Speaking of serendipity...yesterday was one of those moments where the universe aligned and this old nurse was able to say some things that have been coming for a while. As daughter #1 said...you've had time to think of the words. A bit of the backstory....the previous regional manager who received my resignation from the job share in September had promised to forward casual availability to me, but I never did receive any emails. Wasn't concerned as I was only looking for something in May anyway. I made a couple of inquiries and received first nothing and to the second, a curt reply "interviews are being held, staffing will depend on that" so I continued vacationing. In February my former job share partner sent a message saying that there was an eight week unfilled period mid May to mid July. I expressed interest as it was after the teacher daughter's Masters of Ed convocation and at least six weeks of it would work anyway (at the time a friend and I were tentatively considering the Rocky Mountaineer for end of June) and she suggested that she'd pick up the other two weeks. Perfect. I emailed the mgr and indicated I'd be interested in the contract and left it wide open as in "for whatever dates you need me". She replied "thanks, that's perfect" and advised she'd send details along. A few days later I received an email from her reading "the contract date is May 17 - July 12, you are expected to do these dates, do NOT take direction from the NIC in Sachs Harbour, I am the manager and I hire you and make those decisions!". We were somewhere in South America I think when I read this and composed so many replies in my mind, then just simply....didn't respond. What can you say to someone who is that insecure? I emailed my friend and we rescheduled our train trip for September and advised some others I had planned to visit in July of the situation. A few days later I chatted online with my job share partner and accused her of threatening the boss. She denied this stating she had simply offered to do a couple of weeks of that time to help out. Then she discloses that this insecure manager is finished the end of February - not even going to be in the position in May! Stepping down to go back to her previous position as she missed the patient contact....yeah right - can't cope and bailing was the thought which popped into my head. What a mean thing for her to do though. The saga continued with no confirmed dates or contract to sign. The end of March I finally tracked down an acting manager to confirm the dates as the shore captain originally had planned to accompany me and Aeroplan seats needed to be booked - in the end, not available - and she sent a copy of the May 17 - July 12 CSA (with an incorrect travel in date - so apparently the predecessor is petty but not detail orientated - which I corrected for them). So, I end up coming alone for eight weeks - not my original choice but here I am.
So now, you have the set up to my late Friday afternoon catharsis. The phone rings and it's my new, respectful, finding her way manager, who I've offered to extend a week for. She suggests that not only can I extend, I can move (maybe Monday) to Fort McPherson and suggests it's lovely, you can drive out so there's lots of services etc etc. Now....as she's stepped back to NIC, this is the home turf of the mean girl predecessor, it's busy with lots of social problems and I don't know the people or the culture. I would have to clean the apartment, pack my food and stuff and relocate to a community I have never had any interest in working in. I try gently to suggest that I'm too old and cranky to move and she continues with her pitch until it occurs to me that I am being offered a gift...the opportunity to share the destructive behaviour of the predecessor and educate the new executive as to what she's inherited and why us old nurses are 'once bitten twice shy' at this point. So I take a breath and calmly (no one listens to rants) tell her that...I like her, she's respectful, a good kid, she's trying hard and she deserves to know the details. I relate the backstory as above and there is mostly silence but a few murmurs as I tell her that us old nurses don't want to be lectured or treated in a condescending matter, we're not stupid, we understand who is in charge as we've done management positions and at this point in my life/career I don't have to take this. I accepted the eight week contract and moved my life around as I like this community, even after being treated badly by the previous mgr I offered to extend to be helpful and now you are asking me to move for a month to another community? In my 42 years as an RN I haven't been very good at saying no, I feel guilty, I think of coworkers and patients but...this request is not going to happen. I started my two small pensions a couple of years ago when I thought I was dying and didn't want the government to get it, so now I only want to work a few weeks per year. I have no interest in spending whatever working time I have left dealing with this petty behaviour. I'm going to help