I'm not a nurse anymore. I'm a cashier! Yay!

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.

/sarcasm

Had a few bites on my resume, no-goes after being open up front about my monitoring program status. Even with companies that were supposedly monitoring friendly. I'm cashiering part-time at a grocery store now. I've also got a few other leads with non-nursing service industry jobs. My first job in high school was as a cashier. I've now come full-circle and it's not a particularly happy or fulfilling feeling.

Getting lots of AA advice to just accept life on life's terms and to accept where I'm at right now. Not un-good advice I guess, and I realize that I'm going to h-e-doublehockeysticks for saying this, but it's a bit aggravating to be *getting* this advice from people who've only ever held jobs where resume gaps and drug tests don't matter. The longer I'm out of nursing, the less likely I am to get another nursing job.

I find the Promises' (promises) reassuring that things will get better if I keep sober. Sometimes. I also think it's a cop-out that these things will happen sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly. Things have just been so crappy lately -- I don't have it in me to wait five, ten years before things start looking up.

I am obviously still looking for nursing jobs.

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Hey dirtyhipiegirl! Sobriety. A very frustrating, exciting, irritating process. The last day I was a nurse was October 9th, 2013, also my last day on opiates. Add a couple of months sobriety and then relaps with alcohol and that takes us to February 1st, 2014. Mix in a warehouse job and a plant nursery job next, with a little BON on the top. Stress, stress, stress. Most days I am very happy, walking through this all, usually with a moment of undercurrent that tells me this isn't worth it, I messed it up too bad. Sometimes this undercurrent takes the forefront and that has generally been at my milestones markers. This is not an easy process, it's a continuous process of feeling knocked down, getting back up, getting knocked down. FFrom my own experience, it has taken time and practice to feel okay where I am. Some days I go right back down, and it's then that I have to remember my goldfish brain which tells me "I have always been this sad, frustrated, angry and I will always feel this way". I'm so sorry you're having such a bad moment. The promises are fulfilled on a spiritual basis. The idea is that if I have to work three minimum wage jobs for the rest of my life I will somehow manage to feel emotionally and spiritually okay with this. I believe it true, sometimes hard to swallow because I am not there yet.

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Specializes in long-term-care, LTAC, PCU.

I don't mean to sound cliche but you're right where you are supposed to be right now. Keep your head up and no matter what don't use/drink.

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Figure out whats not working and change it. I figured out real quick that showing my scarlet letter right off was going to scare people away. I waited until I got a job offer to tell about my participation in IPN.

I also found a job that was in a unionized medical system- you might be able to get in through the back door so to speak: Apply for a non-nursing job, when you are past your probationary period for union membership apply for a nursing job.

Look for "difficult" high turnover nursing jobs too, I am working in that environment and have found a good niche-

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.
Figure out whats not working and change it. I figured out real quick that showing my scarlet letter right off was going to scare people away. I waited until I got a job offer to tell about my participation in IPN.

I also found a job that was in a unionized medical system- you might be able to get in through the back door so to speak: Apply for a non-nursing job, when you are past your probationary period for union membership apply for a nursing job.

Look for "difficult" high turnover nursing jobs too, I am working in that environment and have found a good niche-

I still have a key restriction -- meaning I can't pass narcs or benzos for six months. If it were just needing the employer report every 3 months, I'd feel better about not mentioning anything until I had a job offer...

Key restriction also makes it difficult to work in most difficult, high turnover nursing jobs. lol. The state mental hospital here hires a LOT of KNAP RNs but I've seen multiple employees there just...break down into hysterical tears when talking about the job difficulties (mostly scheduling and crazy mandated hours) there. I'd rather cashier than do that.

I wish there was an easy answer to what I should do. I am seriously considering just getting out of nursing altogether. I have a four-year degree and my charge nurse experience seems pretty easily parlayed into management experience around here...

twoyearnurse --) you're so right about this process; I feel like you get fed a little bit of positivity only to have it taken away from you. Obviously my life is no different than most so most people must deal with these issues in somewhat more healthy manners than drinking over them. It just seems totally baffling to me?

Thanks for responding guys. I'm trying to replace my anxiety, inadequacy, and bitterness with some form of patience and acceptance...it's just ******* hard.

On a lighter note, I went to a Buddhist meditation thingy -- ya'know, might as well try to find myself while I'm on vacation from life but can't afford to backpack across Europe or anything -- and promptly fell asleep during it. Oh well.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Why not let nursing go? At least for now. Why even put yourself in a higher risk job where meds are all around? Use your other degree to get a decent self-esteem building better paying job than cashierand get strength from that.....................

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.
Why not let nursing go? At least for now. Why even put yourself in a higher risk job where meds are all around? Use your other degree to get a decent self-esteem building better paying job than cashierand get strength from that.....................

I'm just a garden variety drunk, thankfully. I've even been given benzos/narcs in acute care settings (for legit reasons obviously) and never knew what the party was all about. Which is why I find my key restriction so impossibly frustrating. It would make more sense to have me do a breathalyzer before coming into work.

I don't know what decent self-esteem building job I could get with a nursing degree. I can translate my experience to entry level and maybe low level "management" positions in, say, the service industry but nursing degrees aren't really as flexible as an English or Communications degree, y'know?

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The nice thing about some of the restrictions which vary by state is that they usually include a no overtime agreement, as well as some other restrictions that can be used to your advantage to say "no" when it comes to stretching yourself too thin.

I was shocked that my nursing degree and managing a nursing unit did not translate to a management job in other settings... I did take classes for real estate... still might be in my future

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I took a job at a plant nursey- it has been so good for my self esteem. I knew nothing about this business, but find myself learning something new each day. Coupled with being outside all day, working my body hard, and people interaction (plus the laughs I get wearing nursing scrub tops at a plant nursery) and I couldn't be happier. Remember that it's never too late to learn something new- if I decide not to go back to nursing I plan on looking into trades. They need women and the pay is good!

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