So Very Sad

Nurses General Nursing

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I am feeling so low today. Trouble on the job, boss soooo :devil:. Thinking I will just get out of Nursing altogether - if I ever regain the energy to figure out what else to do, LOL. Ever had this happen to you? How do you handle bosses who are so unfair, so cruel?

Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.

Hey, I don't know if this helps or not, but I saw your age at 61...did it every occur to you the hospital is TRYING to get you to quit?

Age discrimination is ALIVE in this country. I would wager you are probably at the higher end of their salary scale if you have been there for a long time.

That happened with my mom. The last 5 years that she worked, they scheduled her for every holiday they could and never gave her a raise, tried to trash her reviews (but she was a better record keeper than they were, so that never got very far), and every other way they could think of to abuse her. They also gave her a hard time b/c she was having some problems with her heart, but was still able to perform. She just wasn't the "tough dog" she used to be.

There was no way she was going to let them win and have her pension and SS reduced.

Her retaliation? She realized she had over 400 sick days left, so whenever they scheduled her for a day she didn't want to work, she just called in, and didn't even care to do it. She had EARNED those days (think about how many years you have to go and not use your sick days to have that many, so that took care of her guilt factor).

You are in a legally protected class, so they would have a very difficult time firing you.

Hold out, put your foot down girl and don't let them win!

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Hey, I don't know if this helps or not, but I saw your age at 61...did it every occur to you the hospital is TRYING to get you to quit?

my thoughts as well......i think of these things, since i am not so far behind you!!

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Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.

Well, she ended up getting the last laugh on it, because they kept it up and she kept holding out. So, when her health was starting to get the best of her, she got a doctor to render her disabled and said she shouldn't be working at all (this was after two heart surgeries). Guess what you have to use before you can start collecting disability? Yup, ALL of your sick-time.

So her last year of retirement, she got to sit back and collect a full salary before she filed for her pension and SS.

She was like, "If they won't let me work in peace, fine, I'll just sit on my $#%# at home and collect it."

She really would have rather have been working any day of the week.

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Well, she ended up getting the last laugh on it, because they kept it up and she kept holding out. So, when her health was starting to get the best of her, she got a doctor to render her disabled and said she shouldn't be working at all (this was after two heart surgeries). Guess what you have to use before you can start collecting disability? Yup, ALL of your sick-time.

So her last year of retirement, she got to sit back and collect a full salary before she filed for her pension and SS.

She was like, "If they won't let me work in peace, fine, I'll just sit on my $#%# at home and collect it."

She really would have rather have been working any day of the week.

I'm so glad your mom won. Sorry it had to be the hard way but, as you say, she got to use up her hard-earned sick time, as well she should have. It was a benefit she had coming to her, they monkeyed with her, she tried to work but they terrorized her, so hey, just use the sick time and more power to her. I've seen several coworkers do this through the long, long years I've put in.

To those who've suggested that maybe this is intentional - yes, that has occurred to me, too. IT just hurts sooo very much, knowing all of the new grads I've helped through the years, all of the Nursing and Medical and other types of students I've tried to befriend, all of the hard times and happy times some of us have shared on this job, the new developments we've seen and so on. I was even part of helping to develop the very first ICU at this facility. I've practically lived there! I've worked q shift, q holiday, q day of the 365/6 on our calendar. I've been a soldier, I've been a manager, a Head Nurse, even an ADON. Never got into the top spot, never really wanted it. But I have managed various firms (services) and done several things to try to keep us standing upright when day is done. And this is my reward. And why? Well, I can't go into it publicly, but I truly believe it has more to do with personality issues (I was salty when someone was PMS'ing or hot flashing, I suppose; bad combo) and politics than with any real or imagined wrongdoing from me. It's ridiculous to think that a moment's slip of the tongue could wipe out so many years of devotion and reliability and good employeedom and good nursing. Yes, I'm human, I can err. But I honestly don't see how I have, at least not badly enough to try to terminate me. And believe me, I've done a LOT of soul-searching. Thinking: Arnie, I'll be back. Hold that visual, LOL.

As far as being in a protected class, I think not, as I was hired after the cutoff age for being considered old - 40, I think. Or so I understood a lawyer to say some years ago in a seminar on this type of thing. But I should check it out again, just to be sure.

Yes, I have earned that pension and what it represents - a little security in one's old age. Thank you all for reminding me of that. I've tried to pull my wagon, old workhorse here, and I think I deserve some little consideration. So do they, evidently, LOL, i.e., "little".

I think I'm gaining some strength from your support, for I feel my muscles rippling and my shirt tearing and, by Jove, I'm turning GREEN, like The Hulk. Look out, all y'all, here comes TRUDY, on the warpath. (big belly laugh here, thanks, Guys.):wink2:

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TrudyRN,

I can totally sympathize with your pain you are feeling. I know this may not be a comfort, but I am working in a toxic environment too and am feeling very depressed about it. I just want to quit. The problem is that I have been at the job for 3 months and I feel like this would look bad to another employer, especially since I left my full-time job to do per diem after my son was born in March. Then I thought I was ready to go back full-time at another facility and it is not working out on so many levels. My schedule is terrible and my child is in daycare way more than what I want him to be and it is just a very hostile environment. Plus all the guilt that I have leaving my child in daycare. I just don't know what to do, but all of this has left me very depressed.

I hope things work out for you. I will be thinking about you.

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Specializes in Too many to list.

Trudy,

You Incredible Hulk you, we are routing for you!

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Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.

Oh, what I mean by being a protected class isn't like a formal policy or anything. HR folks are taught that when you start looking at terminating long-term employees with excellent records after age 45, and this increases even more when they are past the age when they CAN go early retirement but don't want to take the cut in benefits, that a company is pretty much setting themselves up for an age discrimination lawsuit if they try to force that person out.

Just remember, if in fact, it is internal, it doesn't have anything to do with you personally. They could probably hire a new grad for half of what you are probably earning, and that is what they are focusing on. It doesn't make it hurt any less when you have given your whole life to a hospital.

I'll be rooting for you!

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Thanks, All. I appreciate your help and encouragement.:pumpiron: :chuckle

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Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.

Even if you can't move to another company, how about a different floor? If not, Just hang in there, you know how it goes. In a week or so someone else will say or do something, then THEY will be the ones on the S#%&list. :roll

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I cant relate to you if its a boss.. but I had a co worker who I really dislike. It turns out after I have gone to a leadership seminar, it was me all along. So I changed and we got along well. Try to think your situation. maybe there's a solution along the way. If there's something wrong with you, good cause you know what's wrong and you can change it. If its your boss then its not your fault. Be the best you can be and always do the right things so you wont get his/her attention. goodluck and Godbless!

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SUE THEM!!!:chuckle Well seriously my boss was as you describe, plus she was DUMB enough to do something very illegal/unethical, so I am in a lawsuit.Makes all the hurt and frustration ease a bit knowing you do have some rights and power in the workplace.

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I am sorry for your pain. I am not yet a nurse and reading things like this really sadden me. It is especially sad because you seem to be one of those good people who really care. I hate seeing people like that getting the shaft, but it often seems these are the people who often end up on the short end of the stick. It's cruel and ungrateful.

You mention allegations. Are they something that you will need to respond to or is it just petty crap?! If it is petty crap try not to let it eat you up because that is their/his/her goal. I would also write down how you feel and what your response would be in case you are asked to discuss it. This always helps me to be clear on things and to not be so nervous. I will send an extra prayer up for you.

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