1. Do you ever call to have estimates on something in your house or take your car to get fixed and wished your nursing ID card was at the bottom of your dark, dark bag.
I find that estimates go way, way up when someone figures out you're a nurse.
2. All of a sudden you're getting invitations from people for baby showers, weddings, etc. and your not even friends (not sure you like them)
3. Or the brave one's who just out right say "you're making the big bucks now, can I borrow money"
How much a person makes is relative to their financial responsibilities. People are too busy trying to count your dollars reading adds that say "Nursing wanted up to $70hr only 3 days a week :chuckle:chuckle:chuckle:chuckle All I have to say is DEBT-TO-INCOME RATIO
Noone thinks I'm rich - in fact, the contractors are making more than I am so I don't feel taken advantage of when given an estimate.
I have no problem cutting strangers off mid-sentence when I am not at work and being paid to listen to them complain. But I rarely go out in my scrubs, and I eshew the totebags and cute t-shirts. (even if the former are free from the drug companies and the latter are gifts that stay folded in a drawer!)
You can always tell people that you sell insurance.
I just finished my pre reqs, and I am waiting for my big letter so I can start my clinicals. That being said I have had family members display skin rashes, and all sort of things for me to DX. I tell them I have never even handled patient care yet. I add that if they have a cellular emergency they can call me because with all my sciences I have that covered.
it doesn't make any differece they won't listen to you anyway
i told my grandsn that his girlfriends father looked REALLY BAD and needed to go to er,,,,i was sharing some cake with another guest and i saw the old man in the corner, diaphoric, 4+edema l extremities sob i went back out side and asked why he hadn't been taken to hospital and they told me that he had an appt early tuesday am [this was sunday]
when my dd took him to er they kept him and he had a cabg
I don't try and hide the fact that I'm a nurse, if family and friends want to talk about medical stuff its fine, 9 times out of 10 it ends with me telling them to go to the dr if its a new things, but most of the time they just like to share their past stories or talk about things like their surguries, labor, etc., really doesn't bother me.
It is annoying when someone says "Oh you only work 3 days a week? Well that must be nice, 4 days off every week." Then I try to explain that one of those days is spent either in bed sleeping or on the couch trying to get motivation to do housework, only to be met with "Well 4 days is more than most people get". True true, but most people will never understand what its like to work night shift unless they actually try it for a few weeks
And you know, the money IS decent, just today a high-schooler overheard me on the phone talking about making $30 bucks an hour and he was in shock. Granted he's only 17 but I told him, "That's what you get with a college education bud". If it helps get kids in college, I'll tell them how much I make!
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I am learning to keep my mouth shut. It leads to too many other questions about conditions, medications, why am I not an RN, will I go back to school, can I come and check out so and so...etc...
I don't really advertise or try to hide it. My family and friends all know I am a nurse, but they leave me alone about medical advice because I work in NICU. Anyone else that might happen to spot me in scrubs and start asking me stuff, I just tell them "Sorry, you're not a preemie or a sick baby, you should probably ask your doctor!" But then of course, they want to ask me if it's sad when all the babies die...No matter where I am or when it is, I'm running late for work, gotta go!
A few months ago in Starbucks, this 17 (or so) y/o boy called me a doctor. That was the only time I really stuck it out in a conversation about being a nurse. He actually told me that he was considering nursing school, so I chatted with him a little bit about that.
At $70 an hour I'll be hitting myself up for cash...where's that?
I prefer to be incognito except at work, and I try to forget all the gruesome family details I find out.
Trust me, I wish I could make $70 per hour (LOL) but these are advertisements for assignments that require temp relocation with all sorts of crazy commitments, etc.
Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
I only mind people knowing if they want free services.
Most people who know me know I'm a nurse. I get asked questions, to look at this, etc. Mostly I end up with the usual "Yes, you need to talk to your PCP."
I wear street clothes and don't wear a lab coat in public so I'm pretty much incognito to strangers. I don't practice where I live.
A couple of days ago, though, my husband went to the grocery store in the small town where we live. We had a hospital there that closed a few years ago, where we both worked (he's not a nurse). Someone he didn't know, but who I suspect recognized him, asked him "Do you know a nurse?" He asked the guy why he wanted to know. "Well, I need someone to teach me to give myself a shot!" DH replied "You need to go to the clinic. (There is a very small clinic with a semi-retired MD and his nurse of many years still open there). The man said "But, I'd have to pay if I went to the clinic!"
DH just shrugged and said, "Sorry, you'll have to go to the clinic." Bless his cotton-pickin' little heart, he wasn't about to volunteer my services!
Specializes in OB, Telephone Triage, Chart Review/Code.
When I worked L&D and postpartum, mostly family members and close friends would come to me with their complaints or sx. I would tell them...."Now if you were pregnant, I could help you." Stopped 'em in their tracks every time...and we all got a good laugh about it.
Hmm. Thankfully I don't have anyone hitting me up for money, but then again most my family lives out of state and me being an only child probably has something to do with it.
I don't advertise, but my wife drags me to her doctor's appointments and ALWAYS makes sure to tell everyone that I am an RN, because she gets treated differently. I just shake my head each time she does it.
Ironically, when I go to the doctor's appointments, my MD's that I see are usually MD's I work with at the hospital and they know me, so it's kinda weird in a way, but at the same token it makes things easier when you both speak the same language and have good ideas on what will work for you and what won't for illness/ailments.
Plenty of people hit me up for anxiety relief/talking about family members in the hospital, and ask me if I have heard of this or that before, and how are things typically treated.
I don't like anyone to know I'm a nurse outside of work. When I'm off work, I want to RELAX and enjoy myself. When someone knows what you do for a living, they then start pestering you with questions about work.
Blee O'Myacin, BSN, RN
721 Posts
Noone thinks I'm rich - in fact, the contractors are making more than I am so I don't feel taken advantage of when given an estimate.
I have no problem cutting strangers off mid-sentence when I am not at work and being paid to listen to them complain. But I rarely go out in my scrubs, and I eshew the totebags and cute t-shirts. (even if the former are free from the drug companies and the latter are gifts that stay folded in a drawer!)
You can always tell people that you sell insurance.
Blee