Hardship: none of my business or a problem?

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So, it’s been awhile since I’ve ever posted. I finished Pathophysiology with a B. Very hard class, but it was interesting.

In previous posts I might have mentioned I was on section 8 while doing pre-reqs. Just recently, I lost my section 8 support because I was considered making too much money as a CNA. Yes, I bought a white cargo van because if I got a room for rent, that would only inflate my responsibilities from nursing school and I have financial problems I’m trying to responsibly take care of. I’ve got no kids and no spouse responsibility, so I am, as Filipino nurses call me, a cowboy. I can pull it off.

Well, today I was told by maintenance at my facility that I have to move my vehicles out of the parking lot within 24 hours because of the owner of the facility. She’s Korean and stupid wealthy. She has a 10 bed mansion that she never stays at that she would never know you were there if you stayed according to an RN. The DON who has poor English speaking skills says I cannot be there when I’m not scheduled. Say something about it being against the law or something. It’s not against company policy because no one ever mentioned it during orientation. I respect the property, but apparently that isn’t enough. I went to my HR and she said, “I can ask the owner to see if you can pay her $100 a month in rent to park both vehicles here at the facility like she pays the church down the road for extra parking since she only listens to the sound of money”. I said ok. HR called me and said the owner said no.

Is it petty the owner doesn’t want me taking up two spots in the very back of a facility where I’m not parked at a red curb and I’m not parked in a handicapped spot and I’m not bothering or hurting anybody? The facility pays the church down the road $100 a month I guess for employees to park that I towed my daily driver car and cargo van to and Thursday I speak with a pastor about parking there and see what he says.

Im sure most responses on here will be very unsympathetic so I hope some will understand what I’m trying to do. I take the nursing entrance exam May 6th. I passed the HESI for UNLV last year but didn’t make the cutoff. So I changed schools and had to take Patho as a pre-req requirement.

Just to get an idea of what it’s like living in a van: I don’t make a mess living in a van, I shower at a gym down the road, I keep myself clean and presentable. People have told me the way I pull it off, I don’t even look like a van dweller. We have a locker room in a bathroom for employees in the back away from the nurses station where I keep dental hygiene stuff to brush my teeth and use the restroom if I need to. I keep all my waste contained in clean trash bags. Always. I never leave trash on the ground and I never dump liquids. I always use receptacles.

I’m trying to handle my problems like a responsible adult, yet I can’t. I thought buying a van would help me tackle my problems. Of any kind. Also, my van I recently bought has a temporary moving permit that expired because I had a check engine light come on. My other car, my daily driver, had a check engine light since last October but I never got around to diagnosing it because I didn’t know about financing for tows and engine diagnosis fees. Both vehicles have expired registration and automatically fail smog because of check engine light. I can’t move them very far or risk $1,000 fine by metro police.

My facility implies my car can be towed out of their hands by another tow company without saying the tow would give me a warning first. Isn’t that considered grand theft auto? What’s funny is they can see the temporary moving permit on the van windshield has an expiration date and they use that as an example against me, but the other car that has expired tags, they can’t tell.

If if you were high up in the food chain, would you have a problem with an employee who comes to work clean and decent, but lives in a vehicle due to financial problems? Showing up to work on time and clean?

My DON currently does not help nurses or anybody for that matter. The only thing she looks at is call lights when she slowly walks down the hall with her cankles and her iPhone in her hand with her hand leaned back as if she were lazily strolling through the park and doesn’t even answer the call lights. Just says in her thick Filipino voice while pointing at them, “answer the call lights”. The DON before her kept nurses and CNAs in line and even helped CNAs with their runs as if she were a CNA. I never got to work with her, but I’d love to be a fly on the wall to see what she was like.

Hello Beldar...,

Is seems you have a couple of problems that can actually be solved quite easily.

Problem 1. You seem to have a problem with Asian women who are in positions of authority over you. Problem 2. You seem to think your employer and others owe you some kind of a free ride, as an example the owner will not let you camp out and live on her property. 3. You seem to be demonstrating a pattern of making poor financial and life decisions and seem to think it is other people's fault.

Why don't you put everything aside, sell your van and any other property you can, and join the military. The military will pay you, give you a place to live, free food, pay your college tuition and give you money for college tuition after you leave, and many other great benefits. And in my experience, may people peace more mature and with a much greater sense of responsibility for their actions.

Give it a try.

Specializes in ER.

