Ooops! Said what was on my mind...

I had a little talk with Self when I started the job - "don't make waves, Kate...just sit back and take it easy, learn your new stuff and speak up when the time is right."

I should have known better.

And, there's a couple of friends who read this who are sniggering because they remember quite a few times when I didn't speak up - just stewed in my own juices, so to speak.

I've mentioned before that the training for this job has left a lot to be desired for a variety of reasons.

Not everyone is cut out to teach - sadly, some folks just get it thrust upon them; I wonder, sometimes, if they really think they can teach, or they just like the "power"; it certainly isn't because there's a huge pay raise with the responsibility!

Anyway, since I do teach and enjoy it, working with some of those who don't meet my particular criteria has been...well, interesting. I was lucky to have experience, others did not. One new person started training last evening with one of the questionable trainers.

I say questionable because the attitude of the trainer is that of a sarcastic and vindictive type. My first impression of her was not good - she came to cover a lunch break and called a friend and began griping about her mother-in-law. Yes, griping about MIL's is not uncommon, but calling your husband's mother a c*** in front of people you've just met strikes me as NOT A GOOD PERSON TO HAVE AS A BEST FRIEND.

That was further reinforced today when the nursing staff told us that this trainer took the new trainee into a preemie's room. The babe's mother was there. This baby can be a difficult stick at times, and is definitely not a stick for a new person with no experience.

As you can imagine, Mom was not amused that a trainee was working on her son. And, words were exchanged by the trainer and the mother, and a grievance apparently was filed.

So, that means that among a certain amount of nursing staff, those of us who've worked hard are back at square one and now need to prove ourselves all over again. NICU nurses are very protective of their little ones, and with a mother's complaint, they'll all be on guard, watching us like hawks to make sure we don't hurt the Warrior Babies.

So, what did I mouth off about? Training. Another situation was going on during this time about training procedures - not something I have the liberty to talk about right now.

But, I confronted the supervisor and told him that when my "formal" probation is over in November, I wanted to be a trainer for the Lab Techs in NICU, and told him a few things about how much this initial trial training sucked. Gave him a couple of improvement ideas, too. And he was impressed, I think. And, if the Gods are willing, I'll be training once again in a few months.

At any rate, it was nice to just sit myself down in front of the manager and say, "Hey, I've got something on my mind and I'm gonna tell you exactly what it's about." I haven't had many supervisors I could do that with! *grin* We'll see if I find myself sitting on the curb tomorrow!