Small Town Politics (rant)

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Sep 28, 2004

Are you invested in the community? Is there a reason for you to stay? If not, MOVE! There are thousands of jobs for you. You don't have to stay in a community that obviously does not have enough of a need to hire you. Besides, if you are not tied into this place, it is very exciting to find another community that you might find more life enriching for you and your family.

Good luck.

Shed13911 · Sep 28, 2004

I agree that if you do not have strong ties to the community, move on. It is their loss that they have chosen not to give you a chance. I have lived in towns like that and do not miss that part at all. Good luck to you! Don't wait too long before starting your new future!!!!! :balloons:

Dixielee, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2004

If at all possible, you will be much better off if you can go to a large market. I would have had a hard time buying your story if this had not happened to me as well, and I was a well experienced nurse, but not a "local". I had always worked in the Atlanta area, where no one is a native (except me). There was never an issue of where you were from or who you knew. 6 years ago, we moved to a small town in the Ozarks. We have not had any problems with the neighbors in our little communtity, but I had to drive 50 miles to the nearest hospital to get a job. I had never, ever seen such cliqueishness (is that a word?). I stayed a year and then moved on. It was so bad at one point that the other 2 nurses I was working with (who were with the "IN" group) sat at the desk while the MD, resp therapist and myself were in a code. That was the straw that finally made me quit. It seemed that all of the "good" positions went to the local folks. There was one tech who was in nursing school and had been promised a day position when she graduated. She falied boards and they held a position for her. Then she failed them again, and they still held the position for her, even though there were those, not locals, who had been there much longer and had requested days. I know all this sounds like sour grapes, but I would have not believed the small town mentality if I had not seen it myself. There were many of us who had lived in a variety of places and we were all ostracized in a variety of ways. Of course the nurse manager was a local and had gone to school with these people or the parents of them. I have never experienced anything like this before or since and I have been nursing 31 years. So if you have a chance to go out of town, do it. You will never fit in even if you stay there forever. This town considered all who moved in a "newcomer". If you were there long enough to have children, then they were children of newcomers. I'm not sure you can ever change that mentality. Get yourself a good gas efficient car and go elsewhere, or better still....MOVE!

NeuroICURN · Sep 28, 2004

Sure, it's easy to say that you should move, but let's face it, that's a HUGE pain and costs money!

I chose not to take a job at my local hospital because it had the "small-town" approach to medicine and is practicing old school style medicine. I refused to work for MDs who still thought they were the be-all-end-all of medicine.

So, now I commute approx. 45 miles, one way, to work. It's not too bad because it's all highway, but it can still be a pain when the weather is bad or when doing back-to-back 12s. Is commuting an option for you?

Good luck! Living in a small community has it's good points and bad points. I know because I live in one much like you described!

jemb · Sep 28, 2004

Yeah, I know that small town mentality, too. It sucks!

How close is your community to a larger metropolitan area? Is commuting completely out of the question for you?

allnurses Guide · Sep 28, 2004

I live in a small town and it is great. Nothing like you are describing. The whole community responds in a crisis, shows up to support the local kids at school events, people wave at you while you drive to the grocery store. There is NO line at the DMV or post office. If your car breaks down, someone will stop and help. The crime rate is low.

The hospital I work in is nothing like what you are describing either.

I'd bet things like this happen everywhere and size has nothing to do with it. Cliques happen. :rolleyes:

I'd definitely go elsewhere if I were you .. .

steph

nursemary9, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2004

Hi

I know it is a pain in the rear to move, but unless you can drive a long distance , maybe you should consider it.

This sounds like not a nice place to live--period!!

Good Luck--maybe you can let us know how things go.

MaryAnn

jannecdote · Sep 28, 2004

I lived in some small towns (Pop. 5000 or less) and I don't know if it was just my personality, or what, but I just could not jump on the bandwagon with the locals. And I lived in the area 21 years! Plastic smiles, plastic phrases, but when the chips were down, it was a whole different story. And I am a good person--just different. I do not have the Stepford Wives personality required in some of these places, and I felt depressed by things I could not change and realized I couldn't change anything but my own situation. It was a difficult choice, made more difficult because I was a single mom, but it was the right choice for me.

I totally dislike small town politics, too. Ugh! If you can handle the sacrifice of moving, I say go for it.

In smaller towns, you can get branded as being a certain type. If it's bad, then it is hard to get people to look past what they think they know to what is the truth. It takes a lot of mental and emotional fortitude to work through the perceived opinions of others.

If you have a good support system though, you are lucky.

My problem was with my kids. They were hellcats then and people assumed I let them run wild, blaming me. I guess I could have stayed home like people were constantly telling me to do, but I figured it was more important to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, duh. I was working two jobs, no child support, the kids father disappeared totally from their lives, and I just felt more dumped upon by people 'trying to help' who had no idea what the heck they were talking about. And heaven forbid I wasn't willing to marry a redneck and 'settle' down, preferring to be single and happy rather than miserable and married to Joe Schmo. And get this, the trailer park I lived at (no Jerry Springer pun intended, :rotfl: ) asked me not to have any of my black friends over anymore because it didn't look good. What????? That was the last straw for me.

Sorry about the rant. Just thinking about those days and those people, I'm getting myself worked up. Whoa, Nelly!

My kids and I remain close today and they are all good kids. Thank goodness we can actually laugh about those times now.

Town & Country · Sep 28, 2004

I've experience this as well.

If you cannot commute, move!

Fact is, you're probably better off not getting a job there, because if something so minor would prevent them offering you a job, then they don't NEED nurses ~ they probably staff with bare bones and it would undoubtedly be a nightmare.

YOU are the one who has the upper hand - not them. So they don't hire you - big deal. It's a nurse's market these days.

Yes, it's a pain to move to but it will be worth it and you will make more money, also.

a_crftyldy · Oct 1, 2004

First of all I would like to thank everyone for their feedback and support. It is comforting to know that I am not the only one to have ever experienced this.

I just wanted to update you all on the fact that this past Monday I put in an application with a local nursing home and today they called me and offered me the job!!! WOOHOO!! I start this coming Monday. Plus, I get a $1000 sign on bonus! :balloons:

I feel so much better now and at least I know that this will get my foot in the door and may open up other oppurtunities for me in the future.

Thanks again everyone.

Jo Dirt · Oct 1, 2004

I live in a small town and understand exactly what you are taking about. Like a previous poster, the notion of small town politics sounds so absurd it is not easy to believe...unless you have experienced it first hand. Nepotism runs rampant in the facility where I work, and also what job you get depends on "who you know." For example, one of the higher ups always seem to find friends of her's from other places to fill the office nursing positions when one comes open, rather than offer the job to one of the nurses who have been there for years. You will hear the other nurses talk about it in private but they don't confront this higher up about it.

The nursing director of this facility has someone in her family working in nearly every department, from janitorial to laundry (this is not to say they do not do their jobs, but you can't tell me they didn't get their jobs because their family member was not an influence). Not only that, but this nursing director's daughter and young granddaughters work here as CNA's...they come in when they want, and they leave and take off when they want...of course, they do at least have the decency to let us know their schedules and not just pick up in the middle of something they are doing and say "See ya!" But there is no way on earth anyone else would get away with saying "my son has a ballgame so I can't work past 6pm tonight." And no one questions it out in the open, but the differences in treatment are soooo obvious. They came straight from CNA class and got on the easy hall that many CNA's have waited a long time to get on.

I can't say I have been treated unfairly, in fact they have been very nice to me for the most part, so I can't complain. But it would be nice if I could say..."I won't be into work today...my husband stubbed his big toe." But I don't dare chance it...