Soooo, I think I may have a new job lined up...

[raindrop]

Some of you may remember how much I absolutely HATE my current job on ICU. I am a new grad, and the women I work with are so mean, fast and never have time to explain things. I cry all the time.

I tried to transfer, and gave HR a a few scenerios of what my coworkers have said/done to me. One of these incidents was considered battery. HR told me to put in a transfer, but things were iffy b/c

1) What would I tell the manager interviewing me? I can't talk bad about the unit.

2) I would still have to put in a notice on my current floor and the women will eat me alive during my last 4 weeks or so.

My manger called me at home (HR told me to take the day off b/c I was sooo upset) after I put in a transfer, and begged me to stay. She very much put me on the spot, and told me how good I am doing, and gave me tips on how to deal with the other nurses "aggressive" personalities. I gave in and told her I will stay....b/c I felt like I "had" to, and b/c of the reasons listed above. I am still miserable.

I found a job in the paper which is in a clinic (Urgent care). The hours are daytime, 3 days a week from 9am-9pm. I submitted my resume online today and come to find out, my mom is good friends with the manager over there, which means I have a jump ahead and will probably get the job!! Yayyyy.

Now, if I get it, I want to submit dates/times of all of my negative experiences on my current unit to the HR department upon my resignation.

Do I give this documentation to them when I turn in my 2+ weeks notice, or on my last day? Most of the things I have are seriously horrible experiences, but should I throw in the petty ones., like....

1) A OT asked me if I had on a certain scent b/c she LOVES it. It was only her, me and another nurse at the desk when she asked me what I was wearing. A couple hours later, the other nurse that was sitting there said out loud in front of ALL of us....."Pewey. Someone has on some stinky perfume" While waving her arms and coughing. If that wasn't intentional, I don't know what was.

2) All of us nurses will be at the desk or whatever, and one nurse will announce how she is going downstarirs to get something to drink....and will go around and ask everyone, exept me, if they want anything.

Petty? I think it just gives more expamples of how uncomfortable they made it for me. I don't want HR to roll their eyes though.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Do NOT---however tempting it may be to do so---burn your bridges when you leave a job. You never know whether you'll need these people again, or if you'll end up working with one or more of them someplace else. You don't want to put it all on paper, either.........in your letter of resignation, you should merely state that you are leaving, when your last day of work will be, and if you really want to go overboard you can tell them you've found another position.

The time to bring up your personal issues is at the exit interview, when managers will ask you why you are leaving......and even THEN, you want to remain professional. You are not in elementary school; you don't want to sound petty or whiney ("those nurses are mean", "they go around asking everybody if they want something to drink except me" are NOT things you want to say to the 'brass'). If you must say anything at all about your relationship with your colleagues, say only that you believe this unit was not a good fit for you; and if you must elaborate, tell your interviewer that you feel you were unable to learn all you should in this particular environment. You are not obligated to state why. And above all, you MUST avoid pointing fingers at your co-workers or sounding as though you're blaming them for being unable to continue in this position. Don't say "they made it hard for me to do my job"; use "I" statements, such as "I think I need to be in a different type of work setting in order to grow in my nursing career", or even the tried-and-true "I'm moving on because I need some new challenges".

Good luck to you.

[adjowakim]

thanks for that advice. i was wondering about that myself especially since i was working at a community hospital in my own community and may have to utilize its resources someday. i cant help but wonder though, when is the treatment of new grads by some of these hospitals going to change? when are these hospitals going to realize how hard it is for some new grads to adjust to some of these downright hostile environments?

[control]

this happened to me when i worked in tele. i had the nurse supervisor come up to me once and tell me i didn't fit in with the other tele nurses and should leave. so when i did finally put in my resignation, the nurse manager called me at the beginning of my last shift demanding to know why i was quitting (i lied and said i was going travel nursing with a friend) and "didn't vivian (her recently resigned secretary....good for her) tell you about the exit interview?" she asked me this on speaker phone in front of everyone on the unit, and i calmly answered that her secretary never informed me of any such thing. then she went on to berate the secretary (before the secretary left she kinda "stuck it to em" for all of the abuse she had taken over the last year) and tell me that i didn't really take advantage of all that working my shift had to offer and she hoped i'd stay on as a prn staff.

i told her i'd think about it.

i never returned. every time i drive by the place i think thank god i don't have to work in that hellish place anymore.

[snag]

Do NOT---however tempting it may be to do so---burn your bridges when you leave a job. You never know whether you'll need these people again, or if you'll end up working with one or more of them someplace else. You don't want to put it all on paper, either.........in your letter of resignation, you should merely state that you are leaving, when your last day of work will be, and if you really want to go overboard you can tell them you've found another position.

The time to bring up your personal issues is at the exit interview, when managers will ask you why you are leaving......and even THEN, you want to remain professional. You are not in elementary school; you don't want to sound petty or whiney ("those nurses are mean", "they go around asking everybody if they want something to drink except me" are NOT things you want to say to the 'brass'). If you must say anything at all about your relationship with your colleagues, say only that you believe this unit was not a good fit for you; and if you must elaborate, tell your interviewer that you feel you were unable to learn all you should in this particular environment. You are not obligated to state why. And above all, you MUST avoid pointing fingers at your co-workers or sounding as though you're blaming them for being unable to continue in this position. Don't say "they made it hard for me to do my job"; use "I" statements, such as "I think I need to be in a different type of work setting in order to grow in my nursing career", or even the tried-and-true "I'm moving on because I need some new challenges".

Good luck to you.

You know, I hear those types of warnings all the time about what not to say. How do those ignorant, catty slobs ever get corrected in life? Do they just always assume (correctly) that they can get away with that kind of behavior? Are they supposed to be allowed to chase others off just because they have their own little clique and can point a collective finger at the new hire? That is BS and it is a sign of an extremely poor manager. I know it goes on all the time and is difficult to stop, but maybe having these cliques called on the carpet for THEIR behavior by a manager with guts may stop some of the abuse of coworkers on that floor. Nursing is tough enough without us having to make it hard on each other...we are a team! We need to have managers who have the right stuff and won't put up with this kind of crap on their units...otherwise there will be no end to this behavior. If this reply sounds emotional...good. Sometimes emotional responses ARE a good thing. When I was in nursing school, I even heard some of the med students and residents joke about the petty behavior of some of the nurses on my floor and warned each other to "watch out for _____ " or "don't bring this up with ____ because you'll just be shooting yourself in the foot". How sad...this is professional collaboration? JMHO.