Gum Chewing

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What's everyone's opinions on chewing gum while on the job?

Just curious because I love to chew gum but I feel as though no one in my hospital does it. :eek:

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i am wondering how many nurses adamantly opposed to gum chewing went to parochial schools and were punished for the act?

public school, k-12 and both undergraduate and graduate degrees. still opposed to gum chewing.

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.
i am wondering how many nurses adamantly opposed to gum chewing went to parochial schools and were punished for the act?

grades k - 8 public school

9 - 12 episcopalian boarding school in new england (we lived in western pa)

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

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Gum chewing is OK as long as it's not being smacked around. Some nurses that give me report have horrific smelling breath - I wish they would chew gum. Can people smell their own breath? I mean, they're breath is so bad it just radiates at least 3 feet from their mouth and makes my eyes water and I cringe on the inside. If they CAN smell their own breath, I wonder why on earth they would go out in public like that. Ick.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I am wondering how many nurses adamantly opposed to gum chewing went to parochial schools and were punished for the act?

K-- public school, gr.1-5--Catholic school, gr.6-9--public school, gr.10-12--Catholic school. Probably explains why I'm just sort of opposed to gum chewing. :)

I did get a laugh from the post about the female doctor holding her hand out to the gum offender, "Here. Gum. Now, right here. . ." She sounds exactly like my fifth grade teacher, Sister Gabriel. Little bit of a thing, she could also pick up a big stocky boy by the scruff of the neck, rendering him airborne, it seemed. Amazing.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
It seems like nursing has a lot of restraints that we place upon ourselves. We can't eat, pee, breathe near doctors, take a 2 minute break, or anything else for that matter because we're so focused on providing care to everyone else except for ourselves. The last thing I'll have someone take from me is what I chew on an occasional basis!

Nurses really must work on their own self esteem to get staffing that provides the above human needs. Without that, we burn out and become ill!! You won't be sick if you discontinue chewing gum. (Gum withdrawal?) In fact the relief of the anxiety mentioned about worrying that a supervisor will catch you chewing gum, is a plus. :idea:

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Specializes in Operating Room.
I am wondering how many nurses adamantly opposed to gum chewing went to parochial schools and were punished for the act?

Ha..I did 12 years of Catholic school and I think I rebelled big time...4 tattoos, a tongue piercing and I chew gum..Gasp..Sister Mary Sadist would say I'm making the saints and Jesus cry with my bad behavior.:D

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

it suddenly occurred to me!

summers when i was in elementary school, i went to a summer school at a parochial school near us and it was unique because the nuns would test us and based on the results, we were placed in remedial, regular or gifted classes. except for math, which was remedial, i was in the gifted classes, which brought me nose to nose with the dreaded sister alberta. sister was in her nineties and had not mellowed at all

in her retirement. you answered her questions correctly and quickly or her thin metal ruler would come down hard on your fingers where they joined your hands. i have skinny white scars on every single solitary finger thanks to sister alberta's %^&*() ruler.:crying2: i just hope she left it behind when she began her next life.

the dreaded sister alberta was counterbalanced by sister francine, who passed out hugs frequently and spoke with the brogue of her native ireland. she'd say, "now let's think about that just a minute longer. sure 'n you'll be thinkin' of a different answer then."

i'm sitting up straighter just remembering those ladies. so different, yet somehow i learned from both.

gum... in either of their classrooms? gum? not in this lifetime or the next! eekkkk! :eek:

they just had to have contributed to my gum aversion.

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

Kathy:

I am so sorry for your early suffering at the hands of the very people who should have nurtured you! You've achieved so much, despite that. I worked occasionally at Catholic Hospitals, doing "private duty" while I was at the University, but never wanted to join their staff. The air held fear and trepidation in suspension, with nurses skirting the nuns in fear of cutting criticism.

It's a wonder that some of the adults who were subjected to frustrated clergy, ever became functional adults; and as we've seen, with the boys turned into men who were sexually abused, self confidence was left at the place where they'd been treated so terribly. If they can prosecute the church about long gone priests, I don't know why those of you who came out of those terrifying places, with physical scars couldn't prosecute the church for allowing those things to happen.

It takes a lot of guts to come out about anything that had been accepted in long gone times, but I see no reason to spend a lifetime as victims of all kinds of abuse. Subsequent loss of time in attaining perspective and potential are worth money, which you deserve.

Luckily most communities have grown beyond accepting such aberent "teaching methods"; and bygones are not seen now, as something to let stand as "the way it was", without repercussions. Certainly Jesus endured terrible treatment at the time of his death, but why should such barbaric things continue, veiled thinly as being positive. Jesus contributed so much love and intelligence to religion, forgiving all those who did him harm, but those nuns and priests carried punitive methods of dealing with children rather than loving ways, perpetuating injustice knowingly. Just because they caused themselves the isolation and misery of their "calling", didn't entitle them to abuse children, or anyone! They had no viable excuse for what they did.

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

thank you so much, lamazeteacher.

i corresponded with sister francine until her death when i was almost forty. she was a great source of support when my mom was dying of cancer and i had been married only a few weeks.

my parents were aware of sister alberta's ... uh ... style?... and took it up with the school authorities and discovered that they too were wary of sister. it was an excellent program and they gave me the option of quitting or staying in and they would provide lots of moral support.

if sister alberta is looking down, she knows she failed to have a lasting effect on me despite her intimidating tactics. to sister francine, i send a big hug and a thank you.

thank you again for the encouragement, lamazeteacher!

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

. . .yikes sharpei mom- I'd heard of that, (the ruler), but never saw it. Not to make this thread about ptsd from Catholic school clergy, but when I was in first grade Sister Delores had us all write rows of ones, twos, and threes. At 6, my mom had taught me this at home, so I proudly wrote down a row of fours, and Sister Delores grabbed up my paper and crumpled it up and snapped, "I didn't tell you to write FOURS!!!"

:( :( :( :( :( :( my first row of saddy faces on allnurses.

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.
. . .yikes sharpei mom- i'd heard of that, (the ruler), but never saw it. not to make this thread about ptsd from catholic school clergy, but when i was in first grade sister delores had us all write rows of ones, twos, and threes. at 6, my mom had taught me this at home, so i proudly wrote down a row of fours, and sister delores grabbed up my paper and crumpled it up and snapped, "i didn't tell you to write fours!!!"

:( :( :( :( :( :( my first row of saddy faces on allnurses.

nursel56, we survived despite them!

i was episcopalian and never quite understood what my catholic cousins were talking about when they moaned about the nuns until i began the enrichment program the summer between second and third grades. then i knew!

sister alberta and sister delores are undoubtedly the best of friends by now!

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I'm sure they do know each other, Sharpei mom. Misery does love company. I did get to know a Sister who was like your Sister Francine, though. In high school the Vice Principal who was tasked with dealing with the unruly girls. . .Sister L, well, let's say I had ---cough-ahem--- a bit more frequent encounters with her than I should have. . . :o

After we got to really know each other, I grew to love her dearly. She was the classic battle-axe on the outside, very tender-hearted on the inside. She wrote in my senior yearbook, "to the girl who made my job possible" : ). . and we have kept in touch, she still shows up at our reunions, now grey and walking with a cane. Wonderful lady.

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