I grinned at the news report of Steven Slater. Mr. Slater, a flight attendant, recently made the news by using his planes intercom to spew his workplace dissatisfaction. He then grabbed a couple beers and escaped using the inflatable emergency slide. There is a small voice in all of us that has had the desire or will have the desire to yell enough is enough. But there is also a calmer voice calculating the mortgage payments, car payments and other responsibilities that quietly states “take 10 deep breaths”.
The media coverage given this man is spurring reports of dissatisfaction and unhappiness in the U. S. workplace. But is this truly a new phenomenon? In my generation we called it “going postal” and believe me that was a far more serious situation.
All of us can sympathize with a man who was whacked on the head with a piece of luggage and then treated rudely by the passenger. But have you ever been to one of the Super Stores on a busy Friday evening and step in front of the lady with two children in tow and a fully laden grocery cart?
Part of society’s functionality is its member’s ability to not act impulsively in situations. I am not talking about jumping in a pool fully clothed, but rather telling your boss that perhaps he is a moron. Deadlines, rude customers, co-workers, all contribute to an environment waiting for an explosion. Thankfully most of us will not “go Slater” and positively work out the situation that has us steaming.
Making news headlines for irresponsible and impulsive behaviors is not productive and will surely have copy cats doing the same. Making people smile will not be a tangible component on Steven Slater’s resume unless Comedy Central has openings. Take 10 deep breaths and if your difficult situation cannot be resolved over time, resign responsibly and at your convenience. And probably your boss is not really a moron but stealing two beers from your company will make you one.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
My Virtual Cubical
My meeting was very late so I absently grabbed another magazine. Hmmmmmm….” Business Week”, and only 8 months old with an interesting cover “China Goes shopping”. As I leaf through the magazine with one eye on the other people in the waiting room I fall into an article on Managing at a Distance and a subtitle “the ideal virtual worker”.
Working from home, or at least not in designated office space is becoming more common. I have been working at my dining room table for three years, and barring the dining room table moving several times through home renovations, I have managed to keep myself afloat.
It has had its ups and downs. No one to grumble to but the dog, and he has learned to ignore me just fine. First I worried I could not be disciplined enough to get the work completed, then I realized I needed to be disciplined enough to turn it all off. There was also some refrigerator rules that needed to be learned but that is being saved for another blog. I have survived and in some areas excelled with my new found freedom.
Now back to the magazine article that suggests to me that the ideal virtual worker is an (gulp) extrovert. Having completed a Myers Briggs seminar I became officially aware that I and extroversion are in opposite corners. Throughout my life I have had gregarious moments and introverted moments mostly with periods where I was somewhere in the middle. Always through it I have shunned psychological testing and labels. Damn it my parents told me I could be anything I wanted to be.
Maybe it is an antiquaited idea, but an ex boss, John Gunn, once told me I would probably never hire the perfect employee but I could create one. He believed through inspiration and training you could help anyone along the way. Perhaps there is hope for an old introvert like myself.
I still dislike the label. Not knowing what is in the box is what keeps us excited. Giving it a shake to guess what is inside is fine. But already knowing what is there is no fun at all!
Working from home, or at least not in designated office space is becoming more common. I have been working at my dining room table for three years, and barring the dining room table moving several times through home renovations, I have managed to keep myself afloat.
It has had its ups and downs. No one to grumble to but the dog, and he has learned to ignore me just fine. First I worried I could not be disciplined enough to get the work completed, then I realized I needed to be disciplined enough to turn it all off. There was also some refrigerator rules that needed to be learned but that is being saved for another blog. I have survived and in some areas excelled with my new found freedom.
Now back to the magazine article that suggests to me that the ideal virtual worker is an (gulp) extrovert. Having completed a Myers Briggs seminar I became officially aware that I and extroversion are in opposite corners. Throughout my life I have had gregarious moments and introverted moments mostly with periods where I was somewhere in the middle. Always through it I have shunned psychological testing and labels. Damn it my parents told me I could be anything I wanted to be.
Maybe it is an antiquaited idea, but an ex boss, John Gunn, once told me I would probably never hire the perfect employee but I could create one. He believed through inspiration and training you could help anyone along the way. Perhaps there is hope for an old introvert like myself.
I still dislike the label. Not knowing what is in the box is what keeps us excited. Giving it a shake to guess what is inside is fine. But already knowing what is there is no fun at all!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Confession of an Ex Smoker
It has been 8 months since my last cigarette……..
