Do you want to be right? Or do you want to be employed?”
This was a printed sign I’d made and put across from my desk. I kept it there for about a year. As a single woman I needed to be employed. As a nurse I “needed” to be right.
I tried to be an advocate for our nursing home residents.
I tried to be an advocate for our staff.
When I voiced the opposite side of a question to bring some clarity to the discussion, I was yelled at by the president of the company and called an “obstructionist”.
An outpatient rehab facility at a nursing home surrounded by other rehab facilities was not a good idea. I voiced that. I was called an “obstructionist”.
Somehow we had given up overlapping shifts in union negotiations and the new policy went across the board for all facilities. I voiced opposition and that it would be better for nursing care to have overlapping shifts. Again I was screamed at…in a meeting of my peers.
I was close to retirement. I needed the job. So I shut up.
The management company was sold.
New management closed the rehab facility.
New management instituted overlapping shifts.
I’m retired. I can be right…now.
Mitzi Flyte 