Post your Gripe

[AliOop]

@Catscankim I think you have your answer as to why he didn't go to med school or do something more in line with his book-smartness. His struggles with understanding how others think and feel would present a real challenge in any job.

My guess would be that he's on the spectrum.

 

[JuLeeRenee]

I have a lot of gripes right now. First is my landlord. He does absolutely no maintenance. I will leave it at that for now with the landlord. The hubby went to pick up our son from school last month and got into an accident (not his fault and he is ok) that totaled out my car. I had my car a year and a half. It was the last year that it was being sold in the US so while it is replaceable with a different kind of car it was actually irreplaceable at the same time. The other persons insurance did end up paying it off plus we got money back. We actually made money off of it. Go to buy a new car and the way they are selling cars now is horrible. I put down a deposit on a piece of paper ( it was actually a car but I didn't get to see it till it came in). I was told the car would be in, in 7 to 8 days. Called on day 8 and it wasn't in. Waited 2 more days the day they said it would be no later than, still not in. Waited 3 more days and it finally came in. Um so yeah, it wasn't the car I actually put a deposit on. This didn't upset me too bad because it had more options than the one I was suppose to get. Take it back the next day to get my windows tinted. The person who tinted it scratched it. Then on the way home afterwards The windshield was chipped. Thankfully it wasn't chipped too bad that it had to be fixed. When the hubby came home we looked at the tinting job and it was already bubbling. Yeah not going to take it back just to get more scratches in the car. By the way, I am not happy with the new car and really wished my other car wasn't totaled. Other than that everything is ok except for the fact that my asthma is still really bad and can't make soap still.

 

[Catscankim]

@Catscankim I think you have your answer as to why he didn't go to med school or do something more in line with his book-smartness. His struggles with understanding how others think and feel would present a real challenge in any job.

My guess would be that he's on the spectrum.

My manager said to write it up as a verbal warning. Seriously? Write him up for what? Waking me up? Lol. I think HR would laugh at me for that. Anyway, evaluations are due this week, so i am going to use it as a teaching tool.

Here is another story….during his first week, i put out a schedule (i hired FOUR people at the same time and they all started on the same day. So as to not kill us existing techs on the same day which would benefit nobody, i spread them out to work different shifts. Side note: we never really had a shift. Our hospital decided to do a fun thing 5 or 6 years ago….everybody is variable. So you got stuck with wherever you were needed. I hated it. Everybody did, but for scheduling purposes it worked, at our expense. When i became supervisor i swore i was going to change it. It is so hard to flip flop from morning to night, back to morning or afternoon. On no planet should this be a way of life, but…everybody needs to cover shifts if somebody is off. I do, and I don't have to... The first time I made a schedule it was like playing sudoko, putting people wherever they fit.

So his first week of work was working 3rd shift, then a week of 2nd, a week of 1st. There are a lot of different things to learn on each shift. They are literally all different. The techs I already have there hate when they have to go to another shift because it is like night and day.

I get a late night text "hey, this schedule doesn't really work out very well for me. I need a work/life balance. I can't jump from shift to shift like this all in one month."

I said, "this is a level one trauma hospital. Get used to not sleeping, and doing things that are not in your job description because we are a team, and we all cover each other's back here."

So he starts whining to everybody about his work life balance and how terrible his schedule is. Finally I pull him aside "I have been doing this since 1995 and I think I have earned my stripes, but I still do it. It is the nature of working in a hospital. It is just the way it works."

And listen: I am the only supervisor in our entire radiology department that WORKS like this. Ultrasound, MRI, etc... they sit in their office and make schedules and do timecards... I do all the supervisor duties, and work on the floor. I relieve everybody for lunch (which never happened before), I am back and forth and back and forth between three scanners in three totally different parts of the hospital/outpatient center...people are happy, I am exhausted by the end of the day, but my department is run like a well-oiled machine.

I don't have to do holidays. I don't have to work weekends, or night shifts or anything outside of my 7-3. But I do it. I have gained respect of every single person in our department, even our angry old night tech...just not this kid because of his "work/life balance". Give me a break...

We had a computer downtime a couple of weeks ago. My angry old guy at night...well I didn't tell him about downtime cause he would call out lol. But I got one of the more experienced newbies there to help out (because people on orientation are like free help)..., a transporter, and I went in. I think (angry old guy) was actually crying "I never felt like I had support before". Downtime sucks. I been there. This was a hard down: phones, overhead paging, ALL computer systems. I knew it was going to be more than just a computer glitch that randomly happens. I brought food and tried to make it as painless as possible.

Then this softie saying that I get paid to answer his calls all night...let me tell you, I got a $3/hr raise to take my position. He can suck off. I do my job because I love it. I have a feeling that he is going to be a thorn in my side.

 

[Catscankim]

So my man-child....

I posted my schedule for the next month the other day. He says to me that he requested time-off for the week of the Thanksgiving holiday. I told him that we have a rule, only one person is permitted at a time, and so and so already has off, and that I already explained this to him when he got hired. "Oh, ok." and that was it.

Then I left for the day and he starts blowing up my phone about the weekend. For pete's sake, I just left work and now I am on the turnpike. So I get home and tell him that there are enough people there and that he can definitely just take off the weekend.

I got called to my director's office this morning, and apparently this kid has a laundry list of complaints and wants to take me to the union and HR. REALLY????

Because I wouldn't give the baby time off. So I went to my office and grabbed the meeting minutes that were printed out and handed out at our meeting on October 6th, that specifically says that nobody is to assume that you have time off approved unless you get an approval form. I even put in there "aka, do not buy plane tickets unless you know that you have already been approved". AND HE SIGNED IT.

