I give in, I'm a COB

Published

Ok, I've had it. I'm tired of whippersnapper nurses, smart alecky new grads who think that their gold plated degrees trump experience.

I'm hungry for young flesh. ;)

I'm officially a Crusty Old Bat, to put it nicely.

Specializes in Critical Care.

I actually find the majority of new nurses easy to work with, easier and more pleasant than a few of my fellow crusty old bats who are difficult to deal with for various reasons. A few are nit picky looking to write you up or scold you over little things, one freaks out all the time and acts like she can't handle the situation which doesn't make sense because she has years of experience! The one I hate dealing with the most is just plain mean and nasty, trying to put people down to make herself look better. So surprisingly for me its fellow crusty old bats that make work a hassle. They all happen to work the day shift so we have an unwritten rule to split report when having to deal with the problem children. Although if I have the option I would prefer to not interact with them at all! The perception of these handful of older nurses is fairly unanimous among fellow staff both old and young. Not sure why? Burnout, stress, or just wanting to make others as miserable as they are? I think I'm pretty easy going to give report to, the only thing that pisses me off is if someone dumps all their work onto me and luckily there is only one nurse there that is notorious for this. Claims to have ADHD and doesn't want to take the meds so her excuse for not having assessments done, meds passed and admission finished. Not occasionally, but a daily occurrence. Thankfully, I rarely follow her, but the nurses that do get stuck following her get dumped on badly. She too would qualify for crusty old bat sad to say that nobody wants to follow her.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Okay, guys. I just got off the phone with my preceptor for tomorrow and she is so crusty she was cracking! I asked her how she liked the job, and she went into a 20 minute rant about this one and that one and how it's the same all over and thank God she's retiring...ending with "What's your name again? See you tomorrow morning. *click*

I'm Jello inside. JELLO. :wideyed:

LOL! If she gives you a hard time tomorrow, just remember you have an army of crusties here who have your back, if not in person then at least in spirit.

(((HUG)))

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Quite sure I fulfill the requirements.

Don't want to join. I will never be old. Just want to guide instead of munch.

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How about a triple date? I have two pints of half baked in my freezer. I could be tempted to share...

And I'm just gonna tag along...

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
How about a triple date? I have two pints of half baked in my freezer. I could be tempted to share...

OMG...I love the Peanut Butter Half-Baked.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Glorifying the perpetuation of horizontal violence and sadistic tendencies. Classy. What's that thing called, again? Oh yeah, Karma. Won't be so funny when the new grad you were mean to a few years prior, goes back to school to escape the COB and becomes your Manager. I love when that happens NIGHT SHIFTS & HOLIDAYS FOR ALL COB MEMBERS!! (Insert evil laugh)

What's that thing called, again? Oh, yeah. A sense of humour. Can't be a COB without one. But you can still be a special snowflake. And the new grads I mentored? The solid ones are now the charge nurses and managers, doing well and thanking me for having had their backs. The special snowflakes who thought I was mean? They either figured it out or they didn't.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
First of all, thank you for the history lesson (no sarcasm intended)!! That makes it even more awesome, since the COBs are the AN cool kids on the block.

In response to your second point, we read a study in school which found that older nurses are actually more likely to be bullied than younger nurses. The authors attributed it to the fact that baby bats are now coddled in the new grad nurse residency role.

The coddling is what makes it such a raw deal, because their employers aren't likely to care about them. Creates a huge gap between school experience and working life. It's us COBs who are often their first experience in the real world, so we take the brunt of the culture shock. It's not easy to help them transition when they've been thrown to the wolves. We're seen as the mean ones.

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LOL! If she gives you a hard time tomorrow, just remember you have an army of crusties here who have your back, if not in person then at least in spirit.

(((HUG)))

Can I wear a cape and you will all fly out?

I'll be fine. Takes one to know one.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
I wonder what diagonal violence looks like?

Only you, Farawyn.

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
Okay, guys. I just got off the phone with my preceptor for tomorrow and she is so crusty she was cracking! I asked her how she liked the job, and she went into a 20 minute rant about this one and that one and how it's the same all over and thank God she's retiring...ending with "What's your name again? See you tomorrow morning. *click*

I'm Jello inside. JELLO. :wideyed:

Is that green or red jello?

Wait...that's a different thread.

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Another thread on its way to devolving into food Media.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
I actually find the majority of new nurses easy to work with, easier and more pleasant than a few of my fellow crusty old bats who are difficult to deal with for various reasons. A few are nit picky looking to wrote you up or scold you over little things, one freaks out all the time and acts like she can't handle the situation which doesn't make sense because she has years of experience! The one I hate dealing with the most is just plain mean and nasty, trying to put people down to make herself look better. So surprisingly for me its fellow crusty old bats that make work a hassle. They all happen to work the day shift so we have an unwritten rule to split report when having to deal with the problem children. Although if I have the option I would prefer to not interact with them at all! The perception of these handful of older nurses is fairly unanimous among fellow staff both old and young. Not sure why? Burnout, stress, or just wanting to make others as miserable as they are? I think I'm pretty easy going to give report to, the only thing that pisses me off is if someone dumps all their work onto me and luckily there is only one nurse there that is notorious for this. Claims to have ADHD and doesn't want to take the meds so her excuse for not having assessments done, meds passed and admission finished. Not occasionally, but a daily occurrence. Thankfully, I rarely follow her, but the nurses that do get stuck following her get dumped on badly. She too would qualify for crusty old bat sad to say that nobody wants to follow her.

If you have that many bad actors on your unit that you have to do end runs around them, that is most likely a function of poor management. :no: What you are describing are performance issues that have been allowed to crust over. They've probably congregated on your floor over the years because they've been run off from elsewhere. Sorry you have to deal with that. They give all us COBs a bad name. Oh, wait, we already have one.

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