How many chances do you give a job before you quit?

[DesiDani]

In a post I mentioned my three strikes countdown. I give a job three chances and after the third I am usually gone. It not for petty things, but  huge things. For example, a first strike at a nursing home years back was when I worked night shift on a unit with and with one nurse, the unit had more that 15 patients for sure.  The second was when the one person who made the food did not show up. So the DON had to make sandwiches. I think the third was when my wallet was stolen from my purse (maybe that was the second)? Anyway, what is your limit?

[ErinDel, ASN, BSN, RN]

On 3/11/2021 at 10:22 AM, Hoosier_RN said:

It's not about strikes, but as klone mentioned, when you are filled with a sense of dread arriving to work on a mostly daily basis, it's time to plan a departure 

this is me right now. it is awful. But I do have two interviews this week so I hope one of them works out! After starting my current job, about week 3 I knew it was bad and not worth staying in.. I am now on month 4 there. 

[amoLucia]

On ‎3‎/‎14‎/‎2021 at 4:44 AM, DesiDani said:

.....   Seen it to the point of harassment. Guess that's what the hospital/nursing home wants in the end. Shadow you so much you loose faith in your abilities and you just quit.

It absolves the facility of the hassle of progressive discipline (in order to fire you) and then no Dept of Labor Unemployment baloney.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

12 hours ago, Erindel RN said:

this is me right now. it is awful. But I do have two interviews this week so I hope one of them works out! After starting my current job, about week 3 I knew it was bad and not worth staying in.. I am now on month 4 there. 

Good luck! It's terrible when you're at week 3 and figure it out

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

I am going through this right now. I wouldn't say it's a 3 strike approach but they have done enough where most of the staff on day shift are looking to take positions elsewhere in the system. You reach a breaking point where you say "to hell with this, this isn't what I signed up for". 

[ErinDel, ASN, BSN, RN]

11 hours ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Good luck! It's terrible when you're at week 3 and figure it out

Thank you!

Yes its bad, but the money is good.. But I realize money is not going to make me stick it out. I would rather be happy.. thats my most important trait about a job. 

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

On 3/14/2021 at 11:27 AM, vintagegal said:

I think it depends on the job. LTC: you can only do it for about 2 years before you burn out.

My first job was LTC and I was there about five years. When I first started, the majority of nurses had over 5 years experience and many had 15+! It was a great place to work with little turnover. Unfortunately, about a month after I started, the DNS left and new management came in and started eroding the atmosphere until many people started leaving 2-3 years in. I was only per diem my last 18 months, and the day I quit, I have recounted here before, but I told them I was never coming back so I could write to the management office with my list of complaints, knowing the DNS would lose her mind. She did, I'm not allowed on facility grounds anymore, but I tried to help my fellow nurses by giving feedback to improve their work conditions. Nothing much changed, they didn't value the incredible workforce they had for those residents. It was sad. 

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

8 hours ago, Erindel RN said:

Thank you!

Yes its bad, but the money is good.. But I realize money is not going to make me stick it out. I would rather be happy.. thats my most important trait about a job. 

Most of the time, money is good is the way the lousy employer keeps you ?

[neuron]

On 3/14/2021 at 10:27 AM, vintagegal said:

I think it depends on the job. LTC: you can only do it for about 2 years before you burn out. Because of the staffing ratios, lack of equipment, crazy families, and the unreliability and sketchiness of the non nursing staff. For me, I normally give chance after chance. Unless someone steals my wallet! If the management doesn’t seem concerned about grievances or issues, that’s your signal to run. Sad to say, but LTC have a reputation for a reason. 

And lack of concern for overworked staff.

[DesiDani]

On 3/21/2021 at 5:29 AM, OUxPhys said:

I am going through this right now. I wouldn't say it's a 3 strike approach but they have done enough where most of the staff on day shift are looking to take positions elsewhere in the system. You reach a breaking point where you say "to hell with this, this isn't what I signed up for". 

