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flashback to saturday night, Irene is whipping wind and rain and she hasn't fully arrived. i sleep on and off for hours, worried about getting to work, where i can park my car safely, if i should drive in or take car service, what about power at the hospital? how many patients? what'll we do if we get slammed with triages, will all my coworkers show up for work????
the area i live in was not in any evacuation zone, neither is where i parked my car (a good spot with no trees). if i drove, i'd be going into zone c. very close to zone b and a. so, i took car service in, made sure i got there in plenty of time to relieve the day shift so that she could get home safely. the drive to work was easy and the parkway extremely light in traffic. i was armed with an overnight bag and basic essentials should i get stuck there.
i made it in, the doc made it in, reception didn't...(and they live a few blocks away from the hospital), the assistant didn't since she claims she was unable to get car service...both the doc and i took car service and i called about 5 to compare prices. so, you figure it out.
when i walked in, one of the owners of the practice was there and gave me a high five. i knew people wouldn't make it in and was resigned to that fact.
so, the triages trickle in. up until about 11:30pm. then the power goes out. luckily a generator (fully gassed with two 5 gallon gas cans on standby) is started by the owner who got stuck at the hospital and one of the assistants who lives nearby and came in when they called him to cover. we plugged vital items in and i have to say, the patients (all stable) probably got a great night's sleep since it was dark. i checked on them with my small flashlight. the rest of the night passed uneventfully.
come morning. will our relief show up? the tech scheduled actually tried to use the excuse that her parents did not want her to go to work. she also lives about 5 minute drive from the hospital and is 25 years old. she was called by one of the supervisors and asked again and her dad ended up driving her. the day doc showed up 1 hour early to relieve the overnight doc. the tech actually also showed up about 1 hour early as well. i was grateful.
my plan was to call for car service. none were out driving. i was stuck at the hospital. the assistant who was covering ended up driving me and the doc home and he also picked up the receptionist as well. earlier, the receptionist had actually debated on whether she would come in or not.
when i got home, i had power and i walked in on two sleeping cats. called my Mom to let her know i was okay because i know she was worried. i hit the sack grateful to be home. i planned on driving to work that night. was a little worried because overnight (Sat to Sun morning) the Belt Pkwy had been closed from the entrance i get on to the exit i get off for work. the route the assistant took to get us home was riddled with downed trees. so anyway, after sleeping a few hours, i got up (sunday evening) and checked the web for any info on the Belt and lo and behold, it was open. so, i got ready early so that i could relieve the day tech early as she did for me that morning. the power had come back on at 1pm. they seemed to have been busy. so, i walk into a sunday with a receptionist who is pissed off that she has to work a 10 hour shift the next morning and is stuck at the hospital until midnight. this is the same receptionist who called out on her saturday shift (she lives practically around the block from the hospital and could walk...Irene had calmed down and was basically on it's way out...) with the excuse that her parents didn't want her to go...(this girl is friends with the tech who tried to use the same excuse) i mean these girls went to freakin' las vegas and lived it up (did they ask their parent's permission to bag anything with a penis all weekend while drunk out of their minds?)
i think not.
this girl was itching for an argument.
enter the drama. suffice it to say, an argument ensued and she walked out 1 hour before she was scheduled to, knowing that it would just be me and the doc since the assistant called out again.
the argument ensued because i was taking care of a patient and didn't want to hear the complaining...which is non-stop when you work with this girl. i mean shut the F up... either quit the job and find something "better" or suck it up like the rest of us. and while you're at it, grow up you are in your 20's
so, i played receptionist, assistant, and tech from sunday night to monday morning. two eclampsia dogs came in. and a really bad big dog - little dog bite wound that required general anesthesia.. one of the eclampsia dogs was promptly treated, hospitalized and gave birth to 7 pups later on that night (this was the patient i was taking care of when hissy baby picked an argument with me). the other perked up after a dose of calcium gluconate, was hospitalized for 12 hours. the bite wound was recovered and prepped to go home since she would need a surgical consult.
i ran my ASS off that overnight shift. was extremely upset about the immature actions of the receptionist who walked out and gave me the finger on her way out...and i was also frustrated that i couldn't get a lot of assistant work done so the hospital was a mess.... i was exhausted.
i got home and basically broke down and cried like a baby. somehow it felt as if my coworkers were trying to break me. the last month or so, almost every shift i work is short staffed, people call out and there is no coverage for them so it's all on me and the doc, and on the assistant (when we have no receptionist schedule and if they show up to work).
morale is awful. it's almost, as someone else put it, "like a massive rebellion" the folks that called out could not find coverage. attempts at managers to find coverage were met with no returned calls or just plain "No".
i can understand that folks feel it is their right to not travel to work during predicted treacherous weather. however, those who protested the loudest tended to live a stone's throw away AND they continued to call out despite the weather clearing up. my safety matters to my family as well, but if i can make it in coming from far, and the doc made it in from far, why is it a problem for others who are close by? and why does it become a "I'm not going to work for the entire weekend" or "I don't want to work my entire shift because I have work tomorrow too? i mean really, this is the F'ing shift you were hired to work. when you accepted the position, you also accepted the freakin' schedule. why is this now a problem???
the concept of teamwork is gone, where it had been great a few months ago
last night (mon to tues morn) was better. it was slow. i needed that. still, reception called out again, and the day reception had a hissy fit (this was the one who left the hospital before her shift was supposed to end) because she didn't want to cover for the one who called out...so they had to call in the assistant (who wasn't scheduled to work since he worked 20 hours 1.5 days ago...he's the one who gave everyone rides to and from work). he stayed until the overnight assistant came in at 10pm.
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1. what is going on with folks and good work ethics?
2. why is this allowed to go on?
3. will there be write ups, reprimands in store?
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it matters not to me at this point. i am off for the next 11 nights and plan on destressing and forgetting what i lived through the past 4 days.
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in other news, my sis who lives in PA lost power for a little bit and my bro's (lives upstate NY) car got damaged by a fallen tree.
otherwise everyone is safe.
and i'm free for now...
ciao!