Okay, here's the deal. I have a nurse manager, and since she came on in January of this year, I kid you not, half the staff have left due to this woman. We actually don't have the bodies to staff our floor on some shifts anymore, and have to beg for help from the other floors. Often, the first response is, "SHE's not on the floor, is she?"
Well, my review's coming up. I've worked for this woman for a year, and I've never gotten any feedback good/bad. I mean, NONE. My charge nurses like my work, and I've had charge nurses on other floors actively try to recruit me to work on their unit. The only reason I haven't taken them up on it is feeling guilty about leaving my friends at the mercy of this woman, and our pathetically low headcount. Don't get me wrong, I'm in my 40's and I don't need petting or stroking, but I'm still a new nurse, and it would be nice to know if my managers think I'm doing a good job or a horrible one before I get to my appraisal.
I've been trying to stay out of her way, since I've seen her be rude and demeaning to people who didn't say anything but "good morning" to her, but this morning, I got cornered. I was doing some routine stuff, and she came up and gave me a gift card (hospital gives a 25 dollar gift card to the nurses). I'd heard from others how much she's "enjoying" this -- a couple of dayshift nurses said she practically threw the cards at them, and just acted like she hated to have to interact with any of them. She had a "I just bit a lemon" look on her face, didn't say, "hey, Merry Christmas / seasons's greetings / thanks for the good work this year" -- all she said was "sign here" for me to sign for the card. I asked her if she did the waive testing, or who could sign me off -- my first review cycle, I don't know. She asked me in a really sharp, angry voice why I didn't go to the skills fair, and, idiot me, I try to smile and make the best of it, I said, "well, I could go to the skills fair, or take my midterm, so I didn't go." I said it with a smile, gentle tone. I mean, she know's I'm in school working on my RN.
She snapped back, "There's no need to be smart about it, and you don't have to take that tone." SMART? What on god's green earth was she talking about? I answered her question. I mean now, I know I should have seen her coming, turned and ran. If I couldn't, I should have just never said a word.
Problem is, this woman is getting ready to do my review. I have NO confidence that she is going to give me a good one, she's never given me the first word of feedback all year, but I could see her gut ripping me to get more money for the few nurses that brown nose her. I've already talked to the supervisor on another floor, and she's seeing if they have a spot for me, but...I guess I'm disappointed. I do a good job, my peers like me, and several said they really enjoy working with me because they can ask me questions without me making them "feel stupid" like others do, and I'm sitting here with a knot in my stomach because of this one dysfunctional woman.
