Paradigm Change vs. Releasing Your Inner Grouch

Another change to my paradigm; how I think about myself and my life.

When I found out Julian was (possibly) going to China, I started picking up some temp work from a local Nursing Temp agency. The Nursing market in San Antonio is huge and rapidly expanding, so there is always a need for part-time help. Plus the gross incompetence that traditionally passes for "Management" in Nursing exacerbates this problem, of course. Physicians fighting the Business Managers, demanding royalty treatment from Nursing personnel, whilst Nursing Managers promote Political Correctness with a heapin' helping of pseudo-feminist diatribe politics for good measure.

Just my opinion there, of course.

So when the Temp Agency offered me $3.00 an hour more per hour (which is still $5.00-6.00/hour more than I usually make) -- plus a bonus incentive of an additional $4.00/hour for last-minute calls, I was pretty much hooked. Pulling a couple of extra shifts got me the $700.00 I needed for Julian's trip very quickly.

So when the place i was working for started giving me static about having a second job (as they usually do), it wasn't a hard choice to make. When you can work three days a week and make what you used to make working five days it's really no contest. Plus the versatility of picking and choosing your work schedule makes it ideal for when i start Nursing Practicals for my RN school later this year.

Of course there are certain drawbacks to working for an Agency as well. Sometimes the work is not the "desirable" work of Day Shift, 9 to 5 stuff. It's frequently Evenings or Night Shifts, which is okay by me as long as it pays this well. You may not be able to work 7 days a week if you want -- most places need help on weekends. So you have to "strike while the iron is hot" and pick up what you can when you can -- which is why I just worked 8 days in a row.

I thought to myself yesterday in the office as I was waiting for them to cut my paycheck, "When did I become this flexible? When did I stop being such a damned Grouch? I kind of miss my inner Grouch, really. No excuses to hide behind anymore, are there?

The capper, of course, is that I get the chance to work in many different environments and see lots of different facilities and How-they-do-it-Here. It allows me to practice skills that have atrophied or are almost forgotten from years of atrophy.

Damned if I'm not on the path to becoming Super-Nurse. That's a good thing.

~~JD~~