Work Sucks!!

Ed McMann doesn't seem to be able to find my house so I just keep working until he shows up. Blast that man! Where is he?

Nurses are the only people on the planet who ask to see your poop and applaude when you're able to produce one. We are the only people on the planet who stare shamelessly at total strangers in an elevator just because we happened to notice that they have a big, juicy 18 gauge vein in their hand. We are the only people who can carry on lively conversations about necrotic bowel dressing changes while eating our lunch. We are the only creatures on earth who can go for an entire 12 hour shift without emptying our bladders even though we've had 2 pots of coffee.

I have seen more naked hiney than most rock stars. I'm immune to the sight. I once had some nut job flash me in the street. In my typical nurse mode, I casually observed that he had no jaundice or cyanosis, no edema or vericose veins. It wasn't until several moments after he ran off that I realized I'd been flashed.

Nursing isn't a job. It's not even a career. It's a lifestyle. My children all know advanced cardiac life support protocols because I run codes in my sleep. During a quiet moment between tender snippets of pillow talk, nestled in my lovers arm, I have been known to listen for bruits over his carotid. Pathetic, I know, but it's not something you can turn off at the end of the day.

It's an abusive profession that will use you up, burn you out and throw you away. Yes, it pays the bills, but there are days (most of them) in which it doesn't matter how much they pay you...it's not worth it. If I can last a year and a half, I'll be totally debt free and then I can pursue some money-making venture that I WANT to do.

OP, I agree. Work sucks!

reply to post by whitewave


metal workers *Salute*

What a gem you are whitewave and goes to show we all have to put up with crap in this world and it shapes us on how we deal with it.

I sorely needed to read the flasher part which released some unwanted tension in the form of

reply to post by whitewave


Well Said!

That's the best rant yet!

Shout out to all medical workers everywhere. Twenty years was enough. My most tender/awful memory was taking a 240 lb ex linebacker from Collinwood in his 40's to the bathroom prior to dialysis. His diabetes was so out of control he was every surgical internists dream chop job. He was a really cool guy who I knew for about 4 months. He used to sing to the nurses. He was loved.

He said to me one day, you know, some people think I have to use the bathroom before dialysis out of meaness. My Mother is 84 yrs old and she can't help me anymore. Just as his pinky nearly severed as he attempted to lift his bum off the pot as I attempted my best to wipe him up.

I was always fascinated by people who could keep a stiff upper lip and steadness under the most horrific of medical problems.

Careful, jpm. You start talking too in depth about nursing "stories" and everyone will be hurling their dinner. *hugs*

I know what you mean about people keeping a stiff upper lip. Those have been some of the most memorable patients. I once had an old lady that was dying of pancreatic cancer come into the ICU. Her room filled up with a bunch of her friends who knew she didn't have long and they spent the evening laughing and reliving memories. There was no hand-wringing or crying, no platitudes or death-bed confessions or promises. I was so touched by the quality of life this woman had that I was sorry to see her go even though I didn't know her before she became my patient.

I wrote a song for her that shift and sang it to her. And yes, I'm going to bore you with it. Just be thankful you don't have to hear me sing it. lol.

Come talk to me my long time friend of pleasant days gone by.
Come dance with me in memories until the dawn is nigh.
Come sing with me the happy songs we once sang in our youth.
Come be with me a little while and let's forget the truth.
For I am in my golden years and have suffered through much pain.
The golden hour approaches me-I'll not be late again.
Come sit with me and hold my hand; smile and say you care.
Remind me of the best of times the two of us have shared.
Do not sigh, nor mourn for me, nor hang your head in sorrow.
Rejoice with me this one last time for I'll be gone tomorrow.
Come talk to me my long time friend of pleasant days gone by.
Come dance with me in memories then kiss me and say goodbye.

She thanked me and kissed my cheek. She died in the early morning hours before shift change and I cried like a baby. Patients like that make all the unpleasant aspects of nursing worth it. The work may suck but the people do not.

When my pt coded at Metro, and our unit was called to say he had passed, Ann Marie (one of the nurses) choked up and said 'who will sing to me now'?
It was the 'only' time I had a total meltdown and sobbed uncontrollably. Medical work can make a stiff twig out of the softest of shrubs.

Thats a tough scenario


emotionally, i guess the guys and gals in the line of medicine have a pretty bad time. It's too easy too get attached to people.

yeah work sucks....too bad I don't work.....

I looove being rich....

reply to post by andre18


That's a little harsh.

I was never in a situation where i was ever 'well off', my family was poor, and i am poor.

Working class, it sucks but at least it gives you some sort of indication that your not wasting away sitting in front of a keyboard all day long. If your only intention was to come onto this thread and gloat at all the guys here that go out and make a living then you shouldn't have posted at all.

Do i wish i was rich?

Yes.

But i am not.

Am i envious?

I sure am.

I wish i were born into money, or was some some of entrepreneur, most of us are not that fortunate. I need to work in a crappy job, getting dirty for 230 pounds a week, i have credit card bills, a marriage to save up for, and other mounting debts, and if i don't start working overtime i'm up s**t creek without a paddle.

Again, i think it was in pretty bad taste to gloat like that.

[edit on 27-1-2008 by Smugallo]

You are a cool bloke Smug. Sorry if I prejudged you harshly. My apologies. Most people will not 'have to wipe up' others for a living. Some may be rich. That's all fine and well till one day they may need medical care/support.

reply to post by jpm1602


Thats okay! Sometimes alcohol and ATS threads don't mix

reply to post by Smugallo


I didn’t mean to offend…..I didn’t realize you were in such a bad financial position…….my bad sorry…….

I think that it's not so much that work sucks as it is HAVING to work for your daily bread that sucks. Even if I were rich, I'd want to spend my time doing something besides shopping. I think most people would want to be useful and productive rather than a waste of space, it's just that most of us are required to be useful in ways we don't prefer. Not being appreciated or having our work valued just adds to the feeling of being a slave.

I actually enjoy working, just not at my paid job. There's all sorts of things I enjoy doing that could be considered "work" but I don't get paid for them so I don't indulge myself in those activities as much because I'm too tired from "working" to spend much time on them. Plus, doing the same thing day after day is a weariness to the soul. I believe it was Heinlein that said, "specialization is for insects."

WOW I really don't feel bad about my job now. I'm 15 working in a fruit shop in Australia and making $9.56 and hour ($15.65 on Sundays) I walk around doing nothing for 8 hours at a time. I literally do nothing ao the days drag on and on. All I do is tidy up the fruit for example if some one takes fruit from the bottom shelf I'll move the top shelf fruit down so it doesn't look all scattered around. The bad thing is we can't sit down even when there is nothing to do.

reply to post by andre18


Thats okay

reply to post by whitewave


I agree, my paid job is rubbish, i only took the job in the first place because i needed the work, not my ideal job right enough, metal working, i would have rather done something that i enjoy, didn't have the head for mathematics though so that was my computing career blown out the water!