The Work Thread

[kk]

I have been really wanting to return to Arx, but it has been super slow going for me and my plans to return and have time to play generally fall apart. I even rudely fell asleep on someone while trying to play the other day. They were very kind and understanding about it.

I am working right now in a facility that is a wonderful place of healing and redemption. It is my favorite nursing job ever. We are covid free, which is absolutely wonderful. We did have a huge outbreak, but are through such. The department of health has cleared us to take patients again and we are taking patient's with a history of homelessness and mental illness who got noticed due to the covid outbreak. They got covid were sent the facility that is not covid free and is taking covid patients and then were sent to us when they are through it. One good thing that came out of covid is the needs of some of the homeless in the county were I work are being noticed more often and addressed. Some people post covid have long covid and prolonged help which means there can be an ongoing need for medical help in those who have had covid.

Anyways because of the nature of were I work which is considered a very intense nursing setting and a somewhat dangerous place to work combined with the nationwide nursing shortage, even while covid free we are very short staffed and have a hard time even hiring agency and travel nurses willing to work there. We are super busy with new admissions - getting them settled in and managed and on the unit that is right for them and etc. I worked the covid unit when we had covid and now I am working the unit with the admissions as they are quarantining for 14 days and using our covid rooms. The state has us doing 14 day isolation even if they just had covid. Its isolation whenever one moves facilities regardless.

What this all means is that I am still working a lot of hours. Not for the money, not because I want to. I want a break, but because I feel like if I don't, nobody else will. The regular nurses and CNAs there are all busting ass. Nursing management is working the floor already. Agency is telling them no and working instead what is considered more desirable settings.

I say what is /considered/, because I love where I work. To me it is the most desirable setting - because we are helping those who need such the most and because there is so much healing and heart there. Because leadership rolls up their sleeves and provides direct care, does whatever is needed to help our patients.

That being said, I am still working a ton of hours. I am trying to slowly come back when I can. I am sorry if I ignored your pages, fell asleep, didn't come on a day when I said I might play. I can assure everyone I have talked that nothing in me being distant and distracted is personal. I am just so exhausted on my days off. I keep saying, I will be back, I will be back.

Then my days off come and I am like wow...I have a lot of laundry to wash. I am too sleepy to pose.

I might play today, but...I keep saying that and not doing it!

Anyways, thanks for reading and listening if you read all that long ramble.

[silverfox]

@kk

[silverfox]

There's stuff going on with my little sisters that has drained all my energy. Then at school my favorite kid (yes, I know I shouldn't have favorites, but his story is the one that just makes you SOB and so I can't help but love him) hit me and threw ice at my back?? Then another kiddo threw an absolute shiz storm and screamed any time I tried to give the other kids directions and started kicking me.

Like... this is not my favorite part of being a teacher.

[silverfox]

Wow I post here a lot but...

This year has made me wonder if the classroom is really where my best efforts are at. I would like to move into an intervention role wherein I can work with targeted groups. I realize that this is not possible in my building, so I have to go elsewhere.

It is mid March and I THOUGHT I was being responsible by going to my principal and telling her about my plans and asking for a letter of recommendation.

Apparently it is "HR policy" to not provide letters of recommendation until the employee has resigned.

I am absolutely without words.

(Also, I wish I had a union atm.)

[Cobalt]

@silverfox y i k e s

[Smile]

@silverfox HR policy? What could be the justification for that?

[silverfox]

@fang

Something about protecting the school so they can hire in time and/or so I don't skip out on the rest of my contract?

Except because they won't give me a recommendation I will not put in my resignation until I am totally sure I have a new job period, and it will be harder to get a job since I won't have as many qualifications?

I do not understand.

[Ganymede]

@silverfox said in The Work Thread:

I do not understand.

I don't know if you work in the public or private system where you are, and I'm not sure what the relationship between the public teachers' union, if any, is with the local school district. If you were in Ohio, however, I could tell you that the principal and other administration work for the local school district, and the district hires teachers from the union under a CBA. Under that scenario, it may be seen as inappropriate for the administration to recommend any one teacher without recommending all of them.

Maybe parents might provide a reference? I would think in a teaching situation that a parent or student counselors might be a good bridge.

