Lena23

Thank you so much for the responses! I really appreciate the advice and support, and knowing that it's not just me. I'll try to remember why I'm there and keep my focus on doing a good job and remaining professional. It just sucks because I know I would enjoy my job so much more if these coworkers weren't so unpleasant to me. I've never criticized anybody for the way they work or told them they are cutting corners, but I have said something like "oh, that's what the policy says to do," when questioned about why I am doing something a certain way. Could that do it? Also, I would love to have a mentor, but I'm not exactly clear on what that relationship entails... Am I just asking if that person is okay with me coming to them for guidance/advice? Would it be asking them to help me out/teach me things during work hours? How does a mentor/mentee relationship work? And, for the worst one, who won't even speak to me unless it's to say something negative, do I continue to act polite and like we have a normal working relationship, (like saying "good morning" even though she never responds), or should I just pretend she doesn't exist too?

Thank you for responding! I have tried to speak with the worst offender, asking if I had done something wrong, but she denied that there was any problem and has continued to treat me like the bane of her existence. As for the others, I have thought about trying to speak with them, but whenever I have thought I could muster up the courage, the day is so busy I don't get a chance. And by the end of the day, I'm so worn out I might just cry if I talked to them. I wish I could respond coolly when people are rude to me, but I automatically get flustered and just want to walk away. Maybe I'll get better about not letting it get to me with more time and experience with mean people??

Hello all, I'm hoping you could help give me some advice about what to do in a tough situation at work. I am the only student nurse working on my unit. I want to stay at this job; it is interesting work and I feel that I am learning and getting better at it all the time. There are some days I love it, and some days that I leave feeling totally defeated. The difference between these days is the people I work with. This unit has pretty high staff turnover, so about half the staff are pretty new ( When I need help with something I often get irritated responses or ignored. And some people are downright rude to me. If I say things like "good morning" or "thank you" they literally just ignore me. One person has taken to making tsk-ing noises and walking away whenever I approach where she is at the nurses station. I can handle patients being rude, but coworkers treating me like this really wears me down by the end of the day. I've also overheard them on numerous occasions complaining about how the newer people are too slow. We may be slower, but isn't that to be expected for someone who has been doing the job for months rather than years? We still get all our work done, so why do they care? And I know that a lot of the reason the older people get things done more quickly is by cutting corners. As newer employees I think it makes sense for us to try to follow what we have been taught are the correct procedures. I feel I do the best job that I can, and I am happy help my coworkers. I'm pretty quiet and I keep to myself a lot, but I still try to be nice and polite to everyone. I don't know what I've done to cause people to treat me this way. I haven't noticed this kind of rudeness happening as much to the newer nurses either. I know I'm at the bottom of the totem pole, being a tech and new. I don't want to impose on anybody, but I am still new, and still only a tech. Sometimes I need help, and sometimes I need to tell a nurse about a change in patient condition or a request for medication; if I don't ask for help the patient won't get the care they need. Even the people who have been around longer need help sometimes, but it doesn't get held against them. I've been considering talking to my manager about this, because if things continue this way I think it will make me miserable. But I'm not sure if that is a good idea, since I don't know what she could do about it. I just think it would make me feel better if she was aware, and maybe she could help think of a solution that I can't. I don't know if I did a very good job of describing my situation, and that's another issue with talking to my manager about it, I feel like a lot of it is subtle undermining and rudeness that might not sound like much. But it is really bothering me to feel so rejected by so many of my coworkers, and not knowing what I've done wrong or what I can do about it