Nurse Follies: My Used Uterus Trumps Your Vacant One

With the charge of doing the schedule for the night nurses, it comes with no glory, and all the headaches you could possibly imagine. I once had a nurse trap me in the supply room because she was unhappy that I had to move her from a couple days she signed up for. It can get ugly.

For the most part, other than being short all the time, there really hasn't been too many problems with the way we do the scheduling for night shift. Until now, that is.

This morning, I stood at the desk lamenting some of the new scheduling woes we are encountering on nights. Bosshole approved a handful of nurses to have set schedules, meaning, that I can't move them. They get exactly what they sign up for. What they sign up for, includes no weekend shifts. Which leaves the full time people to pick up the slack and work all those weekend shifts no one wants. Some nurses, who are not weekend option, are working more weekend shifts than day shifts. They are justifiably upset. They are not upset with myself or Red (who also does scheduling), but rather at the Bosshole for approving this debacle to begin with.

"It seems that most of the complainers," observed our unit educator, "are the ones who are single."

I pointed out that even single people have important things to do on weekends besides working all the time. She did agree.

Then, another nurse who was listening in, expounded her bitter feelings at how unfair it was for the single people to get off important holidays, while those with kids had to work. Never mind the fact that we have a rotating holiday schedule.

"Just because we may not have kids, does't mean we don't have a family," was my terse reply. I clocked out and went home before anything escalated.

Most the nurses that work on my floor are either freshly married, or single. Only a small percentage of those nurses have children. For the most part, they are pretty flexible with their schedules. They understand that to be a floor nurse, you sometimes are expected to make sacrifices. You sometimes have to miss a Little League game. Being in the majority of the single nurses, I can also say that we try to accommodate the Moms when they need a certain day off...by trading shifts, or just working for them. I've heard from other nurses on different floors or from different hospitals, that there can be resentment between the Mom's versus the non-Moms in terms of holidays and whatnot. Some feel that those with children should be given preferential treatment when it comes to working holidays.

After all, single people don't have kids, and therefor, they should work all the major holidays so those that do have kids can stay at home and be with their families.

Bullshit.

It annoys me that there are people out there think that because I don't have kids, my existence is somewhat lessened. That I have no greater purpose. That my value in society is diminished because I haven't gone out to "go forth and replenish the earth". However, because I am childless, I should make every attempt to accommodate parents, because apparently, that is what single people are supposed to do. And as a nurse, I should work all holidays because having no children of my own means I will just spend the holidays home alone, watching reruns on television, eating a frozen dinner of turkey and stuffing.

Thankfully, I don't encounter this mentality on nights. The Moms who do work nights are awesome and don't impose this belief on anyone. In fact, they would probably echo my sentiments.

Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to get off my soapbox. I have some fish sticks in the oven, and That 70's Show is about to start.