Probably two of the more significant moments of my life were the lighting of my first and the butting of my last. Sounds sad.
But neither is really relevant. I smoked for more than 30 years. That dates me into the last generation that saw tobacco use as commonplace and a norm. Everyone smoked everywhere. Neither of my parents did. But everyone else did. We smoked in elevators, we smoked in shopping malls, we smoked at work, and we even smoked in hospitals. Doctors and Nurses smoked at the Nursing Stations!
Cigarettes were a common bond, a way to meet people, and a way to share. We smoked at every opportunity and made more and more smoking friends.
It was a right that became a habit which transformed into an addiction over time. All the while we were relaxed, cool. The Marlborough Man looked down on us and smiled. It has been 8 months since my last cigarette, sounds very much like a Catholic confessional.
That is not to say that these 8 months have been a piece of cake. I have inhaled quite deeply as I passed those poor souls restricted to smoking in certain outdoor areas. As they huddle in the rain under a cloudier sky I envy and pity them. The store shelves of neatly packaged 20 packs beacon me like an old friend I have not seen in years. The urges have not subsided but the control of them gets better. I now understand the meaning of addiction, why controlled substances need be controlled and why alcoholics need a program. Push me too hard and I might light up.
I am even unsure of what finally flagged in my head to say quit. It truly wasn’t health, cost or anything else quite so definable. Society making smoking less desirable has helped, my chiropractor giving me an anti smoking lecture at just the right moment in my life, a cousin quitting and following his progress on Face book, encouragement from an old friend I met outside of history class by asking her for a light, also helped. Anti smoking Drugs, well they helped too.
Incidentally, I am neither richer, nor do I weigh more nor does food taste better since I quit. But I do like the feeling that I am more in control. I do imagine as the Priest is giving me last rights I might like one more.
It has been 8 months since my last cigarette……..
Probably two of the more significant moments of my life were the lighting of my first and the butting of my last. Sounds sad.
But neither is really relevant. I smoked for more than 30 years. That dates me into the last generation that saw tobacco use as commonplace and a norm. Everyone smoked everywhere. Neither of my parents did. But everyone else did. We smoked in elevators, we smoked in shopping malls, we smoked at work, and we even smoked in hospitals. Doctors and Nurses smoked at the Nursing Stations!
Cigarettes were a common bond, a way to meet people, and a way to share. We smoked at every opportunity and made more and more smoking friends.
It was a right that became a habit which transformed into an addiction over time. All the while we were relaxed, cool. The Marlborough Man looked down on us and smiled. It has been 8 months since my last cigarette, sounds very much like a Catholic confessional.
That is not to say that these 8 months have been a piece of cake. I have inhaled quite deeply as I passed those poor souls restricted to smoking in certain outdoor areas. As they huddle in the rain under a cloudier sky I envy and pity them. The store shelves of neatly packaged 20 packs beacon me like an old friend I have not seen in years. The urges have not subsided but the control of them gets better. I now understand the meaning of addiction, why controlled substances need be controlled and why alcoholics need a program. Push me too hard and I might light up.
I am even unsure of what finally flagged in my head to say quit. It truly wasn’t health, cost or anything else quite so definable. Society making smoking less desirable has helped, my chiropractor giving me an anti smoking lecture at just the right moment in my life, a cousin quitting and following his progress on Face book, encouragement from an old friend I met outside of history class by asking her for a light, also helped. Anti smoking Drugs, well they helped too.
Incidentally, I am neither richer, nor do I weigh more nor does food taste better since I quit. But I do like the feeling that I am more in control. I do imagine as the Priest is giving me last rights I might like one more.
It has been 8 months since my last cigarette……..
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Graduate Nursing, Competition in the Market
There have been rumors and mention of the easing of the Nursing shortage. There have been indicators. Having had the distinction of taking a single statistics course three times at University, I am now oddly comfortable with tables with lines and graphs. I have not seen these graphs. Nor do I believe we are anywhere near the end of a Nursing Shortage. Just a respite.
Signs of a troubled economy are everywhere. My home state of Florida failed to have a population growth last year! According to USA today for the first time since the end of World War II more people moved out of Florida than moved in. Perhaps it was all too easy in the country’s fourth largest state famous for sunshine and low cost living.
Suddenly I am being called by Graduate Nurses from other states. They are not yet licensed in their home state but seem all too aware that there is a shortage of RN jobs and are very vocal about it.
