wolf Goes to Rehab (WAS: Tales from the New Nuthouse)
 

Not much in the way of stories to tell, as yet ...

Today was orientation day.

AKA I sat in a conference room with a bunch of other new hires and about a dozen people from different disciplines came in and explained all of the important policies and procedures that there are compliance issues attached to.

They served muffins and coffee and OJ, and we got lunch.

I didn't know about lunch, so I had packed my nice, new, HelloKitty bento. Which, incidentaly, I ordered from a company in Japan BEFORE I knew that I had a job for which I would need a nice, new HelloKitty bento. I left it in the car, in an insulated bag, with a really big blue ice thingy. The ice was still mostly frozen when I got home, so I considered it safe to eat for dinner. I had some carrot sticks, hummus, cottage cheese and jam (I can't abide plain cottage cheese, and it's cheaper to put my own spoonful of jam in rather than buy the ones that come prepacked with a spoonful of jam next to a scoop of cottage cheese), and two of my chicken onigiri.

I will take the same thing tomorrow, since I don't think they'll feed me again. There is a cafeteria on the property, and employees can buy really cheap meal tickets to eat in it. I don't know if my breaks will match-up with meal times or not.

So anyway, in addition to hours upon hours of learning (again) how to use a fire extinguisher, and learning about the computer policies, and confidentiality policies, and documentation policies, and reporting policies, and cell phone policies, we did take a walk around the campus and had various buildings that I don't remember the name of pointed out.

There were folks from many different departments in the training, mainly nursing, but my department had a couple people as well. One of their names is one letter different from mine, which could get interesting.

At the end of the day we walked over to our new office. The others hadn't been in the department before ... they had had their interviews in the HR offices, and weren't given a second interview with tour like I had.

I start my department-specific training tomorrow. I'll likely be working days for a while before I get put on my regular shift. Depends on how much there is to learn and how long before the boss thinks I'm okay to fly solo.

Overall, I like it. A lot of the staff were very welcoming toward our little gaggle of goslings.

Oh, and it was really cute. When I got in this morning, I signed the visitor book, and the receptionist said, "You're here for orientation, you cross your name off of that!"

She also high-fived me.

We had chatted a bit while I was nervously waiting the two times I went in for the interviews.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

excellent.

HIGH FIVE!

Thank you!

Sawweeeeet! Good for you, Wolf! And thanks for starting up this thread. I can't wait to hear about the new nuthouse.

:: selfishly hoping it's at least as nutty as the last -and yes, I'm talking cow orkers... ::

Looking forward to the stories ...

Good on ya! I too am selfishly hoping to hear some good nutty
crunchy crazy stories!

Great sitcom: The New Nuthouse.

YAY! :)

Oh, Wolf.
Jam. Cottage Cheese. No.

She's American. They do really weird stuff with cc here. No banana or peanuts, though -yet.....

Sounds like a great start!

Training continues, and my schedule is getting switched around day to day ... nothing big, just switching an evening for a day because there are three trainees in the department right now, and the boss doesn't want to overwhelm the evening staff.

Even though I'm trying to pay strict attention, I'm still all like, "okay, when do I make copies of stuff, and when don't I? And where do I put them?"

I'll get it, though.

Today I was chit-chatting a little with the receptionist, and she waved and said Hi to a psychiatrist who was behind me. I recognized the name, turned around and ... you know that scene in the movie where the people who have been separated for a long time see each other and everything goes into slow motion, and they come together and hug? Well, it was like that, but without the romantic overtones. I'd worked with this guy, and we get along really well.

How cool is that.

I later ran into a nurse I know who was giving folks from my orientation class a tour and going into procedures. He said a lot of nice things about me. To my boss, no less.

Woot.

small world. should make things smooth though!

Good for you, wolf. That should help with the transition too.
Always nice to already know some peeps.

WOOT

that is good!! very nice.

Sounds great wolf!

I'm happy for you! :)

I saw something extraordinarily cool on the campus today. I will try to get a picture tomorrow, but I won't be able to post it until I establish whether it represents public or protected information ... I'm guessing that it's public, as it is all over the internet. Hmmm. I wonder if anyone else has posted a picture of this thing? I'll have to check that. If I post someone else's picture that's already on the internet ...

