So I come in for NOC shift last night, after a four day weekend and marching in comes a nurse that I have never seen in my life and I have never heard of either. "I'm supposed to orient with you tonight".... "Oh," I say, "pleasure to meet you. How nice! And wich shift are you going to be working?" She says "Night shift, Monday through Friday." My jaw kind of dropped a little. I work Tuesday trhough Thursday and another nurse works Friday through Sunday. The only day they had problem staffing lately was Monday! I have not received a phone call about wether I would be willing - say - change my schedule or re-locate to a different wing. :uhoh21: The only phone calls I receive were as to wether I would pick up and cover extra shifts that they have trouble staffing. They know, as I very politely explained to them on several occasions - and as a matter of fact, when they hired me as well - that I cannot generally pick up additional shifts above our initial agreement, since I have two small children and especially on short notice day care is an issue. I also told them however, that I am willing to accomodate their needs as much as my private life allows, and offered them to talk to me at any time about shifting my work days around, if that would help the staffing planning.
Needless to say, the poor orientee was very distraught about the whole thing. She was saying that the last thing she wants to do is to bump a colleague. It was overall a very awkward and unpleasant situation.
People are quitting all the time here and I'm suspecting that they have trouble hiring new ones (which is probably common these days with the shortage - at least in my state). So I'm suspecting that they just promissed this new nurse anything, just to get her in the door, in hopes that she'll adjust to wathever they need to do with her at the end. Or could it be that they are planning to dump me (or bump me) for someone who is willing to work five days a week? Would that even be legally justifyable? I asked other nurses who've been there for a year or two and they said that they never seen or heard of such a thing and that they didn't think that that was legal... I've worked there for almost three months now, I have never called in sick, I am not aware on any complaints, overall I had the impression that I'm well liked by all and doing a satisfactory job... This all makes me nervous, and also it makes me feel kind of insulted. I mean, I'm not that hard to talk to and I am willing to listen and work with you.... At least you could give me the curtesy of a heads up and spare me the anxiety and the awkward situation with the orientee.
So my question is, is this normal? Have you ever experienced something similar? Do I have to worry?
