Do you ever wonder how people can be so stupid and rude??
Today I was visiting my mom and decided to run over the local hairdresser and get a quick trim. This guy was there whose daughter graduated from high school last year. I do not know them very well just small town stuff. Town of 400 and everyone knows everyone. Anyway his daughter is going to school to be a nurse so I asked him how she was doing. (He knows I am an RN because I had him mother as a patient, and he asked me if was still working at that certain hospital). He says, "I just don't think being a nurse is very impressive. Having MD behind you name says a lot more. I can not believe I have to put her through college just to be a nurse."
I was totally dumbfounded!!! OMG!! Yeah having president in your name is impressive too. It is not like he is anything spectacular either. Never went to college, took over his dad's farm.....not that there is anything wrong with that, but that comment!!!!!!
I totally agree with you. It just makes me sick that with our educations and THE LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY we have ,we are not valued more. I am proud of being a nurse!! I never refer to myself as 'just a nurse', but hold up my head proudly! I daresay that some of these teachers I work with could never pass enough courses in what WE have to take to get close to a nursing degree. The education courses I had to take for school nurse cert. in Ohio were a piece of cake and this was at the grad level! I probably could have been a dr. with a heck of a debt to pay, but I would not have enjoyed it.Besides at the time I did not have the maturity for it, i don't think. Yes I agree that the comment is mindless, and to get upset is pointless, and yes to whine without trying to do something,or to envy others will get us nowhere. That's why the comment the man made would not have bothered me-it is ignorant. And who made him so all important that his words should have such power? Some of the nurses are so defensive and protective that they get easily offended. This man needs to be educated, as do some of the physicians who see us as "lowly" I am glad that we are both contented with what we are and where we are in life. Now if we could just win the lottery...........Ha! Ha!
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
agree 100% w/you here katscan. i have NO doubt you, too, could be an MD if you chose to. there is no dishonor in nursing other than that we may bring upon ourselves.
I certianly did not mean to "whine" about it on the board. I was more dumbfounded than insulted. It really is not bothering me that much. Like I said I just can not believe he said that. Sorry but it is rude. I do not care what context it is in. I would never in a million years say something like "Oh my son wants to be a farmer, what a waste" to someone that is a farmer. It is just common sense and respect for those around you no matter what they do.
I would have been dumfounded too. He knew you were a nurse. That's exactly what I find rude. If you were not a nurse, I might have a different opinion.
You are insulted and with good reason. Remember, most people think we do bedpan duty and yes Dr. this and that. Yep, we do that and save lives also.
What do I think? I think that if I had a daughter I would want her to go to medical school, too. If he has the money, send her to the best. Being a Dr. still has its rewards. We aren't in this to make the 6 figure income. We are in this to model ourselves like Ms. Nightingale and bless the infirmed with our drvotion to healing and being compassionate for humankind.
I think you misunderstand what he is thinking. He wants the best for his daughter and he feels that being a Dr. has its prestige in the world which it does as well as being financially more well off.
I became a Nurse to bless people with good. I invest my money to make up the difference and decided long ago not to have children because I feel that it is a sacrifice to work as a Nurse and you don't have a lot to share after a 12 hr. shift. He wants the best for his daughter. I hope she succeeds.
I believe the public perception of nurses began its sharp downfall shortly after former first lady Clinton made the comment that "Nurses are underworked and overpaid." This was at the same time Slick Willy was trying to push his health care reformplan through. What a joke - if you think back...healthcare as a whole began a sharp downfall during that time.
Shew, i remember when she said that. Thought to myself "and Hillary Clinton of ALL people WOULD know how it is to be underworked and overpaid."
My dad is a farmer & he is just tickled that I am doing something like becoming a nurse. It is hard to make a living as a farmer. This one must be spoiled!
It was a very rude statement on his part! Ignorance is never very becoming on a person. I hope that his daughter doesn't let her Dad bother her with his ignorance and goes and becomes a nurse with caring and compassion. If her Dad talks like that all the time, she should be able to get along with some of the Dr.s. Ya' think?
I was thinking that too. I know the farmers I grew up with were really smart with their money-but not rich... and would they never think that nursing was any less of an important job than a doctor. They would be happy for their kids no matter WHAT profession they chose, as long as they were happy. I'm thinking this guy is the "rich" farmer that only does the stuff around the farm he likes to do, and hires hands to do the rest. Obviously-he thinks that he is better than others, in some respect. I wonder what he thinks of the farm hands that work for him.
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
i like mstewart's idea myself. very effective.