you out here because I like you and you're trying to do a good job and tell you that there has been a lot of damage done by your predecessor, she has backfilled communities until December so I won't be working here this year again anyway, my former job share partner has no extra work, this also caused my coworker who lives in the community to not be able to work here - this isn't even good fiscal planning as a CHN from somewhere in Canada often costs $5000+ to relocate here for a contract and this coworker is flown to Inuvik - all because someone is trying to be as hateful as possible? Us experienced nurses are pretty low maintenance, all we want is to be treated with respect and do our job as well as we can. I suspect that you have inherited a major collection of angry staff if others are being treated like this. I'm in the situation where I can tell you about it as I REALLY have nothing to lose. I'm glad we've had this chat so you understand and if you want me stay an extra week and do those days in a small community on my way home...just email me and if I can, I will, if not I'll just say no and we'll both be ok with it...... good to talk to you, keep up the good work. She thanked me for my explanation as I bid her goodbye and I'm sure went to the bathroom to have a big ugly cry after that one. I felt great at being able to share the details in context vs just approaching her which sounds like tattling. My coworker was mesmerized with the performance...she's not at the same developmental stage...as I told her, I've been where you are and there are fewer bridges to burn now from where I'm standing...nothing to lose.
I phoned my job share partner at home - she'd had a very intense phone call with the manager (just previous to mine we discovered when we compared notes) where there was a lot of yelling, threats and bad words (her not the manager) when she was told there was no work. She went on to disclose some predecessor shenanigans and the call ended with the instructions that she should be found a community to work in by the first of the week or else!! Must've sounded as if we'd discussed our stories, but we hadn't yet played good cop/bad cop to a T. Needless to say...it looks like I'll be coming home on my original date and maybe with the cold spring/summer I'll leave before bug season... ha ha ha
This weekend I'm on call Friday and Sunday which really isn't too onerous and has contributed to
some more playfood being created. Had some issues with the banana looking like an ear of corn, but the candies for the dish are a go and will have to make some more to fill it up and some more donuts. Tackling a taco now. Only a couple of weeks more and the grandchildren will be enjoying them. I took a beach walk yesterday and in the shelter of the cliffs it was pleasant....with my winter jacket, hat, and gloves on that is. I stared with incredulity at a bare footprint in the sand next to the ice cake on shore...I watch them playing in the playground in front of the apartment and they are in t-shirts...these kids are tough!
There had been plans for a campfire and potluck with washer games thrown in out at Mary Sachs today but...the weather didn't cooperate, perhaps summer has been cancelled and we didn't get the memo here? It's Oc, grey, windy and snowing today. Plans to reschedule next Saturday. I'll be on call that day as well so not likely to partake as the cell reception isn't great out there and it's a good 15 minute drive back to community which is a bit of stretch for a quick response. What if someone has an emergency request for antifungal cream? Yes, in the north there are remote locations and you must travel for some advanced services (as we do in the Maritimes) but I assure you that access to primary health care here is better - no waiting weeks for an appointment, just walk in and see the nurse. We handle the basics and consult/refer if we can't - so much for the NS physician who had a territorial rant in the provincial newspaper because someone in the NS Dept of Health dared to suggest that NPs were going to be an asset. I considered posting the question "is your emergency room closed this weekend?" but instead hit delete. However, I digress. On one of the phone calls yesterday my coworker was sharing that she answered the cell with "health centre, nurse on call" and a community member identified themselves by name and community and asked if this was indeed the Sachs Harbour nurse? Yup, pretty sure we are only on call for this hamlet. I told her that she should have really messed with the mind and said "no this is Ulukhaktuk" and go from there. She stated that there was enough confusion to begin with and besides it was one of those conversational calls where you discuss a problem measured in months so didn't want to prolong it. Lovely home visit with an elder who described, dog sledding, living on the land and not knowing about store food growing up, that's how you make it to this advanced age for sure!
Speaking of food, time to reheat some of those ribs which were surplus at the BBQ. Ahh life is good.