A recession affects the Nursing job market in a variety of ways. In the early 2000’s there was an increase in national jobless rates. At the same time Nursing vacancies were dropping dramatically bringing about thoughts of a temporary end to the Nursing shortage. There was not a sudden increase in graduates. RNs were returning to the work force or going from part time to full time to support their families and provide health care benefits. Basic supply and demand, I was studying economics at that very same University. Nursing has always allowed such flexibility with scheduling and returning to the work force. Variety in job function and hours is part of what makes Nursing attractive. As national unemployment rates eased around 2005 the Nursing vacancy rates again began to climb. Those second income Nurses went back to part time jobs or out of healthcare all together.
Health Care needs and an aging population are a fact in America. U.S. Health care continues to grow in our recession.
“On July 2, 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the healthcare sector of the economy is continuing to grow, despite significant job losses in nearly all major industries. Hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other ambulatory care settings added 21,000 new jobs in June 2009, a month when 467,000 jobs were eliminated across the country. As the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, RNs likely will be recruited to fill many of these new positions. In September 2009, the BLS confirmed that 544,000 jobs have been added in the healthcare sector since the recession began.”
For all you Graduate Nurses calling me from Ohio or California please don’t despair. You have chosen one of the most rewarding professions there are, Nursing.
In the mean time, redo your resume for clarity, be concise and loose those typos. Rethink your interview image, dress appropriately. A general rule is to wear what you would wear on the job, so clean pressed scrubs are in order or wow them in business attire. Research behavioral based interview techniques, more and more Directors rely on this type of interview. Just put your best foot forward. Wearing a tank top with a cup of coffee in your hand is no way to show up for an interview. That candidate did not get offered a refill or a job. In this short interim RNs need to be a bit more competitive, a bit more polished as there are others looking at that same job. Good Luck!
Loney B Moses RN
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media/FactSheets/NursingShortage.htm
http://www.flcenterfornursing.org/workforce/researchreports.cfm
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/556417_5
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-31-florida_N.htm
Loney B Moses RN
RN Recruitment
HCA Pasco Hernando
Signs of a troubled economy are everywhere. My home state of Florida failed to have a population growth last year! According to USA today for the first time since the end of World War II more people moved out of Florida than moved in. Perhaps it was all too easy in the country’s fourth largest state famous for sunshine and low cost living.
Suddenly I am being called by Graduate Nurses from other states. They are not yet licensed in their home state but seem all too aware that there is a shortage of RN jobs and are very vocal about it.
A recession affects the Nursing job market in a variety of ways. In the early 2000’s there was an increase in national jobless rates. At the same time Nursing vacancies were dropping dramatically bringing about thoughts of a temporary end to the Nursing shortage. There was not a sudden increase in graduates. RNs were returning to the work force or going from part time to full time to support their families and provide health care benefits. Basic supply and demand, I was studying economics at that very same University. Nursing has always allowed such flexibility with scheduling and returning to the work force. Variety in job function and hours is part of what makes Nursing attractive. As national unemployment rates eased around 2005 the Nursing vacancy rates again began to climb. Those second income Nurses went back to part time jobs or out of healthcare all together.
Health Care needs and an aging population are a fact in America. U.S. Health care continues to grow in our recession.
“On July 2, 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the healthcare sector of the economy is continuing to grow, despite significant job losses in nearly all major industries. Hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other ambulatory care settings added 21,000 new jobs in June 2009, a month when 467,000 jobs were eliminated across the country. As the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, RNs likely will be recruited to fill many of these new positions. In September 2009, the BLS confirmed that 544,000 jobs have been added in the healthcare sector since the recession began.”
For all you Graduate Nurses calling me from Ohio or California please don’t despair. You have chosen one of the most rewarding professions there are, Nursing.
In the mean time, redo your resume for clarity, be concise and loose those typos. Rethink your interview image, dress appropriately. A general rule is to wear what you would wear on the job, so clean pressed scrubs are in order or wow them in business attire. Research behavioral based interview techniques, more and more Directors rely on this type of interview. Just put your best foot forward. Wearing a tank top with a cup of coffee in your hand is no way to show up for an interview. That candidate did not get offered a refill or a job. In this short interim RNs need to be a bit more competitive, a bit more polished as there are others looking at that same job. Good Luck!
Loney B Moses RN
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media/FactSheets/NursingShortage.htm
http://www.flcenterfornursing.org/workforce/researchreports.cfm
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/556417_5
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-31-florida_N.htm
Loney B Moses RN
RN Recruitment
HCA Pasco Hernando
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