I am very curious if any of you ever dropped the "Nurse" word to get you out of trouble?
Myself and a couple of buddies are new recently hired nurses and we call each other on our way home after orientation. One day in particular my friend was busted talking on his cellphone and was pulled over. Being upset because I was the one who called him first, I felt as if it was my fault for the trouble he was about to be in.. About 3-4 minutes goes by and he calls back saying he told the cop he was driving home from work and hes a nurse at blah blah hospital and the officer let him go with only a warning!
What was the craziest thing you got (or got out of) after dropping "I am a nurse"?!?! Hoping for some funny stories!
Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.
I have gotten out of at least 2 tickets by showing I am a nurse / nursing student. One officer said "I think you know why I'm letting you off with just a warning." I said thank you officer, profusely. The other time he asked me to just make sure we take good care of him and his buddies if they have to go to the ED. I love some nice cops!! Thank goodness for them!
Did it once by complete accident. I had driven home after forgetting my wallet at a restaurant less than a mile from home. As I was driving back to the restaurant, I got stopped for an expired inspection sticker. Of course I didn't have my license (which was in my wallet), but I showed the officer the only thing I had with my name and photo on it (my work ID). I wasn't even thinking of getting out of the ticket, but the officer was gracious and I got lucky that day.
After a night shift I turned in to my close at a really bad angle and right in to the path of a police care, the officer wound the window down, gave me a bollocking. 'I said I'm really sorry I just fnished a night shift on ICU, I'm a nurse' she suddenly changed her tone to a far more friendly one and said, ahh, well go and get a good sleep then. I don't think I got out of anything, but it was nice to be able to pull the nurse card out once for a positive thing. Normally its because someones collapsed at my games club and they go 'get **** he's a nurse'.
My story actually has nothing to do with driving or police/troopers. But I did pull the "nurse card"!
One of the classes required to complete my RN to BSN was a literature elective. I (naively) thought that "Intro to Fiction" sounded like an easy check to put in the box. Unfortunately, the professor was a published author with an ego to match. Also, he only offered 100 points *TOTAL* for the entire semester, and offered up the points in a very stingy manner.
On the first assigned paper, I received a grade of 21/25 points. I had a cumulative 4.0 up to that point, and was convinced (and very angry) that this elective was going to ruin my final GPA. So I e-mailed the professor, and politely asked if we could meet to discuss feedback on my paper, and what I could do differently on the final 3 papers. I planned the meeting to occur before a shift, and went dressed in scrubs with my RN badge in place.
After reading over my paper several times he said (and I quote), "I'm not sure why I gave you that grade. I must have been drunk when I read it." He then upped my grade to a 23/25. I'm not sure if the scrubs made any difference, but I ended up squeaking out of that class with a 93.5, and graduated with a 4.0....phew!!
being a nurse, EMT, firefighter, other first responder.
If you do get a ticket, call the officer who gave it to you
the next day, thank him for helping you realize you were speeding,
and very politely mention that you're a nurse. "Say, if you're ever over at West Valley Hospital, I'm a nurse in the ER. Stop by and say "hello". "We love us some cops over there and we have the best coffee in town". Or something akin to that.
This approach worked for a Sheriff's Deputy when he was ticketed by a Statie. The Statie agreed to not show up in court, so the case was tossed.
Life is unfair. Sometimes we have to use the advantages we
Yeah, VA troopers are like honey badgers...they don't give a F who you are. You could be the Queen of England and they would ticket you, just for being the Queen of England. They had a notorious reputation with county/city Fire/PD's and hospital workers.
Naturally the Queen would be very gracious about the encounter and then not have to pay the ticket. Mayors, governors, president, and all that, you know. On the off-chance that she did have to pay it, it would mean nothing to her - she's a multi-billionaress. She owns jewels galore, numerous castles throughtout her realm, and even the actual earth itself in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland to name but a few.
Allodial title. You and I think we own our homes and the ground upon which they sit. Well just try not paying the taxes and you will quickly learn who really owns your humble abode. Eminent domain. It can all be taken away from you in the blink of an eye and they don't even have to give you enough money to buy another place without having to get a mortgage.
