surprisingly well. I think I made the right decision to wait and tell the ‘rents about my unemployment until they got back from vacation.

They were both too tired to say much.

Though my mom rattled of a list of things they need done around the home, like painting the granary and barn, roofing the barn, things like that.

Because God knows you can’t be unemployed and CONCENTRATE ON SCHOOL ALONE in this family.

of the whorespittle, it wasn’t all bad. There were some good times like when my roommate at the time(and coworker) helped me build a pen catapult while working nights. Also, well…maybe that was the only good time I recall having there.

Though the pay was excellent, after 6 years, i was making $14 an hour.

I did also get loans to get two laptop computers over a period of five years, interest free.

and they did give us turkey sandwiches(real great with the tryptophan while working nights) on the overnight shift at thanksgiving and christmas.

over all though, the hospital sucked and I’m glad to be leaving.

I finally turned in my two weeks at the hospital This weekend was a foretaste of the entire summer, and after reading that post I made about how much I hated it there, I came to the realization that the money is not worth it.

I started working at the hospital 6 and a half years ago, December 31st, 1999. The first couple of years were ok, but about 3 years ago, things started sliding downhill. At that job, I got in trouble with info systems for demanding that they don’t treat us like imbeciles, I called help for some old lady who called the hospital because her fire alarm was going off, I did my job so well that the nurses preferred I worked over others in the department, and the patients never once complained about me.

But that was not good enough. Constantly the business office would complain about the department(and about me) missing small details like area codes on LOCAL PHONE NUMBERS, what the next of kin’s relationship was, whether or not a 2 year old was employed, and finding out when an elderly person who was brought in by ambulance(we didn’t see him) was in the hospital last. And these things are just the tip of the iceberg.

I’d have to say that the employment there was educational, yes. But it was a bad kind of educational. It showed me the extent to which our country’s healthcare system is basically tied to the whim of insurance companies, it showed me the extent to which people would abuse the public health insurance we did have, it showed me that no matter how well you did your job, you would still be yelled at for missing one peice of information that was not vital to the registration at all. Not once was my department commended by our boss for a job well done, we got pizza parties I believe twice: each time was for being patient while construction was going on.

So am I bitter? yes. I am. Over the way our department has been treated and will be treated. There is no respect from the other departments, and there is no support from either union or deparmental managers. Why would anyone want to work there? The pay is excellent. This ties into something that is probably the most important thing to learn: it is not worth the price of your mental stability, health, and soul for any amount of money to put up with the aforementioned crap. It just took me a while to learn, mainly because for 4 out of those six years I worked by myself overnight.

So, in essense, screw you hospital. You’ve paid me to be an indentured servant with the best pay in Bemidji, but treated me and my department like the worst employees in existence. I wouldn’t recommend anyone work at the hospital. That’s how much I’m disgusted with my experience.

What has it cost me? I’m overweight, I barely made it through grad school, and only did because I cut back working at the hospital. Not only that, but my blood pressure I’m sure gets higher than it ought to be. Plus the less than stellar grades I acheived in undergrad because I had to put up with the hospital’s crap. Plus my lack of faith in humanity. The way that the hospital treated people, and how those people in turn treated me, I’ve become very uncomfortable finding good in the general people. There are few people whom I find worthy anymore, and I am sad that I’ve lost that aspect where I believed in the general good of a stranger. I used to believe that crowds were stupid but a singular person could be good…not any longer.

And, let’s not forget, my complete lack of a social life. I’ve never had a girlfriend throughout college because of the aforementioned anger at people, and because of the amount that the hospital had me working, partly due to my fault of choosing those hours, but in addition because my manager would not hire anyone else besides myself and another lady to work nights.

To sum up, the hospital is responsible for the worst parts of my life in the last 7 years.

Now, yes, I could have requested fewer hours, and yes, it was my choice to work the hours there, but not once did I or do I have a problem with the job description of what we’re supposed to do. But that was never, since day one, stuck to, and consequently it was our job to do 75% of the work for business office.

And don’t get me started on some of the coworkers.

In essense, I am done. I can’t handle it anymore, so I quit.

well, my grandma took the news way better than I thought she was going to.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Those dealing with you now will soon understand that you’re more than one person. You’re a force of nature! You have a cause, a mission and your own personal catch phrase.

I’m like EL NINO!!!

roxette is probably my favorite 90’s band.