I don't know if I should call out or not r/t snow storm

[SoNan]

I live in New Jersey, and there is an anticipated snowstorm, the snow will be 8-12inch in the night. my shift is 3-11pm. There will be nothing at 3pm, but when I leave work at 11pm, I will be stuck in the snowstorm. I am live 40mins away from my work place. I personally feel bad to call out, but my family is worry about me driving home in the snowstorm, especially, I never drove in any heavy snow or snowstorm before. I need some suggestions.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

On 12/21/2020 at 2:56 PM, Jedrnurse said:

I went back to see what my oh-so offensive statement was:

"If you get mandated, at least it'll be for the overnight shift which should be a bit quieter."

Yeah, I'm not going to take crap for that.

Take it, leave it, do whatever you like.  Continue to dis Night shift if you think that's right.  It matters not to me.  You have shown your true view, truth has been pointed out to you, you refuse to reconsider your view of Nights.  I'm sure you are wonderful to work with in general.  

Rotten of OP to not come back and share how she fared.

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

6 hours ago, Kooky Korky said:

Take it, leave it, do whatever you like.  Continue to dis Night shift if you think that's right.  It matters not to me.  You have shown your true view, truth has been pointed out to you, you refuse to reconsider your view of Nights.  I'm sure you are wonderful to work with in general.  

Rotten of OP to not come back and share how she fared.

For what it’s worth I did not take the poster’s statement as a diss to night shift, and this comes from me having done nights for 10+ years for most of my career. In theory night shift IS supposed to be quieter because everyone IS supposed to be tucked away asleep, but we all know that’s not how it goes. I also think it is “quieter” in the sense that there aren’t so many extra people around - management, upper leadership, OT, PT, speech therapy, etc etc. ETA by no means does quieter mean easier.

[turtlesRcool]

14 hours ago, Kooky Korky said:

People often say here that we knew what we were getting into before we went into Nursing.  I can honestly say that I did not. 

And I think there are likely others who also didn't realize that they would have to work various hours around the clock, holidays, weekends, etc. 

Did not realize they'd be expected to risk life and limb and cars in severe weather, leave family at home while they weathered hurricanes, or deal with deadly viruses on the front lines while their managerial and admin staff got a potentially lifesaving vax while hunkered down bravely in their offices.

While I'm right there with you about non-clinical workers getting vaxed before people with direct patient contact do, I disagree about the hours.  If you (general you, of course) take a job with an employer that is open 24/7/365, you know (or SHOULD know) that someone has to work those hours.  And it's not a big leap to realize that no one particularly wants to work during holidays, weekends, and terrible weather.  

So, yes, you are going to be expected to work those shifts, because why should you be the special person who gets to spend every weekend and holiday with family?  Why should someone else always be the one who drives in dicey weather or makes arrangements to stay over? There's no magical someone else who is going to take all the crappy shifts. When you become a nurse, you ARE the someone else.

Now, there are obviously other jobs in nursing that don't require this. If you work in a surgical center or a doctor's office, you don't have to work nights, weekends, holidays, or weather emergencies. School nurses stay home on snow days. Clinic nurses stay home when the weather is too bad for patients to get in.  But if you take a job for an employer that never closes, there's not much defense to say you didn't realize you'd sometimes be working Thanksgiving or during a snow storm.  If not you, then who?

[SilverBells, BSN]

Is it possible to call a cab and/or drive to a nearby hotel instead? Also, sometimes employers may let you stay in an empty room if they know transportation/travel conditions will be bad

[amoLucia]

turtles - VERY WELL said!

 

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

4 hours ago, turtlesRcool said:

While I'm right there with you about non-clinical workers getting vaxed before people with direct patient contact do, I disagree about the hours.  If you (general you, of course) take a job with an employer that is open 24/7/365, you know (or SHOULD know) that someone has to work those hours.  And it's not a big leap to realize that no one particularly wants to work during holidays, weekends, and terrible weather.  

So, yes, you are going to be expected to work those shifts, because why should you be the special person who gets to spend every weekend and holiday with family?  Why should someone else always be the one who drives in dicey weather or makes arrangements to stay over? There's no magical someone else who is going to take all the crappy shifts. When you become a nurse, you ARE the someone else.

Now, there are obviously other jobs in nursing that don't require this. If you work in a surgical center or a doctor's office, you don't have to work nights, weekends, holidays, or weather emergencies. School nurses stay home on snow days. Clinic nurses stay home when the weather is too bad for patients to get in.  But if you take a job for an employer that never closes, there's not much defense to say you didn't realize you'd sometimes be working Thanksgiving or during a snow storm.  If not you, then who?

All I said was that I did not know.  I was quite young.  I had no experience with 24/7/365  operations.  The recruiter didn't mention it, no one else did either.

And I will go to my grave standing by that.  I did not know.  I said nothing about who should be off or anything else you mentioned.  All I said was I didn't know.  And I didn't.