Specializes in Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist (SRNA).
Lots of posts on here, so I did not go through all of them; however, I have been a police officer for 8 years and am an ABSN student. I'm skeptical when people drop what they do right off the bat. Mainly because a number of these people usually lie. It's not uncommon for me to pull up the BRN/BoN website and run your name to actually see if you are who you say you are, and that goes for nurses, doctors, lawyers, etc. I've found a number of things over the years...people being truthful, people completely lying, people who have suspended nursing/bar/medicine licenses, etc. That being said, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially nurses, physicians, and other fire, law enforcement, or healthcare workers, because we all lean on each other pretty heavily for support. Attitude is also huge. I don't care if you work for our local ER, the neighboring PD, etc., if you're a prick, I have no problem giving you a ticket. If you're respectful, chances are you'll get a warning. Thats a good rule of thumb no matter who you are. Attitude almost always means a ticket.
Specializes in Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist (SRNA).
What helps avoid tickets is:
being white
being female
being older
being young and beautiful/handsome
being courteous
being calm
not being threatening
being a nurse, EMT, firefighter, other first responder.
If you do get a ticket, call the officer who gave it to you
the next day, thank him for helping you realize you were speeding,
and very politely mention that you're a nurse. "Say, if you're ever over at West Valley Hospital, I'm a nurse in the ER. Stop by and say "hello". "We love us some cops over there and we have the best coffee in town". Or something akin to that.
This approach worked for a Sheriff's Deputy when he was ticketed by a Statie. The Statie agreed to not show up in court, so the case was tossed.
Life is unfair. Sometimes we have to use the advantages we
happen to have.
Um, yeah this is almost completely inaccurate. Courteous, calm, non-threatening, sure most cops are more likely to give you a warning if you act like that instead of being an argumentative jerk. Race, gender, religion, attractiveness, etc., play no factor on whether who gets a ticket. Also, yes most places will dismiss a citation if the officer does not show up; however, officers are subpoenaed to court, thus unless the officer has prior approval from his agency or the court, not showing up is considered contempt of court, in which the officer can get into trouble, up to being arrested. So I would not rely on the officer not showing up to court.
Specializes in Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist (SRNA).
Funny ? Not...It was your buddy who answered the phone. Cop should be disciplined for unequal treatment under law. Not at all amusing RNjay...RN is not a pass for being unsafe and breaking any law.
It's not unequal treatment it's called discretion.
I was married to a cop - his cop friends would say "what kind of nurse are you?" at parties, and when I'd go into the various bits of Public/Community Health I've done, they'd laugh and say, "Yeah, we have no chance of running into you, so no get-out-of-ticket favors." Basically ER/ICU/trauma nurses got "respect" from them because if they got on-duty injury, that's who they'd see. Any other type of nurse was chop liver in their eyes.
*I am referring only this specific group, not all LEO in general. I definitely don't generalize based on my ex and his peers..
Nothing so exciting as an RN, but in my previous life I was a manager for one of the big two delivery companies (lots of purple and orange), and was running a wee bit behind one morning, decked out in my glorious work uniform. Cop pulls me over, looks at my attire, and says "what do you do for xxxx". "I am an operations manager." "Well go ahead and get on to operating, I don't want any trouble with my Amazon packages making it to my house."
I was speeding home from the grocery and did not want my ice cream to melt and IBS to hit in. I was pulled over and when the officer asked for the registration papers I opened the box and pulled out the paper. Handed it to him. After a short while he came back and gave me a warning to slow down and go on home. i Found out later I had handed him the work sheet from the Chevrolet garage. I bet he got a kick out of that one and I was totally unaware of what I had done.
vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN
2,717 Posts
I have gotten out of at least 2 tickets by showing I am a nurse / nursing student. One officer said "I think you know why I'm letting you off with just a warning." I said thank you officer, profusely. The other time he asked me to just make sure we take good care of him and his buddies if they have to go to the ED. I love some nice cops!! Thank goodness for them!