I would move the van immediately, she's talked to you about not parking there, the next step is a tow, and it could happen anytime. My first choice would be at the church, or your gym's lot, and offer to pay them for parking. My second choice would be to move nightly, a different spot each night. Get those inspections done!! I would make that my priority before anything else.

Once you start getting paychecks, hopefully you can find a more comfortable arrangement. It's nice that you have a spot to sleep and you can take your time to find a good spot.

Ask around at work if they know of rooms to rent. You may get a lead on a nice temporary arrangement.

On 4/20/2019 at 3:55 PM, DirtyVA said:

Hello Beldar...,

Is seems you have a couple of problems that can actually be solved quite easily.

Problem 1. You seem to have a problem with Asian women who are in positions of authority over you. Problem 2. You seem to think your employer and others owe you some kind of a free ride, as an example the owner will not let you camp out and live on her property. 3. You seem to be demonstrating a pattern of making poor financial and life decisions and seem to think it is other people's fault.

Why don't you put everything aside, sell your van and any other property you can, and join the military. The military will pay you, give you a place to live, free food, pay your college tuition and give you money for college tuition after you leave, and many other great benefits. And in my experience, may people peace more mature and with a much greater sense of responsibility for their actions.

Give it a try.

I already served the military.

2 hours ago, canoehead said:

Once you start getting paychecks, hopefully you can find a more comfortable arrangement. It's nice that you have a spot to sleep and you can take your time to find a good spot.

You can't do much when 1. Your vehicle has a check engine light 2. no license plates because of check engine light and you're only using the van because it's the fastest way to get through nursing school. Also, intolerance comes my way faster than I can earn those paychecks. I take the TEAS May 6th Monday morning. I did well on the HESI last year, but I hope I'll pass the TEAS this time. I've been so far apart from nursing school entry that after I took the TEAS I completely lost interest, or almost completely. I can barely study since I took the HESI because I'm so tired of it. Your family doesn't support you, yet they think you weren't meant for it and they aren't even nurses. My burn out in trying is taking its toll well beyond tolerance levels. The only reason why I keep trying is because of my GI Bill and the idea that I'm so far that it'd be simply pathetic to leave behind what I started.

Update: A church pastor helped me fix my van. I sold my car to another veteran who will bring it back up to my city from where he's from 2 hours away once I get the title for him will give me money for the car in exchange. My van runs better now and I can get it license plates so now I can park it where I want and not risk being heavily fined for not having proper registration. The pastor at the church who helped me fix my van said he spoke to attorneys and insurance agents before meeting with me this previous Thursday. I thought that was kind of BS considering the area is really nice and no one is going to mess with me. There's a curtain behind the seats and if I hear my front side windows smash, I've got a tire iron ready. Once I get my plates installed, I don't think there will be anything my facility can do. They do have a one car policy now that my car is gone and I work 2 pm to 10 pm, so once I get off and almost everyone in the facility is gone, I'll sleep on property at night and leave to study or workout in the morning.

Btw, I'm not racist, there is a lot of favoritism at my facility. It's extremely toxic. I understand the horse blinder wearing idea of business people who are narrow minded, but I think nowadays people high up on the food chain should kind of look up from a bottom feeders perspective to see how the company is doing. To get whiney and tweaked out about an employee taking up two parking spots all the way in the back away from public view near an unused shuttle and sneer that it's necessary for you to move because of families needing parking is totally beyond me. If you want families to have parking, make the employees park in the far back as possible or somewhere else. ALL OF THEM. A good business makes employees park somewhere else where family's and patients, who are our customers, have easier and faster access to the facility. But the owner doesn't see it that way. She just sees what her horse blinders allow her to. The only reason why I'm staying is because there is a severe lack of security cameras outside and I can bypass a lot of unwanted eyes from the nursing station and higher ups to a room that is quiet, no one goes to where I can study, and to the lockers inside bathrooms I can use to do my business.

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

It is private property. The rest of your bitterness has absolutely no bearing here in any legal way. Its just a bunch of whining to be honest. You made some bad decisions somewhere along the way and are paying the price for those, but if you aren't careful you are going to destroy yourself in the process by letting this kind of toxicity take root the way it obviously is. The owner didn't do this to you. Society didn't do this to you. YOU did this to you and therefore YOU have the power to fix it. Blinders or no blinders, she doesn't owe you a reason not to park there. She owns the property. You do not. End of story. No explanation necessary.

