I always get called if someone is sick

[Grogon]

Is this common elsewhere ?

I have lateshift today and they called me this morning to come a bit earlier cause someone got sick.

I finally said no this time. Just came to work and everyone is making me feel bad.

I told my boss that it's not my business and im Not getting paid that out group home has staff in a specific time frame. But it is my business to be there when she plans on me. I told her she can count on me to come to work, if Im sick Im sick and won't come but she cant count on me doing shifts from others, that's the own responsibility of them and not mine. Its her job to have extra staff in case someone is sick Not my job.

She said because of me someone else had to come. I said it was because of your other nurse that got sick and the other nurse who came didn't come for me. She came for the lack of self esteem to say no TO YOU. I'm Not getting paid to take care of shift plans,YOU ARE.

Either way my Boss hates me now but she can't fire me because I'm doing my job good and I'm never sick and she knows that. She doesn't like the fact I don't hop in if needed. In my opinion it's unfair trying to make me feel bad for something I can't change. She should be mad at the other nurses who are sick every month

[Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

Don't feel bad. I'm known to laugh in my boss or staffing guys face when they ask me.

Just don't answer the phone or if you do be secure in your feelings to say no.

[Crash_Cart]

9 hours ago, Grogon said:

Its her job to have extra staff in case someone is sick Not my job.

I dunno... I'm kinda split down the middle on this.

Sure, staffing is her responsibility and perhaps she should even have already arranged to have someone on call from a float pool or something to come in, but I think if the situation is temporary and "if" she was making an effort to prevent a similar staffing conundrum from occurring in the future, I would probably help out.

However, if it's an ongoing staffing crisis where nothing is ever being done to change anything, then probably not so much.

[TitaniumPlates]

6 hours ago, not.done.yet said:

Is she wrong? Yes. Does it sound like you handled this well? No.

You can stand your ground without tipping into the land of emotion. I would, were I you, primarily stand your ground by not answering calls from work.

There's a function on your phone called "OFF" or "silent" when you are at home on private time. Assign work a particularly screechy ringtone so that you know it's them---and.....drum roll.....you don't pick up.

Easy solution as opposed to confrontation and arguing with someone whose paycheck relies on them not understanding why it's not okay to abuse your staff.

[MSO4foru, ADN]

Don't answer you phone calls from work unless you want the extra time. Don't assume your willingness to pick up extra will be rewarded.

[RNperdiem, RN]

Maybe your boss hates you, but sometimes standing up for yourself and your needs means everything to your sense of self-respect. For some of us, assertiveness does not come easily.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

Just putting this out there because I've done the scheduling job before-and it's crappy. It's often easier to get someone to come in early and/or stay late than to get someone to come in who was off--they most likely had plans, appts, etc, for the day off, whereas someone scheduled most likely doesn't, knowing that they have to work. Either don't answer the phone or learn to graciously say no. Don't laugh in your bosses face as someone else suggested. You never know when you will need your boss/scheduler to do you a favor, and if that's how you've acted, you probably won't get your favor...

Not every facility has a float pool. Some hospitals are small, and they don't have the budget. LTCs and LTACs don't usually have them either. So, while it's a great resource, it's not available in all facilities

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

On 8/5/2019 at 10:04 PM, TitaniumPlates said:

There's a function on your phone called "OFF" or "silent" when you are at home on private time. Assign work a particularly screechy ringtone so that you know it's them---and.....drum roll.....you don't pick up.

Easy solution as opposed to confrontation and arguing with someone whose paycheck relies on them not understanding why it's not okay to abuse your staff.

Another method would be to add their number to the “RoboKiller” app. Might royally tick them off, but hey, sorry, the app blocks unwanted spam calls and the number popped up so much it must of mistaken them for it. Some legit calls can accidentally get filtered by the app so either way you won’t even know they called and talked to a robot recording unless you check-your phone won’t even ring.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

14 hours ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Just putting this out there because I've done the scheduling job before-and it's crappy. It's often easier to get someone to come in early and/or stay late than to get someone to come in who was off--they most likely had plans, appts, etc, for the day off, whereas someone scheduled most likely doesn't, knowing that they have to work. Either don't answer the phone or learn to graciously say no. Don't laugh in your bosses face as someone else suggested. You never know when you will need your boss/scheduler to do you a favor, and if that's how you've acted, you probably won't get your favor...

This. The last thing you want to do is tick off whoever does staffing, especially when you end up needing a day off at the last minute. Staffers have long memories....

Politely tell them No. If they press the issue, you can say, "I'm sorry, but I already have a previous commitment I'm running later for, I've got to go" and end the call. They don't need to know that commitment is watching Netflix on the couch.

[Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

14 hours ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Just putting this out there because I've done the scheduling job before-and it's crappy. It's often easier to get someone to come in early and/or stay late than to get someone to come in who was off--they most likely had plans, appts, etc, for the day off, whereas someone scheduled most likely doesn't, knowing that they have to work. Either don't answer the phone or learn to graciously say no. Don't laugh in your bosses face as someone else suggested. You never know when you will need your boss/scheduler to do you a favor, and if that's how you've acted, you probably won't get your favor...

Not every facility has a float pool. Some hospitals are small, and they don't have the budget. LTCs and LTACs don't usually have them either. So, while it's a great resource, it's not available in all facilities

Good thing I make my own schedule and decide when and if I wanna work ?

[kp2016]

A few years ago I could have written this exact post. I was the go to person. Someone was sick they called me, need someone to swap shifts at the last second they called me, someone on call didn't answer their phone for a stat call in they called me. One day I suffered a serious injury on the way home from work and called in sick for rest of the week. Because was manger was a gossip I didn't give any details of my accident when calling in, just when I would be back. My manager was waiting when I came back to confront me for calling out and leaving her short, as two other RNs who called in regularly also called out and she was forced to work late to cover. It was a wake up call for me. She wasn't mad at them, they did it all the time, she was mad at me because she counted on being able to use me to cover for my co workers.

From that day on I started saying No to every unreasonable request. I stopped answering my phone if I wasn't on call. I wasn't available to do things just because other people didn't want to. I was polite and professional but my manager was furious with me and didn't understand "what my problem was". I left not long after. I did learn my lesson though. Do your job, do your share but don't ever allow yourself to be the "go to person". You won't be appreciated, or first in line when you want something, you will be taken advantage of and taken for granted.

[KalipsoRed21, BSN, RN]

Your boss shouldn’t be mad at anyone. She should have a better plan for staff coverage for call offs. She should call everyone to see if they are willing to pick up extra hours, if not that’s a bummer for her, but not something she should be mad about. Kudos to you for standing your ground because you are right in how you feel about this. There are decades on nursing shortages ahead for us, we need to say no to this sort of behavior now!