I play favoritisms (because he doesn't like his current schedule), which is new news to me. He has a pretty sweet schedule.

He doesn't feel ready to work alone on 3rd shift, which he told me that he feels comfortable, until he actually had to do it.

I didn't ask him if it was ok to change shifts, which I don't have to, he is "variable" that's why I send out schedules for a month at a time. If nobody ever had to change shifts, there would be no reason to put out a freakin schedule lol. Unlike my former boss, I will put a tech on the whole week instead of bouncing people around from one shift to another.

HE WANTS ME TO CHANGE 9-530 TO 10-6:30 because there is too much traffic at 9am, and at 5:30pm, and HE feels that we don't need a tech in there at 9am.

And he said that I am not allowed to schedule him for Thanksgiving and Christmas according to the union rules, which in 3 months he apparently became very familiar with.

With the two holidays...He was only scheduled for one: Christmas. Our regular overnight tech was scheduled off already for Thanksgiving night, which is why this kid was scheduled for that shift. Midnight shift on the night of Thanksgiving is not considered the holiday. It sucks for the person that always does midnights to have to come into work every single holiday night, that is why he puts in the night off. I get it. It means he can never enjoy his holiday. It is his choice to put in time off for that night which he did, and has done for the last 33 years that he has worked there. So that TWO holidays complaint was debunked.

Actually every complaint was debunked, except the one that he said that he is not ready to work by himself (which he already said that he was, but because he said it, and if something happens, then he said it...).

So I said to my director that the only thing that I am budging on is that he doesn't have to work the midnight shift, but the next time it comes around (christmas because of the same issue with the midnight tech), he is first in line because he has already told me, in front of witnesses, that he can do it. And I know he can, that's why I scheduled him that way. I would never never ever ever throw somebody into the fire.

My manager and director are super afraid of any confrontation with HR and the union. I AM NOT. "Can you change the schedule so that..." NOPE. Well what if you... NOPE. Not changing anything. I am the boss, not him, and we finally got a set schedule where everybody knows what they are doing unless somebody has off and it has to change. Its been YEARS. Literally YEARS since we had any kind of regular schedule and now finally we do, and this kid wants to complain the very first time he has to do something he doesn't want to do, like work a midnight shift. I am well within the union rules and he can suck a duck. There is a reason why his generation is the way they are. I am not changing a thing, I have a department to think about, not one whiny little jerk. Standing my ground.

And he wants me to change hours just because of traffic?? ARE YOU SERIOUS? I drive an hour back and forth every single day and have for 7, almost 8 years. This privileged kid doesn't like the drive. Beat it.

So not liking my stance, he told my director later that he plans on giving his two week notice. Then he told my lead tech the same thing ALL DAY LONG TODAY. I will gladly accept it. There is a mile-long list of students waiting for this opportunity for a NINE TO FIVE JOB right out of xray school.

I didn't have to take him to begin with. He didn't have a CT license, nor was he in CT school. We changed the job description just to hire him.

I was sitting in that office today with "The People", I didn't give a crap. Honestly. My director is retiring in maybe a year, and my manager is new at being manager. They are so afraid of confrontation it is disgusting. I am not bowing down now that my people are actually happy. And we have a kid out of school by three months stomping around like a three year old right now. I am not disrupting my department for him.

Don't get me started on his mother being a CNO at another hospital. Go work there dude...She would be embarrassed by his behavior.

 

[Catscankim]

I have a very good friend that came upon hard times recently. He owns his own business and all, so its not about money.

He and his mom were extremely close. She died last month. She owned a double-wide trailer, bigger than my house. The place that she had her lot for the trailer is a 55+ community.

So backing up here: he rented a little house on the intercoast. He had been there for years and years. It was a super cool little place, very key west, with a dock. So when his mom got sick, he gave up this place to go live with her as her care-taker. Then she died.

The community that her trailer is located on is kicking him out. I have been in this position before and will never ever ever let any friend of mine worry about having a place to live.

They told him that he has until Nov 30 to leave. I'm like LOL. They can't just tell you that you need to leave. Meanwhile he is still paying for the lot. I don't understand why they won't just let him have the lot that he is still paying on. I mean, it's in his mother's name, but the trailer was hers and he inherited it AND he is 55.

Anyway, moving forward. I told him that he can store stuff at my house and he always has a place to stay in the meantime.

I have a friend that owns a shop. So I called her to see if she wants an estate sale because there is an entire house of his mom's stuff to get rid of. 100% yes she said (and she is a mutual friend). He turned her down for just buying everything in the house.

Neither me, nor him had anything to do on Thanksgiving so I invited him over. I didn't have a turkey, so I made a couple cornish hens and a bunch of fixings that I happened to have...I made fresh cranberry sauce, corn off the cob, mashed potatoes boiled in my own chicken stock...on and on. I mean, in a hot minute, I made a pretty good spread, even though I worked overnight that night and was running on gas fumes.

Everything that he brought over to store at my house is apparently better than any of my stuff LOL. Her cast iron skillet is better than mine. Use this pot, use this pan....it is good quality. BTW, I have nice stuff to cook with lol. It's kinda my thing. But then he literally started transferring food that was almost ready for the table to his mom's pots. In the end we had a good meal so I guess that is all that matters, even though now we had double dishes because we had to finish cooking in his mom's pots and pans.

I get it, he is going through a thing.

Tonight he called me and asked if he could bring over some more of his mom's things. I'm thinking personal items that he doesn't want to lose in case of the Nov 30th deadline for him to evict, or even the two bedroom sets. NO, he brings over more crap LOL.

