pumpkinseeds

BlueDevil, I suggest you familiarize yourself with Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which states "an employer cannot refuse to hire a pregnant woman because of her pregnancy [or] because of a pregnancy-related condition." What you did was illegal. I find it interesting you are angry with the employee for her supposed dishonesty, yet YOU lied to her regarding the reason you fired her. She had no legal obligation to reveal her pregnancy during the interview. I don't think she had a moral one either. Workers leave the workplace, take time off, go from full- to part-time, and move all the time. If you hired the same employee, and instead of her pregnancy she revealed to you that her husband was terminally ill, and she would eventually need 12 weeks off under FMLA - would you have fired her then? Wny not? It's the same inconvience to you Wpmen fought hard to get equal work for equal pay and to end things like pregnancy discrimination. I thought those years of a woman being fired or deprived of an education for having the audacity to get pregnant were long behind us. And we do this to each other. It might as well be 1912, with some of the attitudes I've heard expressed here. "I know a manager who will hire male nurses or menopausal women of those of child bearing age." "Maybe I'll hire a male this time."

Your post is very interesting from a statement analysis perspective. I didn't read anything in it that says "I did not take any drugs." Instead, it's a rather rambling account of how you fit the diverter profile, and how there's nothing an "investigator" will find in your "background." I had a similar problem a few years back. I was new to the pyxis system and I forgot to witness my narcotic wastes. Of course, my boss eventually had to talk to me, but the first words out of my mouth were "I don't take drugs, and I will take drug urine and hair test right this minute." If you are innocent, then tell them straight out you didn't do it, and prove it any way you can. If you are guilty, admitting it is the first step to getting help. We are all vunerable to diversion. It's one of nursing's dirty little secrets, how many of us fall prey to addiction. If you did it, please get help, because it will only get worse. Addiction thrives on secrecy and denial. If you didn't, get a lawyer and clear your name. I wish you all the best.

Why do you refer to grown women, some much older than you, as a girl? Being a nursing home aide is physically, mentally and emotionally hard. Much harder than being a nurse. They get abused all the time and nothing is done about it. I read a thread a while back where it was discussed if it okay to wear a mask around a spitting patient. I was astonished that anyone would even debate that it is okay to allow someone to be spat upon, for any reason. In what other profession do we expect employees to subject themselves to spitting, verbal and physical assults, and demeaning names such as "girl"? Yeah, what this woman said wasn't okay, but this man knows what he's doing. He's not confused. He's just trying to provoke her. Why is management allowing this to go on? That's not okay either.

I should probably mention to the OP that if you haven't changed shifts or had any other major life changes -divorce, marriage, whatever - you should go for a physical. I don't know if you've hit menopause or if your thyroid is out of whack, but it's worth checking out. If you conclude it's pure and simple overeating that's causing your weight gain, the first thing you do, is quit drinking your calories. If you're a big pepsi/coke drinker, you'll be surprised at how many calories alone that habit will give you. I quit drinking sugar and lost ten pounds practically instantly. I wish you the best. Losing weight is very difficult.

Well, in that case you should get off days and go back to nights. Some people do better on nights, almost everyone else does better on days. If the OP has gained a drastic amount of weight in her first year of work, and that work includes a different shift than she's used to, then one can conclude that the shiftwork had something to do with it. The day/night part of the shift is really irrelevant.

If you're working nights, get off as soon as possible. Your body is trying to tell you something. People might tell you, nights'll get better, you'll get used to it eventually - well, I did nights for years, and looking back, I don't know how I did it. It was like being in hell. Of all those years, I can remember a bare handful that was not a torturous struggle to stay awake. I gained weight, I was depressed and irritable all the time. I'll never work another night shift, I don't care how much they offer me. Of course, if you're not working nights,disregard everything I've said. Just stop eating so much.

Okay, that last part made me laugh out loud. I wonder how they'd describe me. Probably "that psychotic looking nurse with the crazy eyes."

