is smart.

A business favor is only good for thirty days and then it is forgotten.

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Specializes in psychiatric.
If we keep on working extra, when there are multiple open FTE positions, we are enabling management to not hire more staff or travelers.

You took the words right out of my mouth. A fellow nurse was complaining that she was working so much she couldn't get her other life priorities under control. I asked her what she thought would happen if everyone stopped picking up extra shifts to cover the unit. It never occurred to her or the other nurses that by constantly coming and working those extra shifts she was perpetuating the problem.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

If middle management had to do direct patient care, just once, they would be setting up some interviews the very next day.

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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...

Yes, I call my employer back. Sometimes I say "Yes", and sometimes I tell them "No". I don't call back what I call "canned voice mails", where they say "We were just calling to see if you would come in", though. Only "Hey, can you call us, please?"

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Ha ha, no, I'm not a young nurse, but I'm one of those "people pleaser" types who takes on a lot of guilt, so situations like this get me all worked up. I keep thinking it over and over in my mind and wonder if they've found anyone, even though I really don't feel like I can do it tonight due to, as I said, having shoveled literally tons of snow in the past 24 hours. I feel like I at last owe them an answer, but if I call and tell them no and they get snippy about it, it will make me feel even worse than I do now.

I wish it was easy to just "grow a backbone" in these types of situations.

Thanks for all of the helpful comments. I will try to turn off the guilt for now, lol.

I wouldn't feel guilty, especially after they reprimanded you and held it against you for not getting into work the other day. There will always be a shortage of staff as most places don't hire enough and have a lot of turnover in general so it is not up to you to save them! They can save themselves by having a robust pool, using agency, travelers, good bonuses and on call incentives and guess what they wouldn't have to beg for help. But calling you is the cheaper and easier choice!

I had a similar experience where I was told I was on suspension over missing a computer class and couldn't work till I took the makeup and I was not alone there were many people at the makeup. But ironically that didn't stop staffing from calling me and begging me to come in and work. No thanks! Either they weren't in the know about the so called "suspension" or they were ready to let me work now that it suited them! No thanks! Funny I wasn't scheduled to work till after the makeup anyway, but let's be heavy handed about it!

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I ignore them. They won't help me when I'm in need so why should I help them?

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I used to just ignore the calls from staffing asking if I want to work on my day off, which is just about every day off. Now I answer it and forward the call to the HR hiring adminsitrator's office (the person responsible for ensuring we have adequate staff). I've yet to hear how that conversation goes.

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I used to just ignore the calls from staffing asking if I want to work on my day off, which is just about every day off. Now I answer it and forward the call to the HR hiring adminsitrator's office (the person responsible for ensuring we have adequate staff). I've yet to hear how that conversation goes.

Love this. Good response for those employers that have dedicated HR departments!

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Specializes in MICU - CCRN, IR, Vascular Surgery.
If we keep on working extra, when there are multiple open FTE positions, we are enabling management to not hire more staff or travelers.

So I say no, or ignore it altogether, because I am tired of being short staffed.

THIS!

This is also why I refuse to work for the super extra bonus pay they've been offering lately, because it's just rewarding them for not hiring more nurses.

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