Why can't people just get the frick along? I have been putting out fires at work for weeks. Two months by this point. And it constantly involves the same two women. One woman is a veteran; she is the second longest active tenured individual on staff. She is experienced and has worked in the industry a long time. The other is the second newest member on staff; college educated, but perfectly new to working in this arena. The first has taken to attempting to lord over others, challenging them with regard to everything from how they pass meds, cleaning the desk, mopping, and record resident actions. The second is a millennial through and through; all about the phone and computer and staying in touch. She wants to work with and help the residents, but because of the lack of enthusiasm from them, has withdrawn somewhat. These two started by knocking heads. The veteran was offended that the millennial was still writing up shift reports, as well as using her phone at the end of the shift. The veteran had arrived about 15 minutes early, so the millennial was not prepared to give a full vocal report. The veteran became offended, and has been near hostile to this other worker ever since. Actions reported include ignoring her at shift change, walking around muttering "stupid" under her breath around the millennial, and nitpicking every thing she does, even to the point of passive aggressively reporting all her flaws in the middle of a staff meeting. The millennial has done a somewhat poor job of responding appropriately, leading to further passive aggression by both parties.
If it were relegated to just these two, I could handle it. However, it doesn't end there. There are 3 other women that have a portion of this conflict, and the sides have been loosely drawing in allegiances, and yet there are tangled and twisted associations. The veteran has drawn to her side the other experienced worker. The millennial has the friendship of another new member, a mother in her late 20's. The fifth woman sort of hovers between the two sides, reporting issues of both the veteran and the millennial.
Now, I'll go to resident reports. Residents are hiding or leaving the house when the veteran comes to work, having even stated they get anxiety and panic attacks in her presence. She has been reported to throw things around the kitchen as she "cleans up" and "reorganizes" things. One resident reported that the vet cursed the resident out for coming in after hours and bringing the significant other with (which would have been well beyond visitation hours). This report had been investigated and already mostly discounted, due to the inconsistency of the resident's report, but the veteran was so angry about it she stormed out on me during a shift change leaving me to cover the overnight shift that she had taken. She hovered around work a few nights later that week which led to the floater reporting she felt unsafe in the vets presence. The millennial is right up there in reports. She is said to only sit on her phone or the computer, and make a whirlwind mess in the kitchen which she then makes the residents clean up, and anything that isn't cleaned she leaves for the overnight staff. Again, there are inconsistencies on the reports against her, leveled in part by the floater as well as the vet and the residents. There also exists greater evidence that lends credence to her side of the story, building a more defensible stance for her.
Basically, to sum up, neither of these people seem to be getting along with staff or residents. The staff conflict doesn't make sense' They see each other for less than 15 minutes at a time; deal with it! You can put up with someone for fifteen minutes. If the President of the USA could meet with the President of the USSR for days, to people who don't like each other can at least be effective about doing their jobs for fifteen minutes! The resident concerns are worse. There seems to be an easier fix for the millennial than the vet; put down the phone. For the vet; change your attitude. Neither seems likely to me at this time.
(Written 1/19/15)
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