joechess

I, as well as the other nurse managers at the hospital where I am employed, try to be sensitive to people who have less privileged backgrounds, who may be impecunious (broke), who may be very nervous, etc. but I have had to interview nurse and CNA candidates at job fairs who come wearing flip flops. I remember one applicant who said she was fired from one job, terminated at her second job, and that she quit before being fired from the last job. I have had an applicant include a job description on her resume about how she replaced G-tubes and J-tubes (I hope not) at her SNF job. I can't speak for other hospitals, but I would hire an ADN with recent relevant experience before I hire "a Phoenix" with an advanced degree but no strong work record. If an applicant is too poor to wear professional business attire, I can look past that, but I can't understand why an applicant could not wear a clean, ironed scrub uniform instead of jeans and a tank top. An important skill a nurse needs to master is prioritization. If an applicant spends a week's pay (prioritizes) on neck tattoos, facial (and God knows where else) piercings, manicure, and a pop culture T-shirt, but cannot demonstrate that she could show up to work in clean scrubs with appropriate footwear, then I do not need any HR-composed interview questions to decide that the applicant's priorities are misplaced. Yes, we do have staff with neck tattoos and facial piercings, but they are expected to wear scrubs and footwear that covers their feet. Yes, I do look up staff and applicants on Facebook; some will post about their prescriptions for controlled substances, unseen piercings, etc. When you post about how you need beer and benzos to sleep at night, I hesitate to gamble thousands of dollars to answer this question: will you successfully complete weeks of orientation, ACLS, and then stay at our facility long enough for us to recoup the cost of training you?

If you are an hourly employee, it is reasonable to expect to be paid extra if you have to stay over your scheduled hours. Are you covered for liability for anything you do when you have punched out? I could be wrong, but I think that if mgt is aware of this happening, the hospital can be sued and fined for violating labor laws. Walmart got nailed for something similar a few years ago. If you are worried about your reputation, do you you believe that if you consulted an attorney, that the attorney (who almost certainly has a doctoral degree [JD]), would fail to charge you for every hour s/he worked for you?