I allowed myself to get into a pickle at work, and ended up getting a Level 2 administrative occurance- 1 step away from being fired. I have never even been written up before, and I am trying to sort all of this out in my mind.
Here is what happened:
I got a very close friend a job on one of the units that I am in charge of (I am in charge of 6 units at one time). She has a history of a mood disorder, which she has kept very much under control for quite a while. I did not disclose this info to my employers, and I never would have vouched for her if I could have foreseen any future problems.
I was approached by my mgr who told me that another employee came to her and said that the friend was going to HR about her (the mgr) with some lies. The mgr wanted me to let her know that she didn't care if she went to HR, just not to lie to them. When my friend had previously mentioned to me about going to HR, I just told her I didn't want any part of it. I should have told the mgr the same. What I did was to offhandedly mention to the friend not to be telling the other employee her personal business.
Little did I know the consequences of that at the time. My friend called me later during work and blurted out that something horrible and out of her control had happened to her earlier that week. I was on my way to a rapid response, so I told her she should go to the mgr and tell her what happened. From there, she tailspinned into a full-blown manic psychosis, which involved 3 days of her calling me and her mother (very, very scary phone calls), and which culminated in me and her mother putting a mental inquest warrant out on her. I repeatedly asked her to go see her doctor, or to get voluntary inpatient help, and she wouldn't.
During one of these phone calls (I was at home), she threatened the other employee to me. Since she was being very unpredictable, paranoid, full of rage, and blacking out, I felt it necessary to call my mgr at home and tell her what happened. I was completely honest and told her that I mentioned not to tell the other employee personal stuff earlier that week (prior to the psychosis). I felt (and still feel) mortified that in doing this, I had potentially placed someone else in danger. I am very upset with myself for this.
My friend found out that I reported her, and that I took part in her MIW report. I am now the focus of her rage and irrationality. I had to turn my cell off, and asked her not to call me anymore while she was in this frame of mind. She continued to call me from different numbers to continue cursing at me, threatening me, and blaming me. Her last call to me was actually from the emergency psych facility after she had been picked up. I had to hang up on her, and call the facility to request that they not allow her to make phone calls to me.
So, because of all this I got sent to HR, and got counseled on the occurrence. The friend will be allowed to keep her job (with no points against her), and nothing at all for the mgr either. I am the only one who gets in trouble here. they kept telling me that it wasn't my fault, and that they aren't kicking me while I'm down, but I can't help but feel that way to a certain degree. I have been extremely depressed over this whole thing, and apparently that's noticeable, because they also mandated me to go to a counselor for depression (I have an appt in a couple hours, actually).
Believe me- I have learned a valuable lesson here. Never again will I mention something like this to someone. I have made myself sick to death over the whole situation, and feel awful. I have lost a sense of professional integrity, my best friend, and almost my job over this. I have already transferred to another unit, back at the bedside, and will start there in a couple weeks. Now this new mgr will see this very serious mark on my record.
What I can't understand is why does she get her job back after threatening someone (now I have to work with someone who has threatened me as well), and why does the mgr not get points as well for bringing me into this situation in the first place? I definitely think I should be punished for what I did- I just think the punishment is too harsh. The bad thing is that if I had kept my mouth shut and not done the ethical thing, I wouldn't have an occurrence on my record. And if I had lied to the friend when confronted, I wouldn't be the focus of her rage right now. Honesty is very important to me as a core value. Now I am questioning myself on this...not good.
Please give your opinions freely (but kindly, please)- maybe I'm wrong? I'm questioning all my own opinions right now, so some honest advice might offer me some much needed clarity.
