I'm posting a follow-up post to the last one. So my supervisor gave me a verbal warning in the form of a letter that detailed my various workplace sins. These included asking for too many days off, leaving early, arriving late, forgetting to pick up a blood sample, not using an interpreter, and being disrespectful.
Asking for too many days off: For December I took a nice 2 weeks of taking advantage of the holidays and just asked for some days in between. I was going through some medical stuff which caused me to at times ask for a day off at the last minute (2 days before the appointment for instance.)
Leaving early: This didn't happen as often, perhaps 3 times at most and always by checking with my supervisor. Granted this happened without advance notice and when I did leave it was due to medical appointments.
Arriving late: My start time was 6:30 am (a start time she said she never approved but nevertheless used it as a point of reference to count how many hours I arrived late on 3 occasions.) Once I arrived at 9:30 because I overslept having been up all night coughing a lung out. I was going to call out but decided against it. The other time my car refused to start and I ended up taking another car. I arrived at 8:45. The third time I had gone to a doctor's appointment and got there at 9:30. There was hardly anyone at the office because that particular day we had a department wide meeting. The fourth time I had another appointment and I got there around 8:20. All these times she knew about. All with 3 to 4 days notice beforehand. In her warning letter she stated that my team had suffered because of my tardy arrivals. I tried to confirm this with my co-workers and they were like "no, we were fine."
Anyway she agreed that we would meet again in 3 weeks to see if any improvement that been made. Well the date came around and that morning I asked her "so what time are we meeting today?" and she replied "Well it turns out that the HR director can't come today so we will reschedule it." She didn't give me a date and I left it at that. Mind you she's involved 3 other supervisors besides her.
At any rate we met a couple of weeks ago for the second time at which point she pointed out 2 times in which I arrived late. One happened because I missed the commuter bus and it only leaves every 45 minutes so of course I arrived 40 minutes late when I was supposed to arrive 40 minutes early. That same day that I arrived late I told her that the commuter bus left at 3:30 but that I was going to stay until the next one left, around 4:15. So she was like fine, but I could tell she wasn't too happy about it. She and I were working off site at that time and she's used to staying behind and having someone else bring back the blood samples to our main job site for processing. Since she had told me at the last minute that I was to work with her that day, I didn't make arrangements for someone to pick up my kids so that's why I ended up taking the commuter bus. At any rate she gave me a choice on two tasks and asked which one I wanted to work on. I picked one and she said that she'd do the other one and left to go work on it. Well I finished my task and asked her if she wanted me to do anything else, then she asked me to do the task that she was supposed to do. So I ended up doing both. She said that it was fine I could go so I did.
Anyway to make a long story short she wrote me up for the above mentioned things that also included not using an interpreter. She had earlier that day advised me to not walk into a non-English speaking patient's room b/c there was no interpreter. Of course I forgot and walked into his room, quickly realized that I shouldn't have done that and excused myself and left. Well she included this in her write up.
I feel like she wants me to be absolutely perfect and that there is no grace/understanding. So I decided that the next step would probably be me being fired so I asked HR what was the minimum leave of notice so as not to be blacklisted from the institution. They said 2 weeks, so I gave my 2 weeks notice. This job provides great benefits and I'm going to miss that. Thinking back I don't know if it would have been better to ask for a transfer and now perhaps it's too late. I have 2 weeks left on that job. A job that I enjoyed very much. My sister pointed out that I worked very hard to go through nursing school full-time while having kids and how I basically let it go for a difficult person.
No one seems to understand where I'm coming from except for my husband. He's heard me complain about this lady for months. He knows that I tried to get along with her. It seems that the perfect person for that position is someone who is used to putting their family in second place. Someone who is dedicated so much that they would spend 12 hours in one day if needed.
I used to work on the floor so I came from having 4 days off to working 5 days in a row. It was a huge adjustment. I supposedly took the job to have more time for my family but it turned out to not be the case. Where before I was spending 4 days with me kids now it was less. I earned more yes but the work was intense. I enjoyed it though. But having that supervisor was like tasting vinegar.. it didn't help to know that I didn't even have to be there. Hubby sometimes earns in one day what I earn in a month so I wasn't doing it for the money..
Now that this has happened I'm taking a step back and thinking about my choices. I've been thinking about preparing for the GRE and possibly starting school later this year. Or maybe working in another specialty, perhaps ICU.. I'm basically here to vent and to get feedback/advice. I have loans to pay off and not working right now would put them on hold but still their balances loom over me. I've paid a good bit off but I took out several.
Please don't tell me in your replies that you did your nursing degree with little to no debt, because saying that would help me how...??
I'm not a nurse, but I've worked a professional job for over 6 years now. When I started reading the OP and saw complaints about being unreasonably written up for being late, I honestly expected to read that the poster was maybe 10 minutes late for work a couple of times and was complaining about being yelled at for that. My jaw actually dropped when I read that she was 2, 3 hours late for work several times, and she didn't even mention calling in to let them know what was going on! Add arguing with her supervisor publicly about procedural/administrative stuff, going around asking her co-workers if her incessant, extreme tardiness and taking time off was a burden on them (such an awkward position to put her co-workers in)... sheesh! This is behavior I would expect to see from a teenager or maybe a very spoiled college student, not from an adult who has a marriage, kids, responsibilities, and has managed to get a nursing degree and a professional job.