So he goes on this whole "my mom's stuff is better than your stuff" deal again. I have two completely empty spare bedrooms and a garage that he can store his things in. I'm like soooo....just put the boxes in the room and we can have a garage sale. "Need a coffee maker?" No...I have a coffee maker, all I drink is coffee. "This is a GOOD coffee maker".

Finally I'm like: let's think big dude. We will take apart your mom's nice bedroom set and set it up in here for you to sleep on, all of this other stuff is replaceable. And now when you get your own place you already have a nice bedroom set. I have a truck, he has a truck, I have friends with trucks...lets get the actual valuable stuff out of her house.

When he knocked on the door tonight I was like, just pull your truck up on the grass so we don't have to keep going back down the driveway. He didn't have his truck, just a trunk load of stuff in his mom's car.

He brought over all of her crafting supplies. His mom's sewing machine is better than mine, so he wants me to have it. I'm like SELL IT!!! Sell all of it. The HOA won't let him have a yard sale there, "so just sell it here at my house". I have tables, I have tents. We could have a helluva garage sale. Oh my gosh...stuff from AC Moore that still has tags on it. More kitchen stuff...and I get the kitchen stuff if it's nice. But it's not all that great, but at least when he gets another place he has stuff....

While bringing in boxes, his mom's Ninja blender base fell out and he lost his freakin marbles over it.

So I guess I am inheriting a neurotic roommate. It has been less than a month since his mom died so I am being super patient with his craziness. He is x-military, and a long time friend, so I really have a soft spot in my heart for him.

I have a mug that I gave my best friend Pam before she died and told him that is the only thing that I kept from her house...it says "One friend can change your whole life". Keep one special thing, some stuff that you need to start your life over, and sell the rest. He can't do it. He wants to just save it all.

 

[TheGecko]

This is a bit of griping and some good stuff.

Gripe #1: Hubby and I are not speaking. He has his bad days and can be a bit of a jerk because of it, but it easily ignored. But then there are the times where he is just a complete butthole…no excuse. Last time was year before last while we were on vacation…he pushed himself too much and ended up in a lot of pain. Instead of being responsible for his bad choice, he took it out on me. I refused to speak to him for a week…after I told him that he was a butthole. This time it was yesterday…his birthday. He was not only a butthole to me, but he was a butthole to my daughter. Instead of getting a wonderful Stuffed Flank Steak, Twice Baked Potatoes and Roasted Brussels for supper…he got leftovers, that he had to get himself. Daughter has already said that she isn’t doing squat for him anymore…no more running the rent check across town, no more running him to the store or getting him treats when she goes, and no more picking him up from his friend’s house (I don’t like driving at night). As for me…the house is going to be real quiet for the foreseeable future. Hubby hates to apologize, he prefers to suck up instead; doesn’t work with me…so quiet it will be. No more calls when I work late, no more ETAs. He’s going to have to do his own Christmas shopping this year…and wrapping. I’ll take him to his son’s house and to see the grandkids at my son’s house for Christmas because it’s not their fault he’s a butthole. He was very emphatic that he didn’t want socks or a blanket for Christmas…guess what he is getting?

Gripe #2: We are a small, but growing CPA firm. We lost four of six employees (pregnancy, relocation, job offer closer to home, new opportunity) and the boss hired five. I told the boss that he is NEVER allowed to hire anyone again without me interviewing them first…I would have asked a LOT more questions. He supposedly hired experienced people…I don’t know if it was wishful thinking, exaggeration of knowledge, miscommunication, misrepresentation, etc, but only one of the five has any solid experience and the personality class between them and the boss may be too much for him, and even if he overlooks it, the Office Admin is too much of a mouse for him to rely on. Of the three new Staff Accountants…two have little to no real accounting experience and I haven’t spent any time with the third yet.

Good Stuff #1: I got a raise…$5.00 an hour. On one hand this is great, on the other it will put me in a higher tax bracket so I’m not sure yet how much I’ll actually get). I had asked for four weeks PTO and was told to just take whatever I needed. Alrighty…four weeks it is.

Good Stuff #2 (maybe): Boss called me into his office…shut the door. Ruh roh. This past year was not a good year and it’s almost mid-December and we are far behind again, everyone doing their own thing, lack of communication, too many late returns, etc. He screwed up, lost focus. He needs me to take over the office, get things organized. If I’m willing, we’ll move a bunch of my clients over to give me more time to oversee the office and to free me up for special projects. I looked at him and said, “You mean like what I did before we moved here and you changed things?” He said, “That was different.” I said, “No it wasn’t…and even with the shut-down, two new employees and moving here, we filed less than 25% extensions. This year we filed 75% extensions.” He just looked at me and said, “Will you do it?” I just said “yes” and walked out.

OMG…what have I gotten myself into?!? LOL

 

[Catscankim]

Follow up to one of me last gripes: the kiddo at work who just started, with a "CNO" mother at another hospital

Man Child:

Turns out he is playing up his mother as someone important and it scared the crap out of our director, because she is scared of her own shadow. She is a staff nurse on a tele unit. Not saying her job is unimportant, but she is definitely a far cry from being the CNO. Not a assistant manager, not a nurse manager, not a nurse supervisor, not a charge nurse. A staff nurse.

Anyway. He decided to step down to per diem. Back up a few weeks...I found out that he is working at mommy's hospital part time as an xray tech, and with me as a full-time (in-training) ct tech. Nothing at all wrong with that. He is also picking up xtra shifts in our xray dept for a bonus per shift. Again, excellent for a new grad.

