Number Two

Warning this is a LONG story.

One of the stories that sticks out most during my tenure of being the Crusty ER tech is the tale of crazy nurse number  15 aka CN15. She is special in so many different ways that as often can be seen with some people first impressions can be rather deceiving. I met CN15 shortly after I started my job at a big public hospital. This hospital and others of its ilk is known for trauma care and an always packed waiting room. I came on board there, I was new to that city and state and really just wanted to put my head down and work. CN15 seemed like a fairly cool person for my first few weeks there and we got along pretty well. CN 15 was a little bit older but still a fairly new nurse; I make it a point to try to help out new nurses when I can we had some things in common and talked some before and during shift. Then with no warning CN 15 threw me underneath the bus one night when the ER manager made a rare visit to night shift. The ER manager asked her in front of me how I was doing me being a new employee and all at this particular hospital.  It was and I saw it as the manager setting me up to feel good about the work I had done there so far. It was actually a rare pat on the head for the crusty one a third person validation from someone other than the manager herself. Such things are truly rare.

CN 15 decided that despite me helping her out with starting all her IVs and discharging a couple of her patients when she was asked about me she replied “I wouldn’t know I have not seen him all night.”At that point feeling the knife in my back and deciding to not stand for it I asked her about all the help I’d given her. To which she replied “Oh, that.” Turned on her heel and walked off. The ER manager looked at me and I looked at the ER manager. Both of us kind of stunned at this exchange. I face palmed to maintain my composure and the ER manager told me not to sweat this small hiccup that she had asked around and saw firsthand the good job I had done. Later I asked CN 15 why she did this and lied; she just smirked and walked off. After a few snide remarks CN15 made to me over the next few shifts I decided then to watch my ass around her.

Fast forward a few weeks later and its new years eve in this inner city hospital. I’m still new at this hospital but not new to the job. Those of you in the know realize that if you ever want to experience a certain minor circle of hell go to most any ER on NYE and watch the intoxicated human drama unfold.  Again CN 15 and I were working the same area. I was doing my best to steer clear of her because I knew for some reason I had done something to have her decide to set her sights on me.  Still to this day I have not the slightest clue what I could have done. So imagine my surprise when I saw the door to her at the moment empty assignment closed. Naturally I was concerned. This door was never closed; the ER is a dangerous place so I poked my head in to check to see if something bad was happening. 

I got a bit of a surprise when I walked in and saw CN 15 lying on the floor curled up in a fetal position next to the counter in the empty four bed curtained room.  She was crying non-stop and was what appeared to me having a breakdown of some sort.  Which believe me I totally understand but NYE around midnight in a busy inner city ER is NOT the place for it. Go to the bathroom or to the ambulance bay and have your moment and suck it up the shift is not even half over yet. I’m not unsympathetic, I’ve had my moments but truly there is a time and a place for such hysterics, we have to maintain a professional image, crying on the floor in a fetal position is not at all comforting to patients.  Swallow it go home and get out of your system somehow. We all have our own ways if you stay in the game long enough.

Knowing that she had it in for me I decided it was best not to try to console her. I closed the door, grabbed the charge nurse and told her what was going on with CN 15. The charge nurse rolled her eyes threw her hands up and said “Again?! Sheesh.” then walked off to talk to her. Apparently, CN 15 had a history of such behavior there. A history I had no clue about. My reasoning was simple not to get CN15 in trouble, honestly but to get her back in the game we were only going to get busier that night. We needed all hands on deck to share the load of sick and injured intoxicated rookie drinkers we were just starting to get crushed with. The rest of the night was notable not for the CN 15 drama which was just but a small part that made this an “epic” night in this particular ER which is saying alot. Some of which I may share later on down the line.