Weekends aren't bad, incidentally. Well, usually. I really seem to be figuring out what I'm doing. The experienced staff member was actually asking ME questions about some mental health law stuff.

cool.

Congrats, Wolf! Looking forward to more stories!

And so, the blessing having been given (Okay, actually the boss thinks I'm a nut for even asking, he just kind of deadpanned, "It's on a bench.") ...

This is why, after I got home the night I saw this, it was a totally freaky coincidence that Gia was on TV.

There is also a plaque in one of the patient units for Gia.

What I'm not clear on is how they both ended up on the same bench.

One thing that was kind of interesting ... when I was talking to some cow orkers about the bench ... if they were over 45, they knew exactly what I was talking about. Under, they said, "who?"

I even got a "who?" when I explained the circumstances of each of their deaths. One of them had never heard of the Sex Pistols. What are they teaching kids these days?

I don't know, but I certainly hope it doesn't involve sex pistols. That sounds really dangerous.

eh. Never mind the bollocks.

Huh. that's actually really cool.

Last night a female cow orker was dealing with an exceptionally drunk man.

She got a proposal of marriage.

I am really working in a different place.

I am more accustomed to patients offering that I engage in a physically impossible act of parthogenisis.

Also, the old nuthouse sent someone over last night. They have a totally new vehicle, and totally new people driving it. I didn't know either of the ambulance guys, so I just smiled, and didn't say anything. I also found out that there is someone working in my old department that just boggled my mind. I can't believe that person is in that job. Things are really different. I need to find out what's being going on over the last year.

I met the CEO today. She apparently follows the In Search of Excellence philosophy of Management by Wandering Around.

She wandered into my department, was meeting here and there with people, and made a point of seeking me out, mentioning that she'd heard about me (hoo boy, the big boss lady knows about me already?! but at least it's in a good way).

I and another new hire in my department had search training yesterday. Basically, the head of security told me how to do what I already know how to do, and then offered a bag of clothing that had stuff hidden in it. Cleverly hidden.

The upside, I did very well, found all but one teensy little thing in the clothing, but made up for it by finding something missed by the other lady, who only found about half of her hidden objects.

The downside, I'm now cleared to do searches, which, since I'm the scut-monkey, means I'm going to be doing a lot of them.

What they really need is both a female and a male search tech on each shift, but I don't know if that's going to ever happen. Won't stop me from asking the boss-dude about it, though.

I think on very rare occasions, this can be good.

Mostly, it is bad, and in general, it is a bad sign. I've known (suffered) managers who are so narcissistic they assume that whatever happens in their presence is a perfect sample of reality, and whatever happens in their absence is irrelevant.

Dicks.

She seemed to be doing the wandering around the right way ... not the let's catch people screwing up way that most CEOs do it. I suspect that she was particularly aware of me because the boss-man had to pitch my position to the higher ups to release the money into the budget, and he must have spoken of me in rather glowing terms to do that. But she didn't just come into the office to banter. She spent actual time talking and listening to concerns.

Now I've done it.

boss-dude called me into his office yesterday.

"I understand you met the CEO."

"Yes, I did."

"You impressed her. She has 'ideas' involving you."

"Oh. Sorry, I'll try to do worse next time. She doesn't show up randomly like that a lot, does she?"

"No, she doesn't. But if she does, there is something important to remember."

"What is that, boss-dude?"

"Make sure that you say something complimentary about ME."

"You betcha."

Ha! good one.

Now, how to avoid the implementation of "ideas?"

She may also be trying to make herself available to the staff. Someone may have an idea or a gripe, that they wouldn't go to her office to mention.

On many occasions you've mentioned your fondness for Honey Mead. I happened to be a place in Lancaster they were selling it, (The Queen's Cup, Mount Hope Estate), so I grabbed a few bottles. I'd planned on sending most of it home to Cape Cod with my guest.

A taste and texture to encourage large, frequent, swallows, and 22 Proof.
I locked it all up in the big safe, and told her it was all gone.
I hate you, you've ruined my life, I can't drive, I'll probably run out of food and die... happy. :lol2:

Wha-ha-ha .... Check out Cardinal Hollow Winery. They are in North Wales and have a store in Skippack.