OP, I don't know you and I don't mean any of this in a mean way, but you really need to improve your soft skills (particularly time management and punctuality) and start accepting responsibility for your job situation instead of blame-shifting to your supervisor. You have 5 pages worth of complete strangers telling you that you are the problem here after reading your side of the story, so I hope you take that to heart and re-examine your approach.
OP, if you're still lurking - or if anybody follows the trail of breadcrumbs:
For my first nursing job, I spent nearly 3 years working 200 miles from home -- which occasionally included a trek over the snow-filled mountains. Not even one time was I ever late for work - though there were many times that I was an hour or two early. I then followed this with another three years working 30 miles from home through hellacious traffic -- again, not once was I late though several times I was early.
For nursing school clinicals, which were 90 minutes away - not once was I late.
In the nearly 20 years that I performed my prior profession, I was late perhaps 15 minutes or so a mere handful of times.
Being late on a regular basis, especially hours late, is on you, like it or not. I don't think you'll find a job anywhere which is tolerant of such lack of dependability.
I don't know how long you've been with that employer. If it's been many years and you have proven yourself, you can expect some latitude and flexibility on their part. If not, you're lucky that you're being given the option to resign. Most places would have terminated you.
I tend to agree. I'm in school right now with a lot of this generation and your description really fits the bill. I can't wait until the rubber hit the road and the reality of work life sets in on them. I'm tired of the cry baby drama and the trophy for showing up attitudes. Plus it's great job security for me.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I don't have a lot to say that wasn't already said. As a manager, I do feel the need to mention that acknowledging that you're late and saying "Okay, get here as soon as you can" is not the same as "okaying" you being late, and does not mean that she can't or won't invoke your facility's tardy policy.
I agree with the others - a firing is completely justified. And I laughed at the "Maybe she's just jealous" so thanks for that.
As a supervisor myself. I would have put you on a corrective action form verbal like yours did...3 weeks when you didn't correct the actions (still continue to be late...the reason is not important to me...you are still late) I would proceed you on to a written. Next meeting finial written and then termination. Sorry, but you are not self-aware that you are your own problem.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Thanks for the few helpful replies, others were entertaining :)
So the times that I was late was due to being sick, car not working, and surprise coming from doctors' appointments that she had given me permission to attend. So how does she give permission to arrive late then turn around and write me up for being late. hmm..
I had and still have health problems (at one point I had emergent surgery and once I almost passed out) but the focus is on attendance, nevermind that I'm going through a health crisis. I didn't qualify for FMLA so that was out of the question.
I will exit from this post now and will take away the kindness and understanding of nutella's post to name a few. You are right nutella I was pretty green coming into this discipline and am proud of myself for coming this far. I taught myself a great deal of things along the way since there was no formal training/orientation. It has all been a learning experience.
And honestly I expected a better reply and attitude from fellow nurses, calling my husband pretty boy? Hilarious! So typical! Nice one! Mentioning HIS comment about jealousy?? Wow, what a mistake!
Good night and thanks for the well wishes :)
Car not working, being sick and "surprise coming from the doctor's office" are not reasons to be late for work three or four times -- I had difficulty reading your initial post -- in an eight month period. Perhaps three or four times in 8 YEARS, but even that reeks of irresponsibility. If you're sick, call in sick. Don't just come to work three hours late.
You got honest, realistic responses from real nurses. I'm not sure what you expected -- "There, there you poor thing, you're being bullied by that mean old supervisor"? You were out of line. The supervisor expected you to be there on time when scheduled, stay until quitting time and do your job correctly in between. I'm not sure what is so unreasonable about those expectations.
And if you (or your husband) really thinks your issues are because the supervisor is jealous of you, I think you both need to grow up.
I have been accused of blowing daisies up peoples' rear ends because I am easier on people than a lot of other nurses on this board. There is one of two things going on with you. A: You are kidding OR B: You are clueless My goodness how did you get through school with all of the call offs and drama? (Thrown from the Tower -what a title!) As far as trying ICU, I see you not lasting through the orientation. When patients need to be seen or other staff need to go home, they need a dependable person. They do not care if you are married to Donald Trump or Jack the Ripper. They are not jealous of you or your "wonderful" marriage. They are really frustrated with your selfish attitude. What if you had to wait an extended time for one of your doctor's visits because his/her staff worked like you do? OMG what if you were on the receiving end of yourself as a coworker??? Unfortunately, you could be for real. That is what really scares me!
Mentioning HIS comment about jealousy?? Wow, what a mistake! 
flying_ace2
193 Posts
And how old is OP? Because this is all making me have unpleasant flash-backs of middle school. :***: