Thursday, May 19, 2011

I love my co-workers?

During my break at work one stressful day, I called my husband. We had a nice chat, and I ended the call with my usual "I love you, bye."

I heard something behind me. Dr Warmnfuzzy was standing in the doorway to my office. "I love you too. Can you fax this prescription to OverpricedMeds?"

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

How to have a slow day

Lately I've been followed by a slew of nursing students. They spend the day with me at work, (in the words of one student's e-mail) trying to "figure out what mental health nurses do all day."
So far, every day on which I have been followed by a student has been extremely slow. It's like the opposite of the old superstition about saying "It's really quiet around here."
When I had a nursing student follow me last week, she got to watch me give one injection, return two phone calls, and fax four prescriptions to pharmacies. Over the course of four hours. No wonder she didn't come back after lunch!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Blood is hard to clean out of the carpet

I have a love-hate relationship with GoodbyeNurse. He's a good nurse and a much nicer person than I am. But there's also many days when he absolutely drives me up the wall--and I couldn't pinpoint the reason for love nor money. (Insert Freudian theory about transference/countertransference here.)

As with any co-worker, there's always a dynamic of competition that underlies our working relationship. Nothing overt, but it's always there. Consequently it was childishly gratifying when I announced my upcoming vacation and got the following response from the office goddesses:
"But that means we'll have GoodbyeNurse covering for you! I like you better!" the head of the clerical staff wailed.

As usual, I said the first thing that came to mind. "You guys will be fine. Remember, if you kill him, then I have to train a new nurse, and neither of us wants that!"

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Pass the Febreeze!

Co-worker quote of the week:

"Mr. Smelly lives by himself and he's kind of malodorous. The best thing that could happen for us all is to have that guy go for a walk in a rainstorm. A heavy rainstorm."