Outstanding Mead and really good wines.

So, I worked the weekend with my trainer, hyperguy.

He was complaining about short staffing (a common complaint on weekday nights when you can see 20 patients in 8 hours). Now I have been there for two weeks at this point.

I made my usual comment and said, "Well, I'm the trainee and I really only count as half a person as far as staffing is concerned."

His reply? "You're not really a trainee."

"okay, so I count as three-quarters of a person." (i did not add "excepting Indians not Taxed, and yes, I know that's three-fifths, but this is how my brain works)

Further evidence ... last week one of the prns (as needed part timers) was also training. I was banging out paperwork, entering people in the computer, taking phone calls, and she was trying to read the manual about the computer system (which is, incidentally, just barely helpful in terms of learning the computer system), and because everybody else was busy with something ... I was teaching her how to do stuff.

I am still doing things wrong, but apparently I am doing fewer things wrong.

I would like to draw Anonymous's attention to the fact that what Wolf is describing here is "faking it". She feels a little uncertain in her role at her new job "I'm the trainee and I really only count as half a person as far as staffing is concerned." and "I am still doing things wrong, but apparently I am doing fewer things wrong.", but to others around her she seems to be The Dog's Bo11ocks "You're not really a trainee." and "I was teaching her how to do stuff."
An excellent example of faking it in everyday use!

Yesterday I received an email from boss-dude.

"How do you feel about working your weekends alone in May?"

reply: "Terrified, but I'm sure I would rise to the occasion."

The negotiated settlement ... I get one more weekend with a partner, after that, I'm on my own.

Oh, and that other part-timer, the one who was asking me how to do stuff? Yeah, she's gone. The other night she just announced "I can't do this," and left. I have never seen anything like it. I'm used to people working through their shift and then contacting the boss the next day ... seen that more than once. Still don't know what happened to the third lady.

Last night we were quite busy. Paperwork was flying around the office, patients being brought in and out, I had to watch women pee and search them, since I was the only search certified female working. So ... there we were, during one of the rare lulls, talking about breaks and how we don't really get a chance to have them and all the other stuff we end up doing that's not directly our responsibility, trying to calculate the number of actual man-hours lost that would represent (it comes out close to an entire shift). So hyperguy says, "and what would that do?"

"It would give overnightchick something else to complain about."

There was a good five seconds of silence before hyperguy said to the other worker, "wolf has been here for less than a month and lookit what she has figured out."

"I, sir, am a highly skilled mental health professional."

A long time ago, in a galaxy and a job far, far away, a new employee left in the middle of her first day. Her stated reason? "I can't stand students."

The job was in the Registrar's Office at a college.

I have seen people leave at lunch and never come back without a word ... the more conscientious ones mail back their keys and ID. She was just so abrupt about it. One minute doing the job (and doing okay, as it happens), the next, announcing to a cow orker, not a supervisor, her decision to leave. She had boss-dude's phone number (he gave it to us on our first day), why not call him directly? That's where the disconnect is for me.

I forget if I told this over in So, Like i got Hired.

In case I didn't or even if I did, because it deserves being enshrined in this thread ... mentioning that boss-dude gave us his phone number on the first day reminded me of this.

My second day. I was still confused about a lot of what goes on in the department. Had a couple conversations with boss-dude about mental health law, so he knows I know my stuff.

Anyway, I was at a friend's house that night and my IM ringtone goes off ... boss-dude. What could he want? To ask a question about the law and procedures. Second day and I was an indispensable resource.

When I was an office-rat we had a new starter who left at lunchtime.
She was 15-20 minutes late back from her scheduled break when our Team Leader received a call to say she was in A&E. No mobile phones in those days, she was on a payphone.

She's got caught in the automatic doors in Sainsburys and had broken her arm.

We never saw or heard from her again.

Just reminded me of this guy who got his finger stuck in a staple remover here years ago. He didn't quit right away, but he went on to become a judge in Ohio.

OMG that was funny.