EXCEPT he said that his shift with me is messing with his "work-life balance", and wants his shift changed because of errrmmmm traffic? And I am playing favoritisms because he doesn't like his shift vs another girls shift. All this stuff that he brought up against me is coming to light, because like I said, I was completely blind-sided.

I'm not an idiot. He is burning both ends of the candle and his regular full time job is interfering with his side gigs.

So moving forward, he tells me he wants to go per diem. He is trying to burn both ends of the candle again, but opposite with his full-time job at another hospital, but all the hassle he has caused me in two months....I'm not messing around. I tell him to submit his transfer paperwork to HR and he does. Then he tells me his only availability with me is Mondays and Tuesdays. "Awwwww, sorry dude, than I can't use you as a per diem. I will accept your letter of resignation. You can date it for December 3rd so you officially put in your two weeks." Just to be nice LOL.

So now instead of having full time with me, plus being able to pick up shifts for a bonus in xray, PLUS having his part time gig at mommys hospital...he ONLY has his full time job at mommy's hospital... All he really wanted was to be able to pick up all those extra shifts. I don't need him nor his drama. Now he has none of the extra $$$.

And by the way, I also found out that the girl whos shift he wanted...he asked her out on a date one week after her fiance left her. When she declined, he started harrassing her via text message and at work. THATS why he wanted her shift, and even when he said he was going per diem, that was the only shift he was available for...HER shift, as if I was going to change a full time employee shift for someone who has limited availability. Abusive behavior in my opinion. He just kept going after her shift even after he put in his transfer.

She begged me not to say anything since he was leaving anyway, but I felt responsible for her since she told me about it. So I told my manager and my director, and another supervisor as a back up. They talked to her and we (including her) decided to let it go. He has stopped bothering her, but I have text documentation if he starts again. Nothing was scary, just inappropriate.

Don't get me wrong, me and a few other co-workers have had mutual inappropriate funny conversations. This was definitely not in the same context.

Anyway, tomorrow is his last day working there. He keeps telling everybody that he is screwing me over. I really have done nothing wrong to this kid, he just lost a battle and will be a memory soon to the rest of us. People like me, that's how I know about all of his shenanigans.

I'm going to go in and hang out and do some stuff, then tell them that I am going up to my office, that way he thinks I am still there. Maybe I will even come back at the end of his shift to collect his badge.

Good riddance. He thought he could play a game and lost. Not my first rodeo.

Edit: and two weeks back when he got his Thanksgiving vacation, he put in to PTO time way above what he had available. He is new and just started accumulating PTO. Anyway, I went to him with a brand new PTO form and told him what he had available (16.25 hours). He's like "i'm leaving anyway, I'm just gonna cash it out. "Ok, sign here if you want to cash out 16.25 hours." Cashing out is at 75%. Dum dum...

Later, my Lead Tech came to me saying that this kid was downstairs laughing that I was probably too stupid to notice that he didn't have 40 hours of PTO and was probably going to get paid for it. I'm so stupid, but he just cashed out his 16 hours PTO at 75%. LOL

 

[TheGecko]

I understand why you all decided not rake the guy over since he is leaving, but I would make sure that that is included in his personnel file. And I would make sure to flag him as a "DO NOT REHIRE".

My saga continues. I explained to our Office Admin yesterday that she's been here for two months now, has done almost every client's payroll at least twice (if not more), and has been given numerous tools to do the job so she shouldn't have to ask questions unless it is something odd. A client using a comma instead of a period for an employee charge was a waste of my time...common sense said it was a typo. And she agreed, but she "wanted to make sure". I told her flat out, "You need to put on your big girl panties or find another job because we simply don't have time to babysit you any more."

Heck, at this point I don't know how I'm going to do my own job. So in addition to my 'promotion', Z and I were told that two of our clients that we have only done year-end work or a couple of businesses are turning over all of their businesses to us; that's four more accounts for Z and five for me. Then yesterday morning the boss dropped a bomb on me. One of our largest clients...35-40 convenience stores plus a dozen other businesses...his "Gecko" is in the hospital and will be out of commission for several months and they want me to 'help' out. So I will be running their payroll and I'll be going to their office twice a week; payroll starts next week, office starts in January. Then the boss call me on his way home to tell me that another one of our clients is turning all of his businesses over to us...to me. So I need to figure out more of my current clients I can shift to our new international office over without offending anyone.

And then yesterday I started reviewing the work of our new staff accountants. I started with J and I thanked Jesus that the 'damage' was only contained to one month. Copies of the checks are included in the bank statement...you enter the date, check number, vendor and amount (account automatically pops up)...easy peasy unless you get a vendor not in the system and you can Google them. He didn't enter check numbers...and the check date was the date the check cleared the bank. WTH?!? "Uh J, why didn't you put in the check numbers?" "I don't know. I'm sure there was a reason, but it was so long ago I don't remember." Huh...you can't remember what you did last Friday? Deep breathe. "Uh J, why did you use the cleared date instead of the check date?" "It just seemed appropriate to me. Is that wrong?" "Yes J it is wrong because not every check clears the same day it was written. Not a big deal within the month, but it is when you're crossing months and at the end of the year, it can have a huge impact on taxes." I decided I needed a break and I texted the boss to tell him that we needed to install a bar in the office. Or I was coming to his house. He said I was more than welcomed to stop anytime.

 

[Catscankim]

He is definitely going to be not eligible for rehire, which is corporate-wide. He caused so much drama in the two or three months that he was there, right out of school...

So he got a few men-folk on his side. I got one guy who is a traveler that asked me "why you going to do "John" like this, he deserves better". SERIOUSLY? Not even deserving a response. This kid is a compulsive liar.

This traveler's last day is xmas eve 3-11pm, and he already told me that he isn't working it. There is nothing I can do about it.