A few days later CN15 buttonholed me in a hall way outside the locker room and vowed vengeance on me. I was new there and despite my reservations I decided to lay back and not defend myself because I had a feeling  she had a total crazy streak in her and if I yelled back that I was going be set up. After that I started parking my car in a different spot and never parking in the same area twice.  I started switching assignments with other techs to stay away from her. I was getting a way creepy vibe from CN15. I did my best to avoid her but she did her best to get me in trouble with charge nurses and the ER manager. To the point of her faking an injury and claiming I threw a clip board at her head when I was not even working in the same area as she was. Naturally there were no witnesses.  It was a sight; she had an ice pack on her head and wrapped and ace bandage around her “wound” and told the charge nurse that despite her injury that she would work her assignment. I was wondering why she had the ice and ace on her head but figured it was none of my business that CN 15 was just doing more CN15 behavior. She was known to most everyone to be rather bi-polar and erratic in her behavior. There is a very fine line between patients and care givers in the ER sometimes. 

Imagine my surprise when I was asked about what happened between us during shift by the charge nurse and house supervisor. I had no clue what happened or that I was being set up. I just knew CN 15 was walking around with ace and ice on her head being all dramatic. When told that I had supposedly assaulted her with a clip board I laughed out loud, I could not believe it. I was asked if there was some sort of romantic entanglement gone wrong involved. I was again stunned; I then told the charge nurse and house supervisor some of the back story and NO such thing either with a clip board or romantic happened between she and I. CN15 filed an incident report with HR but when asked to produce a witness she claimed I was crafty enough to assault her when no one was around and she refused all treatment offered.  I started to request to work the front desk when we were on shift together. I had several nurses and techs come up and ask me what the hell was going on. I said honestly I had no clue and still don’t to this day. I had a former psych nurse that was working with us tell me that I should lay low around CN 15 because she had went off about me one night with the old psych nurse. I was informed that she REALLY had it out for me and to REALLY watch my ass.

Things finally came to a head when I had a note placed in my locked locker. I put my bag in my locker and locked it then went to use the bath room the note was there not 5 minutes later, placed while I was taking a leak. CN 15 had slipped it in the vents of my locker. The note had a picture of a horse’s ass on it and implored me to quit being an “ass” so that I could get along with my fellow employees. The note was unsigned of course but now enough was enough. I went to the ER manager that was still there at the beginning of night shift and told her that I had no way to prove it but I knew CN 15 did this. I asked for some consideration and that I did my best to avoid her. I had even gone through the trouble of switching assignments with other techs to stay away from her. This all was happening with in the first 6 months of me being at this particular hospital. 

The ER manager made it a point before shift to bring the entire crew together and point out that intimidation of fellow staff members was not going to be tolerated and should cease at once. Within a few days HR showed up along with an upper exec type before a shift at which CN 15 was present. She disappeared after that never to be seen again. I was told later that CN 15 landed in a hospital on the west coast this particular hospital she and I worked at was let’s say back east. There were other issues with CN 15 that I was unaware of at the time. I never found out what those issues were, she was in the center of a lot of drama in the ER not only with me but with patients as well which no matter where you work at is a sure way to get shit canned.

Needless to say Crazy Nurse 15 is an extreme case of what can happen to the tech in the ER via a vengeful nurse. Until management caught on to what was happening I was being talked to by a charge nurse at least once per week about what I had done to CN 15 even though I never spoke to her one on one and only spoke to her when another employee was standing there. I was fortunate enough to have the experience to deal with CN 15’s stream of very false accusations of any wrong doing. CN 15’s extreme behavior not only towards me but also towards others in the department and most importantly the patients was her undoing. CN 15 was and is her own worst enemy, given enough time those types ALWAYS self destruct. The key is to do your job and do it well and unless patient care is an issue let the petty drama drop the less trouble you stir up the better you look to management types.  CN 15 got the reputation of being a shit stirrer.  

This is a LONG story, it’s a bit outrageous and if it was told to me a few years ago I’d say the person was full of shit. That there was more to the story than what is being told, I assure there is not. I share this story because it shows what lengths some folks will go to get another in trouble. When I met CN 15 I was not new to the job I had been doing the job for several years and knew the game. But she showed me a whole other realm of ER politics I had no inkling of; just because someone is friendly when you first start at a new hospital does not mean that they are your friend. So ends the tale of CN 15.