Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Bad Day

So it's been a bad day. I've had a few mean patients the last couple days and got called into the office to review a written complaint. The short story is that a patient's wife asked me how long it would be until he saw the doctor. I told her I didn't know exactly but as soon as possible. She kept pushing me and I told her again I couldn't give an exact minute estimate (key point being this is an ER and NOT a scheduled doctors office) but as soon as possible. She told me she worked here and didn't appreciate my service and wanted another nurse. I politely said okay and sent someone else in. Well of course she complained and completely twisted my words. I contained my tears of frustration till I got home and had Ryan to cry to.

He surprised me later when I woke up with Panda Express to cheer me up. He also had a good story to add to our bad day. I guess he pulled into the parking lot and was kind of hurrying and passed an older man on the way in. He ordered his food and the same guy got in line behind him and says "If you drive that fast on the way home your food will still be warm." Ryan was really thrown off to have this complete stranger badgering him so he said, "I hope so because I like warm Chinese food." Then Ryan adds, "it's too bad mall security wasn't there to witness it but maybe they have an opening for concerned citizens like yourself." The guy notices his Michigan state shirt and says, "so is that what they are teaching in college these days?" Ryan says "actually, Grad School." This weird guy continues to bug him by saying, "must be a generation thing." Ryan says with a smile, "must be" and leaves to hear the guy bitching to the other people in line. Can you believe that?! If you know Ryan you know that he is extremely polite so this says a lot for him to talk back to the guy. Some people...

To complete the bad day, i got out of the shower to plug in my trusty blow dryer of 5 years only to find that someone (Ryan) had stepped on the prongs and bent them completely the wrong way. So i came to work with wet hair.
Thankfully, it's been a really good night at work so far and I even had a lady leave me a note that said "you are 500 times nicer than the nurse we had Sunday night, thank you." I really needed that too!

Sorry for the long and picture-less post but this is a good outlet for me to vent and I know we all have bad days. And I'm the queen of pessimism (Meg, you can be the princess) so if anyone else needs to vent, I'm here!

5 comments:

Jason & Kelli West said...

Steph I am so sorry for your bad day!! But I must admit I got a really good laugh at ryans response to the guy. I read it to Jason and we were laughing so hard. Go Ryan for saying that. Hehehe... we miss you guys!! I hope your next day is a lot better!I know it's hard to not let those idiot people get to you. I bet they were pms or something! :)

Rebecca said...

Sorry Steph. You don't deserve to be treated badly with how you save people's lives! I am sorry I was not there to bring you a mcflurry or hear yours stories at the gym. I am sure Ryan was nice when he said those things because I have never heard him say anything mean ever! Try to smile today!

Reid, Megan, Jackson and Aiva said...

Dude, I seriously want to punch people like that in the face! I hope I was the Princess Meg you were refering to because you know I love my pessimisim! Sorry you had such a rough couple of days, you get all the crazy onry people in the ER so props to you for hanging in there!

Karly said...

I HATE PEOPLE... esp complaining people. I got complained about because I "wrapped a baby in a wet and dirty blanket" as the labor nurse. Yes... That's what we do we wrap our babies in wet blankets. Give it a rest people. Love you! Are you guys coming home for the summer? We would love to hang

Leslie said...

Aw, I'm sorry Sis! I can just feel your frustration and held in tears in that office. You're a great nurse in a tough department, I admire you!