Then I got a text message one night from my per diem tech who has been there for a few years saying how he trained John and he thinks I am getting rid of the wrong person, and that if he has to work with HER again that he is quitting. "She is a liability, and I am not risking my license for her. You need to keep him, not her".

Now, i know this guy drinks, and it was late, so I just brushed it off as a drunk passionate text about his buddy or something. Then he CALLED me the next morning to say the same. All I could hear is john is great, john is great, john is great.

I'm finally like "Listen dude, there is more to the BLEEPING story that you BLEEPING KNOW about JOHN, and you are so wrong and he is playing you. You have been here for 4 years. He has been here for two months. And you work with her for 3 hours ONE day a week." He went on this whole "I love you maaannnn" crap. So I'm like "listen, I work with her two days a week for 8-12 hours. She's new, still learning, but fine. I leave her by her self all the time." "ok ok ok...."

So then he calls out this Saturday, after he was already supposed to be at work, then I called him Saturday night to make sure he was coming in Sunday and he said no. That's two days off on the John bandwagon, claiming he was "sick as a dog". Out of character....literally on this bandwagon. In 4 years he has maybe called out once or twice. I would chalk it up to the World Cup, but its because of the John thing, and maybe the World Cup being on was a bonus. I dunno. He signed up for the shifts to begin with. But after that text message and then our conversation...

Then this guy, who happens to be a nurses union rep: super nice guy. Great guy actually and we are buddies, starts telling me that he is really upset about John leaving "isn't there anything you can do to keep him?" So we spoke off the record and he sat there real quiet, so I'm like kicking myself for saying anything to him because he is a union rep. Finally he pipes in "yeah, he needs to go, you are doing the right thing, I'm so sorry. I know its making you short, but he is going to be a thorn in your side." And he is telling me that John kept talking to him and talking to him and asking union rules and trying to get digs in and asking info about making him work certain hours, and his work-life balance. Bankers hours. This kid got bankers hours 9-5:30, which is hard to come by in a hospital. No call. God he makes me want to scream.

I have ZERO tolerance for this. None, nope, zip, nadda.

 

[cerelife]

@Catscankim What is it with these new grads?! We're short-staffed and have been cherry-picking students for CT. So we have this person who's bright, eager to learn, and whose goal is to be a CT tech. Sounds great and she shows promise. She was hired PRN as a student for Xray but we've kept her in CT the majority of the time.She passed her registry last week and was offered the FT position she's been working already (Weekend nights as a float). So there's an Xray tech and a CT tech, and she helps whomever needs it most. But HR won't approve the CT part of the position because she has no CT experience and isn't CT registered/nor does she have the required minimum of an AS degree. OK, so the director gets it pushed through HR as an Xray position and as soon as she passes the CT registry she will get the additional pay - not even sweating the degree thing. Pretty sweet for a brand spanking new tech, right? But she's unhappy about not making CT pay straight out of xray school (??!!), but agreed to these terms. So yesterday HR notified our director that ARRT hasn't updated her to a registered tech and until they do she will only receive student pay. Again our director stepped in and negotiated that she will receive back pay from the date she passed the test. Pretty awesome if you ask me, BUT this person is now refusing to work AT ALL until she gets "real" tech pay AND she signed up for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day as a student PRN before she knew she would be offered a FT job and is now refusing to work the holiday! She's about to F around and find out how easy it is to rescind a job offer with that attitude.

 

[penelopejane]

Coffee shop employed a new chef. They’d made it clear that punctuality was important. He arrived 1/2 hour late on his first day with no excuse. They fired him and he was shocked! “You can’t fire me it’s my first day.”
Great attitude.

 

[Catscankim]

@Catscankim What is it with these new grads?! We're short-staffed and have been cherry-picking students for CT. So we have this person who's bright, eager to learn, and whose goal is to be a CT tech. Sounds great and she shows promise. She was hired PRN as a student for Xray but we've kept her in CT the majority of the time.She passed her registry last week and was offered the FT position she's been working already (Weekend nights as a float). So there's an Xray tech and a CT tech, and she helps whomever needs it most. But HR won't approve the CT part of the position because she has no CT experience and isn't CT registered/nor does she have the required minimum of an AS degree. OK, so the director gets it pushed through HR as an Xray position and as soon as she passes the CT registry she will get the additional pay - not even sweating the degree thing. Pretty sweet for a brand spanking new tech, right? But she's unhappy about not making CT pay straight out of xray school (??!!), but agreed to these terms. So yesterday HR notified our director that ARRT hasn't updated her to a registered tech and until they do she will only receive student pay. Again our director stepped in and negotiated that she will receive back pay from the date she passed the test. Pretty awesome if you ask me, BUT this person is now refusing to work AT ALL until she gets "real" tech pay AND she signed up for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day as a student PRN before she knew she would be offered a FT job and is now refusing to work the holiday! She's about to F around and find out how easy it is to rescind a job offer with that attitude.

Both of them were our xray students. "John" was a transporter for us as well, so he was exposed a lot to our world for the past two years...he knew our work flow pretty good, so naturally he excelled as a new CT tech.

SHE went right into CT school after graduation, and became one of our CT students while her job application was being evaluated (because HR never sees the dire need of the department to get somebody hired quickly). She met the requirements of being hired by being at minimum...ARRT xray license and actively in CT school. He didn't get accepted into CT school because he did something stupid at one of his clinical sites before he graduated xray school.

I took that as a sign. My director didn't, and thought we could just change the job description for him since it would be an easy transfer because he was already a transporter for us.