I forgot to mention the health department is a pretty interesting place. A guy informed me that he and I needed to make "sweet sweet love" but then when he saw I was idly reading a syphillis info sheet he changed his mind. Still, one I've the best propositions I've received in months.

Last year I got a bloody hep c needle stick. I was tested immediately (to prove my baseline was neg) then at 1, 3 and 6 months. thankfully all were negative. I recommend the health department. I went there because I'm agency and no one seemed to want to pay for it and the health department only charged 25 bucks. I skipped the 3 months because they told me if I tested positive there would be nothing to do until/unless my liver failed, and if I tested neg I would still have to retest at the 6 month mark. Try not to worry. I know it's scary but an infectious disease doc told me the transmission risk is really pretty low. I got a deep stick from a 20 gauge bloody drippy iv needle and I still tested negative.

When I lived in Austin, both hospital chains were requiring the flu shot. I had no objection to getting it, but it was how they presented it - you WILL get the flu shot, or you WILL wear a mask, and if we catch you without the mask you WILL be FIRED. They presented it with this floofy statement about how all they cared about was our health and not getting others sicks. Please. I've been so ill, so obviously sneezy contagious, I looked worse than my patients, and I was never told to go home. In fact, in my compliant baby nurse days, when I did hint that I wanted to leave I was told I couldn't. They don't care if we're sick, as long as we drag ourselves to work and be productive. The mandatory flu shot thing is so they can post hallway signs and fool the general public into thinking patient are was their first concern. Higher ups, by the way, were exempt from the flu shot requirement. Anyway, last year a nurse took one for the team and refused the flu shot and refused the mask. When they fired her, she sued them stating that her Hipaa rights were being violated. Don't know how that one played out.

Ya'll know who does really, really well on these types of personality tests? Sociopaths.

I've seen this type of thing before. It might be a money grab - every repeated class is a bunch of income for the school. It might be a way to skew their board scores. In my (now very ancient) days as a student, a few of my classmates were not good test takers. Their clinical skills were good, but they had a hard time with the test. I on the other hand whizzed through the test, often making the highest score, but I sucked at clinicals. I'm surprised I could figure out which end to catheterize. Guess which students were hounded by the teachers? Poor test takers tend to flunk boards. The schools can't brag about their astronomically high pass rate. So, they kick out the good students who might, just might, bring down their pass rate. In any case, I have a difficult time believing that EVERY SINGLE STUDENT was so poorly educated or unintelligent as to flunk this test. Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln

I believe the company gets some sort of kickback from the cc. If you're okay with it, well, you're okay with it. If not, tell them you want DD or at least a paper check. They may not like it, but I bet they'll do it.

Your boss is a jerk. No wonder she can't keep staff. And anyone here who thinks you are winning points by picking up shifts - you're not. It's a business. They don't care. They don't care if you neglect your family, if you miss yet another Christmas, if your husband is ready to divorce you because you're so crabby from work abuse - they don't care. Family comes first. Take care of your dad and don't spend another second worrying about work.

Gosh. I told my daughter I wouldn't pay for school if she majored in nursing, as I love her too much to have her suffer like I have. Seriously, all the pragmatic reasons for being a nurse have expired. I went into it because I knew it would be guaranteed employment with flexible hours. I was smart enough to know I would be underpaid and overworked. Well, how things have changed. The pay is slightly better - when I graduated I made $12/hr in 1991, which translates to less than 19/hr today - but everything else is worse. Back when I was a baby nurse I felt respected, by my patients and by administration. Not anymore. Now 12 hour shifts are mandatory at most facilities - not conducive to raising kids, especially if they are small and you're a single parent. Back when I graduated we had our pick of jobs - now GNs are putting in apps by the dozen while they work at Walmart a year after graduation. If her heart isn't in it, then she's doing the right thing. She does have some marketable skills and good job history. Money's not everything.