Newbies Who Want to Pay ZERO Dues Schedule-Wise

[Emergent]

We have a new nurse in our dept, hired as a new grad to ER in this less than stellar job market. The other day I got to hear his whining about his lousy schedule.

He's a likeable guy, but is only a year out of school and landed a pretty sweet position, got a great opportunity, and seems very unappreciative. He is really mad at my manager who is actually quite a reasonable person in my opinion.

Do some new nurses totally not get it, regarding the hours and scheduling demands of nursing?

[wanderlust99]

entitlement. get over it and stop whining. we all have to deal with crappy shifts as nurses. don't like it? go find a clinic job.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

Yall sound bitter. Not every hospital is like this. I work weekend nights all year round but this is by choice. I work all holidays except for Halloween and New Year's Eve. We should work with each other instead of against each other.

[AdobeRN]

It would be nice for the holidays to be rotated around - everyone take turns, but that rarely happens. One place I worked at had a what I thought was a good plan when it came to Xmas Holidays.

We were required to be scheduled to work either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day - we got to chose & then pray that the census was low and you were put "on call" :)

Thanksgiving day + Day after were lumped into one choice and then New Years Eve + New Years Day were lumped together - we got to chose which group we wanted to work. So if you wanted Thanksgiving off you were scheduled to work New years - same the other way, if you wanted NY off you were scheduled the Thanksgiving days.

[ceccia]

this is one of the things i'm looking forward to most when i leave nursing at the end of this year. having my weekends and holidays back! this year i'm literally working every single holiday. Thanksgiving, the day after, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and new year's day. and i've been working for 4 years, not a new grad so spare me any nonsense about "paying your dues".

[RainMom]

Alternate years. My manager puts a list up for preferences for 5 holidays coming up, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve and New Years Day. We put a number 1-5 in order of preference to have off. Then she makes a schedule, figuring in what was worked last year.

I love her commonsense approach!

That was how we USED to do it. Too much work for the new manager apparently. Now you work your regular schedule right through the holidays & hope you get at least some of them off or that someone is willing to trade with you.

[studentnursemon86]

We alternate holidays as well. I switched shifts in March and since then I've worked almost every holiday.

I'm just doing it because of school, but I was looking forward to thanksgiving with my family since I work Christmas. New Years I could care less about. As for "paying your dues"; I've been with my network for almost 9 years and my unit for 2. I've been paying my dues since I started. It is part of the job and I deal with it. I will deal with it as an RN too.

[I love my cat!]

We alternate Holidays. Doesn't matter if you are a new grad or working with 25+ seniority. It seems to work because we are free to give-up, trade or pick-up other shifts. We work it out amongst ourselves.

[nursemeanie]

We work every other weekend, but anyone is free to switch with other people as long as they don't end up with overtime. I often have childcare issues during the week but have more flexibility on weekends and will offer someone a weekend day off if they work a day during the week for me. We get no weekend differential.

Our holidays are paired and you have to work one of the pair. Memorial Day paired with July 4, Labor Day with Thanksgiving. Those are

Time and a half. Winter holidays you work an eve and a day,

Time and a half on the day. So you can be off Xmas eve and Xmas day, but you would work New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. You request what you want, and seniority gets preference. Our staff is flexible with trying to assure people get what they want, at least part of it. I work day shift and had to work Xmas day when I was less senior. My family eats early in the day, and another nurse from 3p-3a shift had to work Xmas day too, but her family eats late. So, we switched shifts so both of us could be with our families for dinner. I've split xmas day with another divorced nurse, too. I'll have my daughter early in the day, coworker will have his kids later. Win win for both of us, only work half the day and still see the kids. When my daughter goes to her dad, I might as well go to work for time and a half instead if sitting home looking at the walls!

[blackvans1234]

I start my first job in 2 weeks. The two hospital interviews I had I stated "Im willing to work either days or nights, I have no problems working weekends and holidays. I would prefer NOT to be on a changing / swing shift"

Starting nights in the near future, no complaints here

[Rogueglitter]

I work every long weekend there is because it just so happens they are all in my regular schedule. We get to pick between Christmas and New Years but that's it. AND because of staffing, us full timers don't even get a stat day off for all those we worked.

[bb007rn]

I am so glad I no longer have to deal with that ummmmm crap, (I have no better word). I am in Private duty and work straight nights now. However, I used to have to deal with it, started out part-time in ER, picked up every available extra shift I could, almost any hours. Got to full time (eventually 11a-11p, sweet hours if I do say so!) Moved to a MUCH bigger hospital, Neuro ICU, 'rotator' is what they called the shift, 50/50 days/nights...(and union to boot, contract literally spelled out everything about shifts, holiday rotation, weekends, etc), we did self scheduling, after about a month, I started scheduling myself straight nights. The scheduler actually came to me and made me put it in writing (union thing) that I would prefer NOT to work days, just so everyone's butt would be covered. Believe me, ALL the new RN's were grateful, but never once did they say a word to anyone who did what I did, even though they benefited (hey, I just wanted some consistency, I didn't do it for the shift premium). I finally got a full time night position, and loved it, most of the RN's who worked fulltime nights were a bit older, hated working days, loved their job and new damn well how to do it. I learned more from them than I ever did in any class/clinicals. I salute them for their vast knowledge, dedication and help. It amazes me the amount of knowledge on night shift vs days in that unit...a great imbalance, well in favor of nights. This leads me to believe that new RN's should take what they can from any given situation and LEARN from it, utilize the experience and knowledge of their older peers and (in the words of my friend) "suck it up, buttercup".

All that said, yes, there does seem to be a culture of entitlement with themany of the people in the younger generations. (who started that crap?!) That is NOT how I was raised, and definitely NOT how I raised my kids, and it kinda ticks me off...

[rubato, ASN, RN]

New grad hired onto days here. There are lots of night people on my unit that want days, but the powers-that-be don't feel comfortable with all the new grads on nights. What a horrid situation that would be. I have the most seniority out of the new grads because I worked as an aide on the unit for 6 months. So, I got the one day shift.

Our holidays rotate. We all work one of the 4 winter holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas and New year's day). They asked all of the new hires what they would prefer, but we weren't guaranteed anything. So, I get Christmas Eve this year, Christmas next year, etc..... If we had gone according to our regular schedules, I was doomed to work all four holidays, which would have sucked. I am assuming it will be the same way for the summer holidays.