I had been scheduled way ahead of time to work this Thanksgiving, OK, fine it's my turn. My daughter in law invited me to come to her family's town 3.5 hrs drive away from me as she and my son would be there with her family having driven down from their home 9 hrs away. But no I couldn't I had to work, so I turned down the invitation and made no plans, btw this would have been the first TG in 11 years where I wouldn't have been all alone for the day. : (.
The time comes for work, I shower, get dressed, makeup on and go to the hospital. I run into the supervisor as I was going in, "Oh I left you a voicemail, we don't need you tonight so you can go home". Not only did the hospital screw me out of a nights holiday pay they screwed me out of the opportunity to see my son and daughter in law.
Has this happened to anyone else? They maintain a rotating list of nurses who they put on "standby" when the census drops to certain levels. They just fricking hang you out to dry. Then they have the nerve to call me sometimes and ask me to come in at the last minute because "we're desperate". I never have and never will come in to work any extra shift to help them out, EVER.
Oh yes, I forgot this is at a faith based hospital that is all over themselves, going on and on about "The Spirit of Mercy"!
Most people would have been thrilled to be called off, called family and asked if ok to still drop by. Maybe not as cool as being there pre-planned and set, but at least you would have gotten to see them, maybe? I have driven a few hours on short notice to be w/family when able to, even if only for a little bit of time together. jmho.
Don't feel bad, by us they mandated several nurses on Thanksgiving 16 hours and this was not because of call ins, but because they were short to begin with!
That stinks! I've been called off due to low census, so I'm used to it, but I'd still be mad about it being Thanksgiving. It is part and parcel of the job, so it's not your employer's fault, but it is still a bummer.
This is an example of the sort of thing where a contract can help. We usually try to negotiate things like a minimum call-off time, reporting pay if they don't call you off on time and, of course, a fair system for rotating call offs.
My union has managed with one big hospital chain to negotiate no mandatory call-offs. That's not an easy fight though, and I think it's just the one chain where we have that. In reality, most of the time there are people happy to volunteer to take time off, and if there are still too many folks on after volunteers, I think that chain has training things set up for people to work on - always something useful that can be done.
This has happened to me many times in my career as a nurse. There has never been fairness in any of the holiday rotation, in my experience. I have had nurses get 2 whole weeks off at Christmas, and some end up working every single holiday thru-out the year. I have also seen newly hired nurses get Christmas off, while the ones who have been faithfully there forever get shafted. I have learned not to expect anything, then I won't be disappointed.
These things happen. It is interesting though to see how trends go in the treatment of one employee versus another. I worked TG last year, night shift, and was paid holiday pay for one hour instead of eight. I managed to figure a way not to work it this year. As far as I'm concerned they owe me the seven hours holiday pay. It is tempting to call off for holidays when you know you are not going to get holiday pay. Like my granddaughter asked, "Why do you have to work on a holiday when the the patient's family isn't necessarily doing anything?" Good question.
I think the only way around not getting screwed out of the Holidays is to get a government job. :)
Plenty of government jobs require 24/7/365. Your statement is uninformed and incorrect. And I feel angry about it, too.
Who do you think cares for patient in government (state, county, federal) hospitals, which are never closed, just like other hospitals? Who do you think works in the Secret Service? And so on.
these things happen. it is interesting though to see how trends go in the treatment of one employee versus another. i worked tg last year, night shift, and was paid holiday pay for one hour instead of eight. i managed to figure a way not to work it this year. as far as i'm concerned they owe me the seven hours holiday pay. it is tempting to call off for holidays when you know you are not going to get holiday pay. like my granddaughter asked, "why do you have to work on a holiday when the the patient's family isn't necessarily doing anything?" good question.
we do not get any extra pay for working any holidays, even the big ones, so don't feel too sorry for yourself.
We are our own worse enemies. You think it's ok for them to treat you like that? Well, I hope you continue to think so for the next 30, 40, 50 years of your working life.
Been there,done that, ASN, RN
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Lube.... optional.