To the nurse who was belittling and condescending to me today

[Wherearethelandmarks]

Background:

I am a dietary assistant in a long-term care setting. This means I am responsible for preparing and serving meals daily. During lunch today I was treated very rudely by a registered nurse who visits some of our residents on a regular basis. I have not held this job for a long time, but it is giving my family some extra income during the summer breaks between nursing school semesters.

To the nurse who treated me as though I am incompetent because I was unaware that a certain resident needs to have prune juice with every meal. This had not been communicated to me.

I know, I work in a kitchen, so I must be incompetent.

Little did you know, I work, take care of two kids and just got an A in Medical Surgical Nursing II last semester.

Little did you know, I've earned A's in nearly every core nursing class I have taken.

I must be so stupid and incompetent --because there is poor communication where I work. It must be all the stupid cook's fault.

/End Rant

Thank you for listening.

Please treat all staff and support staff with dignity and respect. Please do not be condescending and rude. Most of us are really trying to do a good job.

[chiandre]

Good for you to vent. It helps! Some people lack self-esteem so they try to steal it from other people. Sometimes, these self-esteem vampires do not even know that they are doing it. Next time, feel bad for her. She must be lacking self-worth and self-esteem.

[YoYosama, BSN]

So, what did you say to the rude nurse? You need to start standing up for yourself.. NOW. As a nurse you will be required to be assertive for yourself and your patient.

In this case, eye to eye contact and say, where is that documented in the patient's dietary orders?

Best of luck, it's a jungle out here.

Very well put! I TOTALLY agree with you about standing up for yourself. Too many nurses are passive. I just learned about passiveness in my nursing class and it is VERY DAMAGING. People think that they can brush it off their shoulders but they really can't.....as time goes by these nurses becomes bitter and hold grudges, this is str8 from my textbook. I think ignoring the problem and being passive will allow these kinds of behavior to continue. I would kindly talk to her the next time. She probly will apologize. This makes less tension next time you see her! I have yet see a person actually can brush everything off their shoulders, days and weeks go by they will gossip about it. So much for letting it off the duck's back. See it too many times. I do agree with a few other ppl on here, you can't always let everything gets to you but at the same time you can't control how you feel. If it gets to you, it gets to you and you must deal with it assertively.

[Verygreennurse]

I agree on some days, things just hit you the wrong way. This is a great way to vent. If you dont have thick skin now though... start working on it.

But you bring up a point i love. Treat everyone equally! Every monday, i ask the man who stocks our supplies how his weekend was. It took him a while but he finally figured out i actually do care. Now he smiles when he sees me.

I cant just ignore the people around me. Especially the ones that are helping me perform my best! We are all in it together!

[OCNRN63, RN]

Try your best not to let that interaction take up space in your head. People like that usually have major insecurity issues and unfortunately this one just happened to be a nurse.

Learn the lesson even earlier of how not to treat others when you pass your NCLEX when the time comes!

Or maybe that "rude" person is dealing with a serious personal health issue; has a family member who is dying; had to deal with a her car breaking down and was just frustrated;had just been reamed out by a doc for something else and took her frustrations out on OP. We'll never know. The point is, episodes like this are not necessarily indicative of psychopathology.