Who do I have to (bleep) to get hooked up around here?

[LifeOnHold]

I wish they'd stop telling patients that we go by 'seniority' as to who gets put on first... in the ten years I've been there, I have yet to be put on first.

When I first started treatment, they told me, "You're new, you go on last."  Then I switched to day shift, so I was still 'new' even though I'd been there five years.  Now, at the 10-year mark, people who have only been there four years are STILL getting hooked up before me... so who do I have to (bleep) to get hooked up around here?


I guess I'm just not a big enough bitch... I've seen cranky people who make a big fuss get put on first, but I just can't do it.  I like getting along with the nurses and don't want to start screaming about every little thing, but DAMN, am I getting tired of this!

[Rerun]

I throw HUGE fits and it has gotten me no where.  Pretend you don't want to go on and you will be first.  Or, start showing up late... because after all you never get to go on first, why the hell should you show up on time.  Thus, you get off late and they have to stay late when they want to go home.   

[LifeOnHold]

I get to dialysis by taxi, so I have no choice in when I get there... but even when I drove myself and got there 15 minutes early, I still never went in on time.


I have noticed that when they're really running late and still taking smoke breaks while we're waiting, if I say, "Well, the longer they screw around, the longer we'll be here and the later they'll have to stay," someone comes out almost immediately to get patients.  The receptionist goes in and tells them, I guess, unless they've got the waiting room bugged. 

Another unit I went to had staggered hook-up times-- the way they do things at my current unit, they've got three or four people going on at the same time so it's pandemonium in there at 4 p.m. with everyone coming off at the same time.  Since I'm usually stable after dialysis, the nurse is always helping someone when I'm ready to be taped up, so I have to sit there until someone is free-- which I understand, but I hold my own sites and fifteen minutes is the absolute longest I can hold them without my fingers falling asleep and almost losing my grip on the gauze... and there have been plenty of times when I've had to wait almost 20 (nerve-wracking!) minutes for someone to tape me up. Again, I'm not a big enough bitch, apparently-- I don't like yelling out that I'm ready, but apparently waiting politely for them to get back to me isn't working.

[cabarle]

Here at the Cleveland VA Hospital, they are in "transition". The first couple of times I hate to wait for 4 or 5 hours to sit in the damn chair. I started complaining and now the wait is down to about an hour. Don't get me wrong: The staff is great & responsive. The dialysis center where I go has recently been rebuilt with new machines, it's clean, and well lit. I'm trying to get a morning shift, but I'm told the list is a mile long!