But, frankly, I don't really see a point not recommending an excellent teacher to higher employment. If an associate of mine were to ask for a recommendation to work as G.C. at a bank or other corporation, for example, I would heartily recommend them (if they were to be recommended) because, hey, friends in high places, yeah?

[mietze]

I have worked for companies where managers were not allowed to provide personal letters of recommendation for a certain amount of time after the employee separated. (They could only confirm employment until that point). This seems a bit weird to me in your situation but if it is standard then presumably it shouldn't hurt your chances either since the other school would have this policy as well. Will the other job accept peer recommendations or personal references vs. supervisory?

[saosmash]

I hate having to tell people I can't work for free.

Like, the last thing in the world I want to do is work for free. But it's really hard sometimes to be like, "I know you're poor and suffering, but I can't be the one to fix it."

Stupid empathy.

[Cupcake]

I work for a life insurance brokerage firm that used to have an enormous office that took up the entire floor of the building we used to be in. It was large enough to have separate wings connected via a large lobby, and you had to go through at least one door if not two in order to get from one to the other. This meant our sales people could blast loud music, talk loudly, and engage in the rowdiness that apparently serves as the formula for success.

However, we have since moved to a much smaller office as most of our workforce has gone to telecommuting, and now the sales people who do come in now have to share their space with others. You'd think they'd dial down the loud voices, the yelling, the loud music, but no. There's one particular manager who comes in once a week that I outright want to muzzle - it's like he learned how to project his voice and then just never learned to turn it off.

I am extremely sensitive to sound. It can often make me feel like something is pressing down on me, or cause me physical pain. Our new office has two different sound systems, one on each side, and since I sit in the middle, I pick up the music from both sides. I am constantly turning the music down on both - I don't shut it off, but I turn it down.

But mostly I want to throttle the entitlement out of the guys on the sales floor.

[Aria]

Apparently, the promotion to my new role involves switching me from being an hourly, non-exempt employee to an exempt, salaried employee.

Like, wow. For the first time in 15+ years of a professional career, I have a manager who has actually recognized that it doesn't matter if I walk off for two hours at 3PM because I need to go to the post office and the library before they close and then sit on my laptop writing communication drafts at 8PM, as long as a) I'm reachable and b) I'm getting my work done.

It's like my employer has recognized that I'm actually a fucking adult. Weird.

[silverfox]

@aria

I hope this stays awesome and you can keep that flexibility!

We've had the opposite happen. Husband worked an hourly job and kept getting overtime because of poor hiring decisions, then took a job as a salaried position. He was still asked to work overtime, but didn't get paid any more. (It's an industry where they don't have to pay overtime, first position was.)

[Aria]

@silverfox said in The Work Thread:

@aria

I hope this stays awesome and you can keep that flexibility!

We've had the opposite happen. Husband worked an hourly job and kept getting overtime because of poor hiring decisions, then took a job as a salaried position. He was still asked to work overtime, but didn't get paid any more. (It's an industry where they don't have to pay overtime, first position was.)

Yeah, I was able to claim overtime in my previous role, but they were generally a pain about approving it. The flipside of no longer being overtime-eligible at my employer is that it means you're bonus eligible at year-end, where bonuses are tied to your annual goals rather than your time spent. I think I'm going to prefer the latter. We'll see.

[silverfox]

I got the intervention job I wanted!!! Basically, I get to build the role from the ground up!!!

[Aria]

@silverfox said in The Work Thread:

I got the intervention job I wanted!!! Basically, I get to build the role from the ground up!!!

Congrats!

[Ganymede]

@silverfox

[RightMeow]

We know I have thoughts and feelings on my current job. It's stressful with 50+ work hours, no respect, etc.

I mean, I'm not quitting yet. I have dreams of it though, happy dreams.

I do however have an interview at 10am on Monday (EST) for a new better job. So good thoughts if you have a moment to spare.

[Ganymede]

@rightmeow

[silverfox]

My job description can be (almost, this is hyperbolic) boiled down to the words, "Tell children what to do."

So when a kid says, "You're not the boss of me." or "You can't tell me what to do." the answer is, "It's literally my job."