So here I sit at work on a sunday afternoon, trying desperately to not fall asleep. Usualy, I work from 11:00 pm to 7:30 am monday night to friday night. I have been working this schedule for the past three years.
But not this month.
I work in hospital supply. I stock the storerooms for each department. Unlike all the other fucking jobs in my department, mine must be done every day. And for some reason, it must be done at night. Except on weekends. Then it must be done from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, in order to cover our pager for emergency supply needs. All the other jobs in this department are 8:00am to 5:00 pm, no weekends, no holidays.
At the end of October, our regular weekend person quit. She was the fifth person I have trained to that position in the last two years.
When there is no one to cover weekends, my assistant and I are forced to cover alternating weekends. The other 31 employees in this department are not expected to work weekends. Fuckers.
Each time I am forced to cover this stupid day shift, it gets harder and harder to revert back to my regular night schedule. I like nights. I prefer nights. I live in central U.S.A., but I follow Austrailian time. This works for me.
By the end of this month, I will have had to switch shifts back and forth three times. It’s fucking killing me. I am fucking exhausted but I can’t seem to get decent sleep.
It’s a good thing I work in a hospital. When I collapse, I won’t have to be dragged far.
Hey, fush, don’t think for one second that just because this hospital isn’t unionized that it means one iota of savings to the patient.
As I said. I work in Supply. I know how much things cost. I also know how much patients are charged for these things. Look for a 1000% markup in certian circumstances. Or re-sterilized “single use only” products charged for at full price. (Tho admitedly the vendor in question threw a hissyfit when they found out, so we don’t do that anymore. It was not my idea, nor do I condone it. Also, the item in question was for external use, but still!)
And don’t fool yourself. Medical staff at non-union hospitals are as overpaid as those at unioniozed ones. The non union ones just end up with more brutal shifts, (12-18 hrs) and no one to back them up in a dispute. There are many problems with healthcare today. Unions ain’t the worst. I doubt if they even make the short list.