Welcome to your new job! Lesson #1 Lock up your valuables!

Nurses General Nursing

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my wife started a new job in a hospital on the oncology floor horary! she went through the standard orientation and worked the last two days as her first two 12 hours shifts on the floor. so she had pulled $40 out of the atm wednesday evening. either on her first shift thursday or the next 12 hour shift friday someone stole $20 out of her wallet.

she had her wallet zipped up in her bag, behind a locked door where only staff could access, however someone still ripped her off. the facility does provide lockers but they are supposed to share with the other shifts and if the other shift doesn't take their lock off and stuff home there are no lockers.

i asked my wife if anyone else left their bag out, she said no they did not, i guess now we know why...

of course we cannot accuse anyone but we are 100% sure the money was taken at work because she didn't go anywhere or buy anything after the atm other then work...

she has learned a valuable lesson, but what a nice way to start off a new job...

Specializes in Med/Surg.

Years ago when I was a CNA at a nursing home, one of my coworkers had a sub sandwich stolen out of the sleeve of their coat, which was hung in an employee coat closet. Some people have NO boundaries.

We have lockers on our 'home' units where I work, but when you float to another floor, there isn't an individual locker for you that you can lock up your purse. Granted, you can leave it on your own floor, but that's a real pain if you need something out of it, and it's half a building away.

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Specializes in Med Surg.

I have a Littman 3000 steth and you can bet I never let it out of my sight unless it's locked up. A couple of the docs around here keep eyeballing it. Not that I don't trust them but I think they could afford $250 bucks a lot more easily than I can.

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I had my lunch stolen out of the breakroom fridge a few times. Not just the food but the containers that it was in!! The next time, I put my lunch in and when i got a few minutes later on that night I ran down to grab my lunch and again it was gone. The next day, I put my lunch in the fridge with a note.."To whomever at my lunch last evening..I hope you enjoyed my special seasoning on the salad that was expecially for you.."haaaaccckkk...spit" and a smiley face. (no, i really didn't spit on my salad, i was hoping that it would be there later that evening, but the person who'd been eating my luches didn't know that LOL)

Never again did my lunch walk away.

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Specializes in Med Surg.
I had my lunch stolen out of the breakroom fridge a few times. Not just the food but the containers that it was in!! The next time, I put my lunch in and when i got a few minutes later on that night I ran down to grab my lunch and again it was gone. The next day, I put my lunch in the fridge with a note.."To whomever at my lunch last evening..I hope you enjoyed my special seasoning on the salad that was expecially for you.."haaaaccckkk...spit" and a smiley face. (no, i really didn't spit on my salad, i was hoping that it would be there later that evening, but the person who'd been eating my luches didn't know that LOL)

Never again did my lunch walk away.

When I first started working in manufactuing on 12 hr shifts, I would always take two sandwiches to work and put them in our breakroom fridge. At night, this area was pretty isolated. Someone kept stealing one sandwich and leaving me one. I tried taking three and they would take two and leave me one. Finally, I fixed a couple of sandwiches one night that had a "special" blend of spices - habanero juice and scotch bonnet pepper slices. I never had another lunch messed with again although to be on the safe side I did bring canned foods only to work for a while.

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HAHA habanero pepper juice- that's practically pepper spray. Nicely done.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i always carry my stethoscope around my neck when at work (also my portable pulse ox, since i paid for it out of pocket). i am sure people make fun of me especially in the summer when it gets hot but i don't care. my stethoscope was $240 and the pulse ox was $200 so i do not tempt anyone by leaving them around. when i worked in a doctor's office, we had the same stethoscope and he would always accuse me of taking his when it was mine. he is the only person that i ever let borrow my stethoscope as well. when doctors come in needing one, i don't let them use mine. i know it sounds selfish, but i don't want it to "walk away". i always carry my money and/or credit cards on me when at work. i have been a nurse for over 10 years and i am worked in many different places (i also do agency). fortunately, it has never happened to me but i always hear stories no matter where i go about people having their wallets and/or money, etc. stolen. it sucks, you would think you could trust your coworkers but that is usually not the way it is.

we keep our bags in our patient rooms -- insufficient locker space -- and more than once i've had visitors go through my bag. one woman insisted she was "looking for a bible." odd, that. i came back from lunch and she said "is that your bag?" i said it was, and she said "oh, i see you're reading a nevada barr mystery." i was dumbfounded. when i recovered and asked her how she knew that, she said "oh, i went through it looking for a bible." my wallet was still there, but my credit card was awol. i still get angry when i think about that. the story got around, and the patient's doctor pulled the visitor out of the room and told her she was totally out of line, she needed to apologize, and if anything like that ever happened again she'd be banned from the hospital. she said she was "sorry i got so upset about it."

i went out on my next day off and bought a teeny little wallet big enough for my driver's license, a bit of cash and atm card and now i transfer those items from my big wallet to the little wallet before i go to work. the little wallet stays in my pocket. i keep my cell phone in a holster on my waistband. so my bag holds my stethescope, pens, a book, calipers, a bottle of water (since we're not allowed to have water anywhere but the break room, and i can't get there every time i want a sip) a various and sundry other things. and yes, i still keep it in my patient's room.

i know people who keep their purses in the (locked) break room, and have had wallets, credit cards or cash go missing. once my friend dee caught a visitor lifting her wallet. dee was a black belt in tae kwan do . . . she chased him down the hall, caught him, wrestled him to the ground and held him there until security came to get him. he was shocked -- she was only 5' 1" tall!

i started out to say that i don't let anyone borrow my steth either. (and then i got sidetracked.) i've had a few people tell me off for being so "mean", but i've still got this one. the last one i had i let my husband borrow. he put it down somewhere and it was never seen again. i don't even let him borrow this one!

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Specializes in Geriatrics/Retirement Residence.

This is disgusting! But what can we do? People steal...:mad:

Someone once commented on this site "don't bring to the hospital what ever you can't afford to loose for ever..." true, true :rolleyes:

I would just keep my money in my pocket, engrave my name on my stethoscope (as I'm planning to do for school next month), and don't bring any fancy iPods, or other such things to work (or keep them on your person at all times) If I had a car and worked in a hospital that has problems with lockers, I would lock my purse in my trunk...

If you don't have a car (like me) just don't take fancy things to wonk in your purse, and keep your cash on you. :uhoh3:

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I work home health and go to different neighboorhoods and some are bad and some good.So I usually leave my handbag in the back of my trunk locked. I run into a lot of "weird" situations.Like today I was in a not so good area and some car was passing by me and the people in the car saw me sitting in my car waiting for my patient,and turned around and drove up parallel to my car opened a window and asked me "What am I looking for here" Mind you they sorta looked like young trouble makers.I said I'm a nurse and I'm waiting for my patient.So they said "ok" and took off parked like couple cars from me,came of of the car and just basically hang out on the street with bunch of othetr guys from the "hood" and I saw them observing me from time to time.I thought I was going to die I swear when those guys drove up to me!

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That's part of the dark side of Home Health.

Real Estate Agents are big time victims of violent crime, but I'm not sure about home health nurses.

Every home health nurse, male or female, should be wearing some sort of medic alert or panic button around their neck ("I've fallen and I can't get up"), carry a cell phone with 911 on speed dial and keep it in hand at all times, and perhaps keep pepper spray in the car or keychain. These are things that real estate agents have been advised to do in the past since even "safe" neighborhoods can be unsafe.

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