On my first day of traineeship, there was this really loud chick known as Tammy. I didn’t like her much right off the bat, mostly because I really dislike loud, attention seeking ass-kissers, and that’s how she appeared to me then.

the thing is, I know my own flaws. I always jump straight into conclusions about people just like that, and then risk alienating myself. Over the course of the next few days, I tried to make myself communicate more with her. There’s nothing wrong with confident, competitive and outspoken people anyways, is there? She is also one of us trainees anyways, so it would be better to learn to get along with her now, than to struggle somewhere down the road later on.

Along the way, I started getting closer to the rest of the group, and have my own buddy, Emma. Emma and I get along surprisingly well, to the point where we are known as the “couple”, which was hilarious. we have alot of fun, we are close in age and personality and our supervisors noticed that and attempts to keep us together since we work well together.

Then, Tammy had her first confrontation with someone. I have always noticed that Tammy does not like to do the “dirty” jobs, and keeps her distance, so to speak, if she have to. She comes to work in high heels, claiming that flat shoes hurt her feet. When ask to shower someone, it is like watching someone spray a dog from a distance.

So, when she got buddied up with a senior nurse, the nurse supervised her and tried to correct her – and she was not happy. She insisted that bathing certain types of patients are different (such as dementia patients), and should be re-demonstrated as to how she can shower them. During our staff meetings, she brought that up again, insinuating that everyone (supervisors and the nurse in question) was not doing their jobs or communicating properly.

her suggestion and insinuation was acknowledged though, and then they tried to move on to the next topic. Tammy being Tammy though, she has no respect for anyone in the place at all. she loves to whisper about her own topics when she’s no longer the centre of attention. so she turned to the nurse she was previously suggesting as being inept, and kept carrying on and on about how bad the administration was.

The nurse was turning red with rage, as we could all see, and the supervisors immediately noticed it and tried to hush Tammy up. The damage was done though, and for the next couple of days, we realise the nurse was a little wary of us trainees.

the supervisors did try to pick Tammy up on it, and her bad habits as well. she had a huge cry over it, thinking she was severely wronged. and then she sulked the whole day, telling everyone of us trainees off for the smallest things. It all came to a head though when she tried to go off to her tea break while still feeding someone. she tried to get someone else to finish off the feeding, and was told she needs to finish what she has started.

oh how she rage! she called everyone unprofessional and still uses it as a perfect example of un-professionalism during our classes to this day (it’s been a month since).

Because of how she has been doing things, the supervisors prefer to keep a close eye on her. they did sit us all aside and ask which shifts we preferred to do. I was given night shift, along with 2 others. Emma was originally excluded as they decided to do the cut off point right before she went for her interview. Tammy however, had a choice, and she chose day as she couldn’t do a full night shift every week.

When Emma and I said our “loving adieus”, the supervisors realised they had just seperated us, and offered to fix it right on the spot, giving Emma a night shift spot. Tammy happened to overhear it and got terribly pissed off – she felt the supervisors were biased towards us.

Furthermore, that day itself, I went for my migration health check. Despite it ending close to noon, and my shift finishes at 3, I decided to cab it back because I actually… missed work. so much. The supervisors said I could if I wanted to, and so I did.

Tammy wanted to take a part day off like I did, so she could see a doctor too, she claims to me. She had a c-sec and wanted to know if she could work out in a gym as her hips and all still hurt. that’s what she said. however, the supervisors told her to just take the whole day off then, and she got upset, claiming again that they were just biased against her and being unprofessional. Then she snucked back into work and clocked in her time sheet.

It turned out, as I found out recently, she wanted the time off so she could go for a JOB INTERVIEW. This is quite different from a health concern. of course they wouldn’t want to allow her to do something like that… and then still be paid for the whole day!

and now, she’s just hit the pinnacle of selfish-ness. Emma wanted to do night shifts as she wants to be there for her kids until her husband’s home. the next couple of weeks though, her husband would be away for work. Of that 2 weeks, one of those weeks she couldn’t find anyone to help look after her kids, so she was hoping to do day shifts until her husband gets back.

she had a chat with one of our supervisors, who suggested that Emma go look for someone within the unit to exchange her shifts with her for a week. Aka, people with experience within the dementia unit. Emma was talking about it with the other staffs and Tammy overheard. She immediately volunteered herself and say she can do all those shifts, sans a monday, and that there’s no problems…. and she will start tonight!

I immediately piped up and went, “but isn’t your Josh leaving for 2 weeks only, and only from next week?”

Emma was like, “yes….”

Tammy: ” who’s Josh?”

“erm… Emma’s husband?!?!”

Considering how Tammy has alienated herself so much she had to cling to both of us during class times, I am quite amazed she does not know Emma’s husband’s name.

regardless of the conversation though, Emma calmed Tammy down, and thanked her for letting her know she’s free but she would need to discuss that with our supervisors. Tammy wouldn’t have any of that, and insisted it’s ok since they have settled it between themselves.

Then she proceeded to tell the supervisors that Emma has requested to exchange shifts with her PERMANENTLY and it’s all sorted out between them both now. Obviously the supervisors refused to believe that. by now, it’s becoming more important than ever that Tammy remains within their sights, which is during the morning shifts, and Emma and I have both been told about that. There was never any real intention to let Tammy know about the exchange in shifts, she happened to overhear it and that was unfortunate.

furthermore, they know Emma needs night shifts because of her kids, so they refused to believe it’s a permanent shift she was looking for. They pointed out that factor to Tammy, who refused to believe them, saying that Emma has already sorted it out with her and suggesting then that the supervisors were being biased against her – and therefore she will just turn up at 3pm next tuesday for the night shift whether they like it or not.

erm. what?

someone’s going to get the boot.