Although she still needs work...she is scared of her own shadow and follows me around like she is still a student. I just need to get her confidence up is all. Otherwise she does well on her own unless it is something she hasn't done before. But for pete's sake, she only started fresh from scratch two months ago. I think she is exactly where she should be. Plus we are all nice and everybody is super cool, so there is no scare factor going on. She always offers to help out and work extra or stay extra. She took a Christmas shift because she is Jewish and wanted to give someone else who celebrates Christmas the day off.

The other day I got a call that we had an outpatient ready. She's like "I will go do it." I says "are you SURE, it's Dr. P" (Ortho office office orders crap that doesn't even exist LOL) So I kept peeking in on her exams from the other scanner and PACS, and everything was perfect. She's like, it took a minute because the kid had one leg shorter than the other, and it said a protocol that I remember you said something about a while ago for this office, so I had to look it up in the protocol book."

He, on the other hand, got a really big head and decided that he is more than he is. And he STILL hasn't been accepted into CT school! He really messed up at that clinical site and word got out. I can't wait to hear stories about him in the other hospital (and I will!! LOL). My hospital has all GE and the other hospital that he is going to is Siemens, so he is basically starting from scratch, just like her. The two machines are two totally different animals as I am sure you know. I am so glad to be rid of him. Arrogant jerk. Me and her are the only two females in the department and he found a way to pick on both of us at the same time...with his whole two months of experience. Well THIS girl was like HAHAHA, you just lost two jobs at once (CT and extra shifts in Xray), and not eligible for rehire in 61 hospitals across the United States, 6 of which are in our immediate area. Who is the idiot now? Buh Bye!

BTW we are getting a Siemens Xcite next month. I know, or used to know Siemens from another hospital years ago, but I am told that I probably won't even recognize it anymore

 

[cerelife]

@Catscankim We have all GE scanners at my current hospital and it was quite a change from working with Toshibas for over a decade! Plus I went from 128 slice machines to 64s. It took me a minute to adjust my timing, lol!
We're getting a new scanner this spring and rumor is that it might be a Siemens instead of a GE. I haven't worked on a Siemens since the single slice days when you had to print out the films and hang them for the radiologists! No sure shot for angios back then - you just counted to 30 and let it rip.
We're also going to start doing TAVRs so that should be interesting.
Oddly enough - out of the 10 FT CT techs at my hospital, only one is male. All of our PRNs are female as well.

 

[TheGecko]

Although she still needs work...she is scared of her own shadow and follows me around like she is still a student. I just need to get her confidence up is all. Otherwise she does well on her own unless it is something she hasn't done before.

This is a fairly accurate description of our new Office Admin except she takes it up an extra notch with a lack of critical thinking (aka common sense). Example...I spelt a client name wrong "el" instead of "le". Common sense would tell you that it is just a typo since it is the only towing company client that we have, but no she questions it even as she says she's not questioning it she just wants to make sure. Another time it was a dollar amount...the client had used a comma instead of a period on an employee charge: 36,84. It's a convenience store, common sense says that an employee is not going to be charging $36,000, but again, she questions it even as she says she's not questioning it she just wants to make sure.

And I am feeling equal parts a heel and 'there is a reason things happen' with one of our new Staff Accountants. I've known for over a week now that I have reached my maximum stress/patience/tolerance levels and I have relayed some of it here....both the good and the bad. "Z" would tell you that the more formal I get, the worse it is. So anyhoo...I am completely fed-up with "H" so I tell her yesterday morning just to stop what she is doing and enjoy the rest of the day off and to have a Merry Christmas.

Boss calls me at 5:02pm..."H's" husband has passed away. On one hand I feel like a 'heel' because I was angry with her, but on the other hand, if I hadn't gotten angry, she would have spent her day working instead of being with her family.

 

[Catscankim]

@Catscankim We have all GE scanners at my current hospital and it was quite a change from working with Toshibas for over a decade! Plus I went from 128 slice machines to 64s. It took me a minute to adjust my timing, lol!
We're getting a new scanner this spring and rumor is that it might be a Siemens instead of a GE. I haven't worked on a Siemens since the single slice days when you had to print out the films and hang them for the radiologists! No sure shot for angios back then - you just counted to 30 and let it rip.
We're also going to start doing TAVRs so that should be interesting.
Oddly enough - out of the 10 FT CT techs at my hospital, only one is male. All of our PRNs are female as well.

I worked on a Toshiba once, and when I say once, I mean only one time LOL. It was for an agency job up in Philly. It was just a side job that was all local. This one place had a Toshiba, and I remember feeling like I was going to have a seizure just watching the scout pop up LOL. Other than their crappy Toshiba, the girl that was showing me around would only have me fax stuff and not do any scans. I'm like "I'm not here to learn how to fax something, I'm here because you guys need help, and someone to take call this weekend. LET ME SCAN."

I did my 8 hours and called my recruiter: I'm not going back there, they are nuts and won't let me touch the scanner or a patient...or even fill the injector. What a waste of time. And my boss at my full time job let me take off to go out there to help out.

Seriously, I worked at a university hospital and could work circles around these girls. But instead it was like "here is the fax machine, push this button to send to Nighthawk and wait for the confirmation." LOL.

And I used to count to 25 lol. I remember one time this new girl had an angio head on a newer scanner and couldn't get the bolus tracker to work (more like she couldn't find the carotids). She called me so i told her to just give it 25 seconds and she would be fine...she was amazed...like you could never do an angio without the bolus tracker.

@TheGecko I think you might have been an angel in disguise the other day despite you feeling like poo about it. Everything happens for a reason ya know?