At my old, old, old job...
We used to bet lunch on whether people would last till lunch. WAY TOO MANY did not.
Spending 4 hours with the bossasshole was more than most people could handle. Especially when one had nothing to look forward to but 4 more hours of the same after lunch.

hahhahaha

"bosshole"

We had a teacher quit at my kids' school during the/their first day a few years ago. Just walked out. it was a good call, it was evident they weren't a good match. But unusual to throw it all away quite like that. It's a public school, they were transfered from another school. They might have got transferred back out if they hadn't just walked away....


Wolf, you have an Infinite Monkey Ringtone? I want one of those!

Last night I had occasion to call the old nuthouse. I needed a phone number that I was pretty sure they had, and so, I ended up talking to my old cow orker.

He is just as disgruntled as ever.

I, on the other hand, made sure to tell him that I was happy, yes, even dealing with the junkies, because they don't act like jerks like they are at the old nuthouse. And my new cow orkers are awesome, and that I get feedback from boss-dude, and I am valued for my abilities and experience. Oh, and I have a desk and a window and everything is all bright and well-ventilated.

In short, I told the absolute truth and in doing so, I rubbed it in. Hard.

He apparently tried to defend me during "the incident," pointing out to crankyboss that I hadn't done what I was accused of. He was told to speak of this no further.

I told him that while it all still hurt like hell, I'd found my peace with it, especially because of the opportunity it gave me to be with crazynuyrse nearly every single day.

And besides, I'm happy.

I didn't tell him they'd created a title and position just to bring me in to the rehab, though. I would have, but I didn't want the new cow orkers to hear me bragging.

Oh, yeah. I changed the thread title.

I'm in rehab, now. Not the asylum.

one day at a time, eh?

I'm working the program.

I recently became a part of someone's searching and fearless moral inventory. I got an unsolicited apology for something I didn't realize was happening, but was significant to the individual.

:) Noted.

I have had that experience too. The such apologies are most often more for the benefit of the apologizer than the apologizee.

I got my first compliment from a family member. The other night I took a call from a lady while husband was hospitalized for psych, but had some addictions going on as well. I explained a lot to her about suicide and addictions, information her husband's treatment team hadn't been taking the time to go over, according to her report. She asked if she could speak to my supervisor about our conversation, and I told her that would be fine. When I came in today, boss-dude said, "a lady called about you, told me you were really helpful. Good work."

Yes, I am awesome.

We always knew.
:notworthy

You truly are.

That's fantastic!

Nice job, wolf. Good on you for helping her and good on you for getting caught doing so.

The first of many I'm sure.
You are very good. Nice to be at a place that acknowledges it, eh?

Almost don't know what to do!

I just told hyperguy and another cow orker tonight, "just wait until I clear my probation, then you'll find out what I'm really like."

I survived my first night alone in admissions. And by alone I mean me and my friends myself and I. Phones were ringing, I had patients in the lobby waiting for a doc who was dealing with medical emergencies elsewhere on the campus, other hospitals wanting to send me patients with little information offered, and little experience on how the rehab does some of this stuff. I only texted the boss-dude a little bit for advice and the nicest thing ... Hyperguy called me to make sure I was doing okay.

And I'm doing it all again tomorrow. :eek:

There is a TV in the patient waiting room, to keep them entertained. One of them asked for the channel to be switched to AMC because he didn't want to watch an NCIS marathon on USA.

Total score. Watched Jeremiah Johnson, Earthquake, and Backdraft.

Backdraft is one of my top ten favorite movies. Saw it a dozen times in the theater, can't remember how many times since. Made it an especially good night, in that respect. Oh, and it happens to be St. Florian's Day. How's that for a coincidence? And to top it off, I was wearing my Baltimore Fire Dept. polo shirt. Yes, Backdraft is Chicago Fire, but it is still Fire. I didn't know about the St. Florian thing until after I got dressed.

Congratulations Wolf. It sounds like a great place.

BTW, I also love Jeremiah Johnson. I recently saw The Mountain Men with Charleton Heston and Brian Keith for the first time and it was pretty good. Jeremiah Johnson is still one of the best pioneer movies.

Speaking of pioneers, it's great to hear that you're moving forward in your career and have found a place that appreciates you. Good luck.

Well... We'll see how much they appreciate me tomorrow. Tonight was out of control, I was alone, and I still had a pile up of patients in the lobby at shift change.