 

 

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

13 hours ago, JadedCPN said:

For what it’s worth I did not take the poster’s statement as a diss to night shift, and this comes from me having done nights for 10+ years for most of my career. In theory night shift IS supposed to be quieter because everyone IS supposed to be tucked away asleep, but we all know that’s not how it goes. I also think it is “quieter” in the sense that there aren’t so many extra people around - management, upper leadership, OT, PT, speech therapy, etc etc. ETA by no means does quieter mean easier.

I have also worked Nights.  Just the upending of one's body in order to be awake and functioning instead of sleeping and renewing one's body is enough to make up for whatever peace there is in not having all the extra people around.  Working Nights is no joke.  And to have some Day or Evening person give her wretched view about working Nights and how easy and quiet she thinks it to be - that is disrespectful IMHO.  I am glad you personally did not find it so.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

With a commute like that, a 4 wheel drive is a must for your safety and sanity. I remember driving beaters in a snow belt with hills with a short commute and it was hell.  Keep a shovel in the backseat in Winter.  Weather was never an excuses unless it was officially declared a disaster area....even when our hospital lost power for a few days (generator only).

 

[sofla98]

Always make an attempt to go to work. Or if you know ahead of time make arrangements. 
 

it’s not fair to your coworkers who made it in or who made arrangements. 
 

Seriously, it’s very frowned upon to miss work because of the weather, especially if you know it’s going to happen. 

[phill_rn, MSN, APRN]

On 12/19/2020 at 10:46 AM, Kooky Korky said:

As a Supervisor, it was my job to make sure no one ever called off for weather.  I had to get very tough and make all kinds of write-up and firing threats if someone tried to call off.

One CNA took me seriously and came in.  When she left work that night she had an accident.  I felt rotten about it.  Not that it was my fault.  She ultimately had made the decision to work.  I felt badly about the bills she would be incurring after the accident, though, and all the other stuff that goes with an accident.

So now my thinking is more take care of yourself and the heck with your coworkers.  I guess that's horrible but that's my honest thinking.  Another thing that has influenced the development of my current view is as follows:

I worked for a place that had mandatory overtime.  They threatened write-ups, firing, extra weekend duty, poor performance reviews, and te very wrath of God if you refused OT. 

Yet, the consequences were unevenly applied.  If someone refused the mandatory OT because they had to let the babysitter go home, or they had to get the car to the spouse so the spouse could get to work, or they had to get their kids to school, or they had some other very real and pressing need to get home, they might or might not get disciplined.  It was up to individual Managers.  I once saw them let a worker go home, get the kids to school, and then return to the job.  I thought that was wise and humane. 

Once I saw a write-up done to a CNA who often worked a good deal of voluntary OT but  once refused to be mandated because he was ill (he had been vomiting on our shift and had a temp).  This was wrong IMHO. 

This is the mindless, vindictive, soul-destroying stuff of Nursing that has formed my view.

After several years in nursing,  I agree- self first.  Sadly there's no loyalty and if there's an accident or death (God forbid), you or your family will be the ones left figuring things out.  Management will barely bat an eye.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

A potential snowstorm is no reason to call out as just about everybody has made abundantly clear.  So if OP actually did call out I sure hope they didn't use the impending storm as the reason. Since I believe they ghosted this topic when they didn't get the answers they wanted I guess we'll probably never know.

[jobellestarr]

On 12/19/2020 at 8:46 AM, Kooky Korky said:

As a Supervisor, it was my job to make sure no one ever called off for weather.  I had to get very tough and make all kinds of write-up and firing threats if someone tried to call off.

One CNA took me seriously and came in.  When she left work that night she had an accident.  I felt rotten about it.  Not that it was my fault.  She ultimately had made the decision to work.  I felt badly about the bills she would be incurring after the accident, though, and all the other stuff that goes with an accident.

So now my thinking is more take care of yourself and the heck with your coworkers.  I guess that's horrible but that's my honest thinking.  Another thing that has influenced the development of my current view is as follows:

I worked for a place that had mandatory overtime.  They threatened write-ups, firing, extra weekend duty, poor performance reviews, and te very wrath of God if you refused OT. 

Yet, the consequences were unevenly applied.  If someone refused the mandatory OT because they had to let the babysitter go home, or they had to get the car to the spouse so the spouse could get to work, or they had to get their kids to school, or they had some other very real and pressing need to get home, they might or might not get disciplined.  It was up to individual Managers.  I once saw them let a worker go home, get the kids to school, and then return to the job.  I thought that was wise and humane. 

Once I saw a write-up done to a CNA who often worked a good deal of voluntary OT but  once refused to be mandated because he was ill (he had been vomiting on our shift and had a temp).  This was wrong IMHO. 

This is the mindless, vindictive, soul-destroying stuff of Nursing that has formed my view.

Right there with you. Always are care of yourself first. Soul destroying is right.