I worked a shift tonight with my scared little kitten. It wasn't terribly busy, so I kinda just strategically left her alone once in a while. I would come back and she got things done, did a stroke alert by herself, did all the paperwork and did just fine. As soon as I came back into the picture it was....gotta follow Kim around all over again. Even the ER charge nurse was like "hey, I like your new girl, she hustles."

I'm not a very "gentle" person, so I gotta think about how to get her to think like that all the time without scaring her away.

As soon as I walked in earlier, she just came back from bringing a patient back. She says "what do you want me to do?" I said, "what were you going to do before I came back?" "Close out my exam and get the next patient" LOL then do that LOL. I don't know why she needs me to validate her every next move when I am there.

 

[TheGecko]

I'm not a very "gentle" person,

I am...until I'm not and even then, it really takes a lot for me to reach the point where I say, "Do NOT talk to me again. I'm done." I had to do that with a former employee...after six months, we had taken all but basic data entry from her. My 'last straw' was I was reviewing her work and the check was written to a repair shop for "Glass Door Repair" and she stuck it in the Ask My Client account. I asked her why she did that and she said "I don't know"; that was her response to everything. And here's kicker. About a week later she quits because "she hasn't received adequate training". The whole office busted up laughing because they knew that she had received more training that anyone else...ever.

When Z first started working for us...her heart just didn't seem to be in it, she'd do the bare minimum. So one day I asked her flat out..."Are you here because you want to work or are you here because you're a bored housewife? If it's the latter...just go home. If it's the former, I will be happy to teach you everything I know so you can be the best at what you do." Today Z is my right-hand and is slated to take over the tax-prep department once she finishes her CPA exams.

I want everyone to be the best at what they do and I will provide you with all the tools in my box along with 30+ years of experience and knowledge. BUT there comes a point when it's time to leave the nest and fly on your own. I'll always be there for backup, but I'm not always going to be around.

 

[Catscankim]

"Are you here because you want to work or are you here because you're a bored housewife?

OMG you sound like me LOL. But you know these kids will get you in trouble these days, just for being blunt..."I don't feel safe" be careful. Learned the hard way. Luckily my HR lady feels the same way I do about the newbies.

My gripe:

My manager came at me the other day about something out of my control. She didn't look it up first. Didn't know what she was talking about. I have a short fuse. But it is all about my techs for me, and when I have this stupid moron coming at me and talking to me like a child...I tend to lose it.

But I didn't.

I was very calm and explained to her what was going on and tried to explain to her my frustration. "why are you just sitting here when you should be upstairs? Why are you just 8%^$#&*ng sitting here?"

OK, we just did double time doing more work with half staff, and I just relieved somebody for lunch, then sent her upstairs to wait for a procedure so I could get our ER orders cleaned up (the other girl is super inexperienced). Doing the best we can...ALL DAY LONG with no transporter.

I stayed in my seat...stayed in my seat. Tried to tell her. She just kept going on and on and pecking at me. Finally I stood up BOOM. "Take my badge I am done". And I slammed it down on the desk.

She was scared to death. Our director was on vacation and now she's in charge and now has a supervisor handing in a badge. She didn't take it (thankfully, in retrospect).

My hour long drive felt like 15 minutes because I was so mad. I logged on to my work email from home and sent my director a long email. So we had a meeting the next day and I offered my badge again. "I am not her child, she had no idea what she was talking about and just came down there and attacked me, SHE had no idea what she was talking about. I can work anywhere and people at every hospital in this area know me and I won't lose sleep over it. Best I will get is a couple of weeks vacation waiting for my new badge to be printed at my next job, and they are ALL hiring." I have contacts everywhere.

Anyway, the rest of our meeting went well lol. But then she slipped in that my manager said that I am the most negative supervisor they have. I am not, I just care about my department, PERIOD.

My techs are happy, other depts are happy. I feed ppl, literally. I always have something homemade for them to bring to work, or buy a few pizzas, just to make sure everybody has some assimilation of a lunch when we are busy. All out of my own pocket. My techs will follow me anywhere. "you leave Kim, I leave." is the consensus.

Dr P called me for my director's number the other day, but then sent her an email anyway. I told him...everytime you say there is something going on with CT, no matter what the problem, she is going to blame me. He says "its bigger than you, and the techs, its not you"

She calls me up to the office prepared to ream me out, so I brought it up first about Dr. P. Huh, I have friends in high places LOL. Shut her down.

Then as I am sitting there, and she is going on a tangent about trauma, Dr A from trauma calls me on my cellphone "sorry, gotta take this" Me and Dr A are buddies so the timing was freaking perfect lol.

I'm not a child and I have 27 years experience. I am not afraid of these morons and am prepared to move on if I have to. i don't want to, but I can. The whole department is stagnant with "the people" who have been there for 30+ plus years running it the same way for that long.

I can go on and on. Well, I have, but I can go on and on longer LOL

 

[cerelife]

