this is why I want to call off on my last day

SaltySarcasticSally, LPN, RN · Oct 26, 2017

Only you can really answer this. I don't think it matters much if you don't ever plan on working there again. Would I do it? No. It's one shift. I suspect people are just tired of the short staffing and are misplacing it on you.

Wuzzie · Oct 26, 2017

Most likely they are just emotionally disengaging and it's nothing personal. Or you feel weird so you're reading into things. For example, I wouldn't put an orientee with somebody who is leaving either. But yeah, don't show up...that'll show 'em.

Fair warning though, in some places if you do this you lose your accrued vacation time.

Emergent, RN · Oct 26, 2017

So, you are going to be inconsiderate and unprofessional because you aren't invited to the popular kids lunch table?

brownbook · Oct 26, 2017

So, you are going to be inconsiderate and unprofessional because you aren't invited to the popular kids lunch table?

I love this....I find I am getting crankier and blunter in my old age, one advantage of old age. But I don't mean to imply that Emergent is old.

Sour Lemon · Oct 26, 2017

I have given my two weeks notice in and I'm tempting to call off on my last day. I was wondering why my coworkers have been doing this but now I totally understand.
I was treated very differently in my last two weeks: People order lunch take-outs without asking me, they sit at different tables during lunches. One day, I was the only one without an orientee. Those who I considered "my friend" are distancing themselves. I have always been considerate for my coworkers and I get along with most people at work, this does hurt my feelings.
In addition, the morale at my work is very low. I am the 5th nurse quit on my floor in the past two months. We lost more than half of our staff in the past two years. The administration does not care. We worked short for so long and now they finally brought in agency nurses.
anyway, I don't want to burn any bridges but now I know why it has been a tradition at my work to call off on the last day. I love my job but I just hate to be there.

That would make it feel even better to leave. No worries.

My orientee got taken away when I put in my one month notice at my first job ...even though I was quitting because I was moving out of town. I think that's probably pretty standard.

Emergent, RN · Oct 26, 2017

I love this....I find I am getting crankier and blunter in my old age, one advantage of old age. But I don't mean to imply that Emergent is old.

I AM old.

Instead of skipping the last day, and leaving everyone short staffed, I recommend unfriending from Facebook AND BLOCKING THEIR SORRY BACKSIDES!!!!

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Oct 26, 2017

Good grief, is this your career or middle school? You have one day left. Suck it up. The nursing community is small. You don't want to end up blacklisted, or even with bad references.

How many people are taking lunch at a time that you have multiple tables of people? Of course you're not orienting. You have one shift left.

Remember, you're there to take care of patients, not make friends.

Jolie, BSN · Oct 26, 2017

I was oriented to my second nursing job by a nurse who had submitted her resignation. By the end of the first shift, I was enlightened on all of the internal problems of the unit and the hospital. She was 100% right about everything but those are not details that need to be shared with a wide-eyed newbie. With this information to jump start my career, I quit not long after orientation.

Working the "notice" period can be undeniably awkward, but rarely have I known co-workers to mistreat a departing staff member. I have known a handful of people who called out on their last day and missed their own parties. Served them right.

Wuzzie · Oct 26, 2017

I have known a handful of people who called out on their last day and missed their own parties. Served them right.

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

AutumnApple · Oct 27, 2017

I have given my two weeks notice in and I'm tempting to call off on my last day. I was wondering why my coworkers have been doing this but now I totally understand.
I was treated very differently in my last two weeks: People order lunch take-outs without asking me, they sit at different tables during lunches. One day, I was the only one without an orientee. Those who I considered "my friend" are distancing themselves. I have always been considerate for my coworkers and I get along with most people at work, this does hurt my feelings.
In addition, the morale at my work is very low. I am the 5th nurse quit on my floor in the past two months. We lost more than half of our staff in the past two years. The administration does not care. We worked short for so long and now they finally brought in agency nurses.
anyway, I don't want to burn any bridges but now I know why it has been a tradition at my work to call off on the last day. I love my job but I just hate to be there.

I do understand feeling a bit stung by the "You're not one of us" reaction you described. Saying I understand it and agreeing with it are completely different things though.

The two week notice time period can play itself out a million ways. This is just one of them. Your current coworkers see you as an outsider now. In essence, you are, so no bones to pick there.

I have been in situations though where I was leaving a job (for good reasons, often not because the place I was at was toxic) where I felt I had made a connection with people. When I saw how quickly I became an outsider in their eyes, I resented it. Some things should transcend being at the same workplace, or so I thought.

Truth is, most workplace relations are relations of convenience. Even the ones where we meet the person outside work or share personal experiences or any other number of things that make us believe we've gone beyond a simple situation of coworkers getting along. When my being on their team was near it's end, my usefulness to them too was near an end. I was no longer convenient. I was treated as such.

Your dilemma is not one of finding out whether calling off the last day is a good decision or not. If it were just that, the choice would be easy: Do it if you benefit from it, don't do it if you're only calling off for "revenge".

The choice you are faced with it this: Do you support treating others as though they cease to exist once their usefulness to you ends? Are you someone who believes in friendships of convenience?

Calling off would, in my opinion, further the "people are a convenience" culture you're experiencing. It would be saying: "Since I don't get the social support I want, you're no longer of use to me, and calling off is easier to do. Whether my call off hurts you or not is of no consequence to me."

So, your first decision is whether you want to play their game or not. Calling off is playing their game. The second (and third, and fourth, and infinity) decision you're facing is whether to act like that yourself, or not, the next time this sort of thing presents itself to you. Next time you're leaving a job, perhaps you won't feel so burnt by the reaction of others if you see it for what it is. Also, when you're on the other side of the fence and someone else is the one leaving, you'll perhaps not be like your current coworkers are being.

RainMom · Oct 27, 2017

At my facility, a no call/no show or calling off the last day puts you on the do not hire list (including all 14 of the parent organization's sites in 2 states). Are you certain you will never want to work for that facility again or any of its affiliated sites?