My Interesting Job

I have the most interesting job sometimes. Day before yesterday, I'm standing at the med cart & the housekeeper comes up & says "I'm concerned about something in Mr.So and So's room."

She proceeds to tell me that for several days, there had been a plastic bag on a stand in the corner & that day when she was cleaning she decided to look in the bag because she thought it might be food. To her horror, she discovered an extremely LARGE butcher knife!!

Well, I tell the social worker, & then go back to the room with the housekeeper for her to divert the gentleman while I remove the knife. Keep in mind that this patient has recently been very paranoid and very angry!Well, he sees me taking the bag out, & yells at me,"If you remove that, you are going to jail!" I reply "I'm sorry sir, I have to take this out for safety, we are giving it to the social worker & she will get it to your daughter."

When I carry it out in the hall & unwrap it, I,too, am horrified at the size of this knife. and the thought that it's been in the room of a paranoid,angry gentleman!!I take it up the hall to the social worker's office, & she is at that moment on the phone with the daughter who is saying"I don't remember bringing a knife in, but if I did, it's just a little table knife" & I am unwrapping the knife again to show it to the social worker, whose eyes are as big as saucers as she's realizing how extremely large this knife is.!She gulps & tells the daughter"It's a little bigger than a table knife!We'll keep it in my office until the next time you come in and get it back to you."

You just never know what will happen when you go to work!!!

Another aspect of my job that I never realized would be part of it is talking to drunken family members of my residents. We have a woman whose daughters periodically call when they get drunk...yesterday one of them called & said"I keep calling my mother's room & she's not in there!" I said,'well, she's in the activities room, but we can push her back to her room if you want to call her back in just a few minutes...I can't use this business phone as I am waiting on a call back from a doctor." she gets belligerent & says"oh, so you are blocking me from talking to my mother?!" (big sigh inside from me) I reply "no, I'm just asking you to call her back in her room in a few..."& before I can finish the sentence she says "I wish you would shut up so I can finish my sentence!" ????I reply nicely (yes, I can be tactful, I realize many will find this a shock!:) "Ma'am just give us a minute to push her back to her room and call her on her phone,please."

Unfortunately, she proceeded on her phone call to her mother to rage that she is going to 'get a lawyer' and 'take her mother out' of the facility & 'press charges' on the grandson who is the power-of-attorney. Which got my resident highly upset. It's very sad, there is a lot of money in the family & the drunken daughters are irate that the grandson(who has his grandmother's best interests at heart) is the power of attorney.

So be thankful this Thanksgiving if it's not part of your job to confiscate knives!or talk to greedy drunken family members. Be thankful if you don't HAVE drunken greedy family members!

And I am thankful for all of you!  Happy Thanksgiving!