Today, as I was snoozing away, my work called at 7:02 to ask, "Where are you?" And I was puzzled, because today is my day off, and I was up until 3 am last night, celebrating that fact.
It turns out *someone* (read: NOT me) signed me up for an extra shift and I some how didn't find out about it. So they were expecting me to be at work.
I told the charge nurse, I'm sorry, I just can't be there. I didn't know I was supposed to be at work, I was up until 3 am, and I have a dentist appointment. And boy oh boy were they angry with me.
I guess they don't believe that I didn't sign myself up for the extra shift. They went to check the log, and sure enough, it's not in my hand-writing. So now they are calling the supervisor to find out what to do.
You'd think the fact that I've been there for 3 years and haven't ever worked overtime would give it away.
I suppose if I was a nice and decent person, I"d just say I'd go in. But, the mean and selfish part of me says no. I need more sleep before working 12 hours, I'm hung over (sorry, but it's true), and I have other plans. I feel tricked, and they should have enough staff that they aren't relying on our skeleton staff to work 60 hours a week to staff our unit.
They got someone to cover "your patient assignment" but it was never your assignment to begin with. Only feel guilty if you've done something wrong, you haven't so no guilt.
Someone either accidentally made mistake, meaning to schedule someone else on or did it on purpose.
I've had that 7:02 phone call when I actually HAD traded with someone and forgot about it! I had already gone in on the day I had traded off of and they called me in on the day I had traded and said I would work for her. So I WAS in the wrong - boy did that stink. And when I told them how long it would be for me to get up, get dressed, and get through all the city traffic now that it was rush rush rush hour - nobody was happy.
My manager recently changed a posted schedule and placed a note in my mail box to notify me of the change. The manager knew that I was not going to back for 7 days. When I returned I found the note and explained to my manager in a written note that I was scheduled for surgery on the date that she added me. There was no apology given and to add insult to injury she said that I should have requested off for that date. This was a schedule that was already posted before I planned the surgery date. The games we play.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
you don't owe anyone an apology, or have to feel guilty for something that you didn't do.
i once worked for a nm who would alter the schedule after it was posted and fail to notify people of the changes. she did this on purpose because she knew that we were all fed up with understaffing and ot and would not volunteer for it. so she added shifts after the fact, and called the "victim" at home after the shift started. most felt bad for their co-workers and came in. her scheme came to an end when she inadvertently added a shift to a nurse who was away on vacation. this oversight made it obvious to everyone that she was scamming us.
most of us know each other's handwriting pretty well. i suspect that the nm knew it was not your handwriting on the sign up sheet, and should have verified the shift with you at that time. she is the one responsible for covering the shift, not you.
any astute nurse manager realizes that playing games with the schedule can only backfire!
before we were married, my dh dated a lot of women, including the assistant nurse manager in the icu where we both worked. i came along several years later, after she was married and had two children, so i thought she was over it.
when we got married, we were out of town for three weeks. we carefully planned our time off, "stacking" our days and using both holiday and vacation time to ensure we'd have a week before our wedding -- thousands of miles from where we lived -- and time for a honeymoon afterward. the schedule was done and ready to be officially posted at midnight -- about 4.5 hours after i work after my 12 hour shift. the management team had all left for the day and our vacation time was all in place, exactly the way we'd planned, traded and negotiated for.
we were lying on a beach on our honeymoon when dh's former roommate called his cell to tell him that he was supposed to be at work. seems his former lover had sneaked in to work just before the schedule became official at midnight to put him on the schedule! there was no way -- but it did cast a bit of a pall over the last few days of our honeymoon!
Specializes in Hem/Onc, LTC, AL, Homecare, Mgmt, Psych.
Schedule mishaps happen-- don't feel badly about not going in!! I would not have gone in. One time I was on pre-approved vacation and the staffing coordinator forgot to take my name off the schedule for my last day. So I got home to calls on my phone wondering where I was... well I was on a fricking airplane! I had to try hard not to feel bad, since staffing I guess was really short that day on top of it all, but.... it was not my mistake.
RNKPCE
1,170 Posts
They got someone to cover "your patient assignment" but it was never your assignment to begin with. Only feel guilty if you've done something wrong, you haven't so no guilt.
Someone either accidentally made mistake, meaning to schedule someone else on or did it on purpose.