Your burnout and lack of support is unfortunate. Take heart in knowing there are plenty of others out there in a similar situation. When you first came to this forum and posted about living in a van you sounded energized, focused and goal oriented. Now you just sound unhappy. You hold all the cards here on how this is going to play out. The way you frame this period in your life is going to have lasting effect on who you become. Choose carefully.

Specializes in retired LTC.

^^^^^this

OP, in the beginning of your post, I kind of felt you were deserving of some slack. But you've lot of cynicism, bitterness, a tad of racism, some self-expectation of entitlement. NOBODY owes you anything just because you think they do.

Some good alternatives were suggested. I even thought of you checking out some truck stops. They have restaurants that have vans parked there.

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
17 hours ago, Beldar_the_Cenobite said:

Once I get my plates installed, I don't think there will be anything my facility can do. They do have a one car policy now that my car is gone and I work 2 pm to 10 pm, so once I get off and almost everyone in the facility is gone, I'll sleep on property at night and leave to study or workout in the morning.

Except you've already been told you cannot park there unless you are working. You are setting yourself up to not only lose your job but also to possibly face criminal charges of trespassing, have your van towed/impounded, and who knows what other legal problems. The workplace is private property and you have no right to be there.

I've got a question. Hopefully, people are online. So, I'm a veteran, young, no kids, no wife, no marital obligations of any kind or child support. Nothing. I'm a CNA at a nursing rehab here in Las Vegas which is a right to work state. I live in a van. Yes. You read that correctly. I live in a damn van. It's really not bad folks, then again I haven't experienced the summer yet in it since I'm so new, but the filipino nurses here call me a cowboy.

I kind of got in trouble/kind of didn't for having two vehicles on property by the DON and the owner, both with expired registration after I moved out of my section 8 apartment. The van I recently bought had an expired temporary moving permit. The car, which was non-operational, had expired tags on the license plate. Company policy is an employee may only park one vehicle. Okay. Eventually, I broke down and sold the car because the van is technically considered a home. Cargo van that is. I do it because I have a lot of debt and I want to handle my debt like a responsible adult and not put it on the back burner for any reason. It's kind of like burning bridges or never paying a friend of yours back and you go back and you try and do the right thing. My financial freedom doing this allows me to be able to work and have surplus income at the end of the month due to lack of rental obligations. Hygiene, I don't want to get into that. That's another conversation and yes I maintain a very good amount of it myself.

When I got in trouble, I was told by maintenance that the DON and the owner (short, old, ***y, and stupidly wealthy Korean lady) found out I was living out of my vehicle and that I was staying over at night up stairs in a room no one goes into where the wifi signal reaches and the temperature is a constant norm. The owner said to one of the maintenance guys "He needs to have both vehicles moved. I need these two spots for family members parking". The parking spots were both all the way in the back behind the facility. What family member would want to have to walk all the way to the front of the building? It's inconvenient and no businessman/woman would contently conceive that idea for their customers. I wouldn't. There's no company policy or legal law that states I have to have a place of my own by obligation. The county where the facility is located legally does not allow vehicle living when it's considered long term or dwelling in the same spot according to a church pastor who helped me fix the van. He spoke to insurance agents of his church and attorneys for liability reasons. The border of the county line is where the rehab sits at. Past that border, the county can't say ***. To ensure people don't remember my parking, I park in spots that aren't illegal to park at randomly everyday. I'm not disabled and I don't park on a red curb. I park in a regular parking spot. My van is legally registered now in the state of Nevada with insurance and I can move it around freely. My lead CNA says, "People have been talking about you staying over here late at night off the clock to study for nursing school". The way she said it made me feel like I'm going to get in big trouble.

My question is:**The first time the DON found out about me living in my vehicle and staying over at night, she said it's not allowed to stay off the clock. I asked HR about it. HR says there's no company policy that says you can't stay after night in a room no one goes into to study for nursing entrance exam. If I get fired for not listening to the DON, would it be considered discrimination or wrongful termination?**

I only stay up at night in an empty room to study for a nursing entrance exam and I told the DON that and she said, "I don't care". She's a *** who barely speaks a lick of english and has no compassion for those trying to improve their lives. I'll lose my GI bill for nursing school if I don't get nursing school over with. I take my test next Monday. I thought about talking to an attorney, but I'm not sure how well protected businesses are in states that are a right to work state. I don't even know why it's called "right to work" state. If you can be fired for any reason, it sounds like a "right to fire" state.

Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t been fired already. Not because you live in a van. But because you are parking on private property without permission and basically living in your place of employment without permission.

On 4/23/2019 at 3:40 AM, not.done.yet said:

It is private property. The rest of your bitterness has absolutely no bearing here in any legal way. Its just a bunch of whining to be honest. You made some bad decisions somewhere along the way and are paying the price for those, but if you aren't careful you are going to destroy yourself in the process by letting this kind of toxicity take root the way it obviously is. The owner didn't do this to you. Society didn't do this to you. YOU did this to you and therefore YOU have the power to fix it. Blinders or no blinders, she doesn't owe you a reason not to park there. She owns the property. You do not. End of story. No explanation necessary.

Your burnout and lack of support is unfortunate. Take heart in knowing there are plenty of others out there in a similar situation. When you first came to this forum and posted about living in a van you sounded energized, focused and goal oriented. Now you just sound unhappy. You hold all the cards here on how this is going to play out. The way you frame this period in your life is going to have lasting effect on who you become. Choose carefully.

I have a lot of debt and living in a van is financially an unbeatable way at taking control of your problems. It may not be that way to you and you might be okay with taking your debt and your problems to your grave, but if I can get it done ASAP, I'd rather do that. That way I actually can enjoy my life. I don't live in California where vehicular dwelling is illegal and criminalized regardless if the "suspect" has worse crimes on their background like a warrant for their arrest or homicide. Some of these comments sound more bitter than I do. Some of them sound like sheer jealousy. It's called TAKING CONTROL. Not taking control of the law or being rebellious, but taking control and fixing damages of your own actions. Holding oneself accountable. It's like borrowing money from someone you know and never paying them back. Now you want to go back and pay them back because that was the right thing to do that you were supposed to do rather than enjoy your life out of their hard work. Jesus. The viciousness out of some of these comments. Really tells me how the nursing field is out there.

Patient: Can I get a drink of water?
Rude people on here as nurses: NO! GET UP OFF YOUR LAZY BUTT AND GET IT YOURSELF!

No thought behind their own words. If I were DON, all I would care about is drug tests are passed, messes made are cleaned up after, uniform is clean and employee comes in on time and ready for safe work practices. What more could an employer ask for?

And you know what? My employer doesn't have direct deposit because the owner doesn't want to pay for each employee's direct deposit fee through the bank, so if I get fired, I quite frankly couldn't give a ***. The place doesn't impress me anyway with how tightly cheap she is. A lot of the nurses there and some maintanence people have said the owner has three houses. One a 5 car garage with 10 bedrooms on a golf course. The cost for that house could have paid for employees to have direct deposit.

You're right, it's none of my business what she does with her money, and quite frankly I don't come to work to tell her cheap *** what to do, but at a personal level, I no longer care if I get fired. I worked many doubles for this place, I've busted my bottom for them when they were short and I'm still not appreciated. So why should I care? CNA school didn't tell me "It's the law to have your own place and it's against the BON to live in a vehicle even though it doesn't violate HIPPA".

4 minutes ago, beekee said:

Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t been fired already.

It's actually a joke where I work. The DON hates firing people, so she says, but if I'm not doing anything wrong, why not turn the cheek? I'm not messing with residents, or their property, or their wellbeing. I told the DON what I'm doing when I am here. If I pass the entrance exam I won't return here at night anymore. I know one facility I won't work for because they have security cameras at their parking lot and have heard the facility is very strict about everything. Also, this kind of situation, and the amount of work and effort I put here, they should not fire me. I've worked 16 hour shifts 5 days in a row before for this place. Instead of leaving and giving my time somewhere else and the customer service that I provide and the pep in my step when I am on the clock, there is no reason for them to shoot themselves in the foot and fire me. I put effort into this place. I've had patients tell me "Your hard work doesn't go unnoticed" from two different halls. I've got a quadraplegic who only wants me to shave his face, cut his hair, feed him, clean out his nose and ears, be his CNA and no other on his hall. I'm literally a POA for him. Not fully, but he says "All these things you do for me, I only trust you to do over the people who have been here for awhile". I've got Diamond cut quality customer service and speed. This place would be ***ing stupid to get rid of me. This place does not put family members or their patients above all. It shows with these trifling threats. If the owner is so rightfully self-absorbed and omnipotent in her rightful self-loathing ways and decision making, why doesn't she approach me herself about it? She's a coward and a poor businesswoman. I HOPE SHE CROAKS SOON!

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