Don't you wanna work.

[TNcanNURSE]

Okay, I am sitting here reading posts. I leave to go to work in fifteen minutes. The phone rings. Gee, it's the staffing coordinator. She wants to know if I will stay until 11pm on Saturday and Sunday. Duh, no! Sat. and Sun. will be my third and fourth twelve hour shifts this week. It takes me nearly an hour to commute one way. Like I am really wanting to change those hideous twelves into sixteens. Yeah, four hours of sleep sound like a helluva good time. Oh, but I really NEED you. Oh but I REALLY CARE.

I can't have a single day off without them calling and wanting me to do something extra. Most of the days I work they still call wanting something.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

You can get a service put on your phone, so when someone who has caller ID blocked on their phone calls you they hear the follwing message:

"This number does not accept blocked calls. If you wish to place the call, hang-up, dial *83 to unblock your line for this call, and place the call."

That way, anyone who has a blocked line can't even call you.

[TheBrainMusher]

Unfortunately, there is a difference between restricted numbers adn call blockings. I know b/c my boyfriend's mom has that feature. But I have a restricted cellphone number .... always comes up restricted, but if I try to "block" my number *67... then I get that message to "unblock" my number and try to call again ...

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

I don't accept any blocked/anonymous calls, so caller ID works fine by me.

Also, leave the ringer off when I am asleep, if awake, I hear the answering machine click on.

[ratchit]

"Ask them if they will pay you traveller's wages for the shift- if they aren't willing to put out $50/h they don't need you that bad- that's my motto."

Canoehead, I travelled for years and never made more than $28 an hour (which is less than my current staff nurse rate and was significantly less than the staff nurses there made.) Some travellers make $35 an hour, but no traveller makes $50 an hour. Most of my contracts paid less than $25 an hour. The agency bills $50 or more per hour, but a whole bunch goes to their expenses and profits before it trickles down to the nurse.

I'm not trying to change the subject here, I just try to correct the misconceptions staff RN's have about travellers when I can. The real problem isn't travellers, it's hospitals that don't treat their staff well enough to not need travellers.

[ceecel.dee, MSN, RN]

Can't you just write an official request to not be called?

Those staffing secretaries have an awful job. Give them a break!

[TNcanNURSE]

I can't rightly give her a break as I haven't done anything to her. I am not rude to her. If anyone is being rude here I think it's her.

Official requests to not be called are not honored. She's not a secretary. She is a nursing supervisor for day shift. I really don't think it's necessary to continuously call someone after they tell you no. I really, really don't think its necessary to tell someone what you feel they should and should not do when it comes to their preferences about working OT.

[TNcanNURSE]

Hey check that out I'm a "Senior Member".

[Aussienurse2]

In Australia it's law that we have an eight hour break between shifts, you can work a double BUT they have to pay double time for the extra hours and I think there is a break policy in there somewhere. But then our union is very strong and mostly makes the right choices for us and our patients.

[kaycee]

I agree caller ID is a Godsend. I also have written beside my name not to call before 9am. I work steady 3-11 and will rarely work 7-3 and they know it.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

ratchit-

I was referring to the hourly wage paid by the hospital. They get someone who is oriented, whose work they know, on short notice. They should pay that person the same amount as they put out for travellers.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

Originally posted by eltrip

Amen!

And if they REALLY NEED you, then they REALLY need for you to get more than 4 hours of sleep between shifts!

And then, they REALLY need to offer you bonus money to take the extra shift.

[caliotter3]

Like others have said, screen your calls, turn your phone off when you need to sleep. And look at it this way, at least someone wants you! Isn't it great to feel valued and needed? I don't know whether I mean this as a joke or in a serious frame. But I'll say one thing, it's better to have your problem (solvable by screening out your calls) than the problem of being unemployed with no one, absolutely no one calling you to offer work. Hey laugh it off.