@Catscankim - Oh girl, I feel this down to my very bones!
One of our techs was out last week with Covid, so I worked on my day off to cover for her because we're so short staffed. On one particularly busy day upstairs we had 15 outpatients (most of them contrast studies) scheduled/3 biopsies scheduled - AND 17 inpatients awaiting scans (6 of them left over from nightshift) when I clocked in at 1030am. The inpatient orders just kept coming - like 3 or 4 per hour with one particular doctor being by FAR the biggest culprit behind all the IP orders which is nothing new; Dr. "X" loves himself some CT, lol. This was just for the 2 machines upstairs, not including the ER (which was actually pretty slow that day.)
So in the middle of this 3-ring circus, the Radiology Director calls saying SHE got a call about 2 inpatients that haven't had their CT scans and it's causing a delay in patient care so she needs to know why these haven't been done. They were both left over from nightshift and have extensive notes about patient not drinking oral contrast for one and patient not having adequate IV access for another. Included in the notes were the nurses' names and that they had been notified and would speak to the ordering physician (Dr X on both). I relayed this info and she asks me: "Why are we asking the nurses to do our jobs for us? Why haven't we called Dr X ourselves? Why haven't YOU called Dr X?"
A note here: NOBODY wants to talk to Dr X because he's not an easy person to deal with. When I first started with this hospital group he and I butted heads almost immediately. I made it very plain that he couldn't intimidate me and after a few scraps we get along quite well and I'm the only person in Radiology whose name he actually remembers. So now I'm known as the "Dr X Whisperer" and all the other modalities will transfer him to me when he's in a snit.
But anyway...this particular day I don't have time for this. These notes are readily available to Dr X in Epic to see why these routine exams haven't been done and I also requested that she look at our current patient load (that she can see on Epic as well).
Her reply? "Well that isn't really a valid excuse."
I can't make anyone drink oral contrast. Dr X was aware and still wanted it. If the PICC team can't get CTA IV access with US guidance and have documented this in the patient's chart, why on earth would WE be responsible for something obviously charted? If I can see it, then so can Dr X.
I was trying to control my fury so I just switched to Italian. "Scusami, sei pazzo? Bene, Bene, siamo tutti morti. E una buona scusa?"
Works like a dream. Nobody actually knows what I'm saying, lol!

Oh, BTW...roughly translated I said " Excuse me, are you crazy? Fine, we're all dead. Is that a good excuse?

 

[TheGecko]

OMG you sound like me LOL. But you know these kids will get you in trouble these days, just for being blunt..."I don't feel safe" be careful. Learned the hard way. Luckily my HR lady feels the same way I do about the newbies.

Yeah...I just got that text this past week; "I have not experienced being treated this way in any of my previous jobs so just letting you know." Treated what way? Like a grown-up? For expecting you to have some basic common sense? For not giving you a blue ribbon or a cookie for doing your job?!?
I had a family emergency and worked from home that past week. Just couldn't stand the thought of having to go into the office deal with all this namby-pamby, bleating heart, politically correct, woke yadda yadda yadda.

Hubby has a doctor's appointment on Monday...oncologist referral for his prostate; they are doing a biopsy. If it's bad news it's going to suck because hubby won't go through radiation therapy again...it's what caused his disability.

I don't want to go back to work on Tuesday. First time in six years I have not wanted to go to work because I love my job...I really do. I shouldn't have to spend a half hour writing out detailed instruction on how to fill out a two-line form with the same number only to have someone forget the second number...which is under the first number and find out several days later when the Audit is rejected. And I included a fax cover sheet. Only to get a call asking what number should it be faxed to. Uh...it's on the Cover Sheet. "Oh, I didn't see that." Or another half hour writing detailed instructions because I can't just say, "I'm sending you two files...one is the complete form, the other is the signature pages, just substitute the blank signature pages and scan it back to me." Even with instructions...the pages were out of order and have were upside down. I didn't want to 'offend' anyone so I called and made it sound like the company was being unreasonable in its expectations.

But I'll go to work because that is my job and I love my job and my boss gave me a really good raise and a promotion because he trusts me to oversee the accounting department and whip it back into shape again, and to run things while he is out of the country for two weeks.

 

[TheGecko]

I had a doctor's appointment last month. Physically I am fine...'bad' cholesterol is still a little high, but 'good' cholesterol is up. A1C was up 0.1, but we just started a new med so we will see where we are in three months. Emotionally/mentally...I am massively stressed/burnt out. Doctor said the would make a referral to a counselor and I looked at him and asked what good would that really do? He agreed that in my situation it wasn't the best solution and instead prescribed a low dose anti-depressant to put me on a 'even keel' until the various situations work themselves out. The 'various situations' being:

Work - Of the five people we hired, two are solid, one appears to be trainable and we'll be replacing the other two. The boss has agreed that I should do the initial interviews and then forward the best candidates to him. I'm also going to be writing up an Employee Handbook since apparently people under 40 are pretty stupid about how offices work. The boss's trip was fruitful...he found a solid candidate to run our 'international' office and he and I will be sitting down to decide which clients to turn over. We will also being adding thirty new clients in the next month; I'll do the initial review/set up and then we'll decide which stay in-house and which go to our other office.

Personal - On January 1st I got some pretty devastating news that involves my oldest daughter and the ex-husband and it has turned our family upside down. We're kind of in limbo as no one knows exactly where he is and so we are limited in what we can do. Both daughters are safe, but son and his family live in his house and he is the kind of person who would do something stupid and cruel. We've already consulted with attorneys and are playing it by ear.

A couple of hours after my doctor's appointment, I got a text from my husband...the results from his biopsy were back...positive for Prostate Cancer. To be honest, it was not unexpected as he has had cancer before. But radiation therapy is not an option as it's the reason why hubby became disabled. Fortunately his doctor is fully supportive and believes that surgery is his best option as all the test results point to the cancer being contained solely to his prostate. Sooner is always better than later, but hubby doesn't want to add to my stress by having surgery during tax season. I told him that waiting will add more stress than me having to take a couple of days off and working from home for a couple of weeks. And I would much rather give his body more time to adjust to the new 'normal' before we take our vacation the first week of July.

Of course, the work stress pales in comparison to the personal stress. But between the 'plans' and the Lexapro, and I've started taking unnecessary knitting classes to get me out of the house, I'm doing okay. And for the first time in three months, I feel like making soap again.