monagustafsonaffinito   CONVERSATIONS

My niece, the nurse, gave me permission to quote this.

 

“I would like to vent. I do sound just like my father and am glad for him that he need not deal with some of the stuff that is going on now. I’m having some problems adjusting to life as it is being lived now. For example:

     –  I believe that when you are talking on the phone in your home or at work, you are occupied. People who would like to talk with you should either wait or, at least, ask to be excused.  And, if you choose to respond to the interruptor other than to say, “I’ll be with you in a minute”, you are equally disrespectful.

     –  I believe that if you are interested in communicating with another living person, that is what you should be doing for the time it requires. I cannot be convinced that if you are reading texts on your phone and responding to them, you are really paying attention to me.

     –  I believe that working mothers – or fathers for that matter – need to be available to the family in the event of emergency.  Most work places have a telephone where emergency contacts can be made in the interest of family health and safety. If it is necessary to be on a cell phone with family throughout the work day, then it may be necessary to stay home, or to teach manners.

     –  I believe that television is an amazing invention and that all that has come of that with the introduction of cable is almost beyond comprehension.  And, I believe it can be turned off, that it should not be a significant part of the work day in the absence of national crises and that if it is on, that does not excuse one from relationships with people you are being paid to take care of.

     –  I believe that people who make the choice to work in the field of human services should actually have as the primary focus of their work day, the service of humans.

     –  I believe that if people have been hired to do a job they should do it. They should not spend any bulk of paid time arguing about why they shouldn’t have been expected to do it.

     –  I believe that groups of unrelated people from diverse backgrounds will  have problems dealing with coworkers at times. I can’t understand why those conflicts should so defy the expectations of the workplace or the needs of people served and yet be viewed as more important.

     –  I believe that unions have done much to improve the working conditions of many workers in positions with little control over their job sites.  I do not believe that unions excuse people from working at their positions with appropriate efforts to do the job expected or to use that membership to rationalize their way out of accepting the responsibilties of service.

     –  I believe computers have opened vast new worlds to us that we are only beginning to understand. And I believe that if your job requires providing care for people, computers are solely for the purpose of legally required documentation of said care. Accessing personal sites should be reserved for one’s off duty time and evidence that is being abused should be addressed.

      –  And, sadly for me in these times, I believe that if you aren’t doing your job and there can be clear evidence of that, you should not continue to be employed  to do your job.  There are some of us suckers who keep plodding on with the original goals intact, self-advocating for fair compensation, perhaps, but providing the service dependent people require.

I don’t think I am really finished.  But I must go to work now to make it possible for staff to meet their job requirements and to listen to all the things management and medicine are doing wrong. From where do people get their sense of pride these days?     N