Breaking point quitting runs the risk of you cursing out your charge nurse, doctor, or staffing. You  can only hope the outburst doesn't follow you.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Twice I quit jobs I had thought I would love. One was a case mgmt job for work comp where I worked hard to cultivate relations c the insurance adjusters do they would trust my judgment and approve necessary diagnostics or treatments without delay. I’d been doing this work for several yrs and was really good at it by all the metrics, got raises, etc. Adjusters would request me for their harder cases. So when one day one of my favorite guys called me up screaming about something in one of my monthly reports on a patient, how could I say such a thing, he was going to be in big trouble for it, etc., etc., I was stunned. “Carl, what are you talking about? What did I say?” He read it back to me and I was confused. “I never said any such thing. My opinion is that thus-and-such else should happen...” I had my copy on my computer and read it back to him. Come to find out my boss had altered my report over my signature and sent it out. She also didn’t like it when we nurses discussed cases or what we were doing between ourselves, wanted to rule by division. Somehow we discovered she had screwed all of us at least once. Not staying here anymore. 
The other was as a staff education specialist in a new branch office of a home care agency. I was really happy about this, as it was near my home and affiliated with some other entities I knew well. What I came to discover soon thereafter that the branch manager just hated me , and I was absolutely clueless as to why. She did things behind my back but never spoke to me directly.  She told me to park waaaaaay down back in the mud even though our lot never had more than 3-4 cars in it. She moved my desk and materials out of my cubbyhole office and put them in a hallway, which I discovered when I came to work one day. Finally I had enough and I left for a better job, but was still mystified. Later I learned that she thought I was brought in to take her job (farthest thing from my mind and I wouldn’t have taken it if offered) so she just set about to driving me away. Weird. 
I learned from a therapist that the time to leave, or to decline something, was when you caught yourself taking a deep sighing breath over it. That’s your body telling you to step back and recalculate. Since learning that I have never known it to fail as an indicator. 

[registerednutrn, BSN, RN]

I worked at my last job for 11 years and finally left after being denied a position that I was more qualified for than the person who they gave it to ( she was a new nurse with less of a degree less experience and worked for less). So I thought I could put up with a lot.  At my current job I have taken a hybrid position that is turning out to be a nightmare. It entails 50% on the floor and 50% office.  I have tried to ignore the staff and look to my supervisor for guidance as to how to split the time. Every nurse expects me to come do what they don’t want to. I have had nurses want me to cover them for lunch and then when I get there they have a whole days list of care for me to do. (Keep In Mind this nurse only had 3 med\surge patients and a tech with only the same 3 patients).  She then got upset when I would not do all her work. The nurses attack the managers in the mornings over what each one thinks I should be doing but no one asks me. One nurse even told me that when I come on shift I should pass all theirs meds because they are too busy ( never more than 5 low acuity med surg patients but usually 3 or 4). The nurses are resistant to any new process even just being asked to write something on the kardex. I am at the breaking point and I only had the position for 2 months and am considering stepping down and am definitely looking for something is a different unit.  

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

On 3/26/2021 at 9:01 PM, registerednutrn said:

I worked at my last job for 11 years and finally left after being denied a position that I was more qualified for than the person who they gave it to ( she was a new nurse with less of a degree less experience and worked for less). So I thought I could put up with a lot.  At my current job I have taken a hybrid position that is turning out to be a nightmare. It entails 50% on the floor and 50% office.  I have tried to ignore the staff and look to my supervisor for guidance as to how to split the time. Every nurse expects me to come do what they don’t want to. I have had nurses want me to cover them for lunch and then when I get there they have a whole days list of care for me to do. (Keep In Mind this nurse only had 3 med\surge patients and a tech with only the same 3 patients).  She then got upset when I would not do all her work. The nurses attack the managers in the mornings over what each one thinks I should be doing but no one asks me. One nurse even told me that when I come on shift I should pass all theirs meds because they are too busy ( never more than 5 low acuity med surg patients but usually 3 or 4). The nurses are resistant to any new process even just being asked to write something on the kardex. I am at the breaking point and I only had the position for 2 months and am considering stepping down and am definitely looking for something is a different unit.  

This seems to happen a lot when the staff doesn’t really understand your job and that although you are at a desk-you have a lot of desk work to do. Sometimes it can feel like you need to chain yourself to the desk for the half of your time you need to spend doing it-or you fall behind in those responsibilities and that work doesn’t get done. 
And I will add that the patient load there is extremely kind to what I have seen in Med/surg in the past-hell, those were step down ratios where I used to work-Med surg had 7 on days-and break coverage was done by other nurses on the floor-with no list of extra to do lists. They were to answer the call bell/phone. That was it.