I walked out of my nursing home job and here is why.
The job itself isn't the problem sorting through stinky linen and clothes is whatever but the conditions I was made to work in and how I was treated was the problem. I will break this into sections because it will be easier to explain and keep it all straight.
The Laundry Room Filth
The department consisted of four rooms. The sorting room had big bins we had to sort the linen barrels contents into. One bin was for bedding, the other for towels, pads and washclothes, there was an overflow one, one for personal clothes, then one for housekeeping mops and rags. Those bins were always gross and I don't know if they were ever wiped out. I did my best to keep them free of debris and stains when they were empty. I doubt they were ever properly cleaned. In that room it was always 90 degrees and humid and AC didn't exist. The vents in the ceiling were filthy and coated in thick dust. There was a big fan in there also coated in grime and thick dust but we weren't allowed to use it for some reason. I almost passed out back there a few times because I was drenched in sweat overheating. There was the washing room which housed all the machines that were never properly maintained. Also dirty back there with moldy ceiling tiles and the so called ventilation was a crappy always open window behind the dryers. That room was also always 90 degrees. The other two rooms the folding and personals room actually had AC window units in them but we weren't allowed to adjust them it was always set at 68 degrees.
Infection Control Was A Joke
We were supposed to sanitize and clean the big linen barrels after we took all the bags out and sorted them. I was shown to sweep them out and wipe them down with watered down simple green cleaner. To me that wasn't enough because who knows what is on the dirty linen coming down to us. I felt we should have used bleach wipes or some type of disinfectant the housekeepers used but nobody ever listened to me about that. Red isolation bags were tossed into the linen barrels instead of in the special isolation bins. There were constant findings while sorting linen of soiled briefs, lumps of actual crap, food, PHI such as medicine blister packets (empty) which identified residents and what conditions they were being treated for and dietary slips were also found. I have found used colostomy bags, dentures, garbage all mixed together without a care. Whenever laundry got backed up due to lack of staffing and refusal to hire help the solution was to always throw the dirty linen bags on the floor until space is made because the barrels can't sit in the hallway full. That never sat right with me because we are now contaminating the ground and who knows what else.
Bullying and Lack of Consequences
I was bullied not even my first month in and I had some girl try it with me. That was dealt with thankfully but then it happened again with someone else. That was swept under the rug. Then it happened again and was being frozen out and treated poorly for reasons I don't even know by the midnight crew I saw in passing. I damn near quit a month in because of how I was being treated but was convinced to stay. I almost quit again 3 months in because of bullying and being overwhelmed but was convinced to stay because I was sat down by HR to get all the details from me and then I was given a dream schedule hours wise. Nothing ever came from the session I had with HR the bullies were never dealt with and got to stay together on the same shift. I actually was serious and wrote my notice up and everything 3 months in only for my boss to ignore it and thought I was joking. She thought she convinced me to stay and I said no I was serious about my last day being June 28th then suddenly I get this meeting with HR because I guess my boss was freaking out over losing me because I am a good worker. According to HR she went in there twice trying to figure out how to get me to stay. Mind you around the month mark I had already decided I wasn't happy and dreaded coming to work everyday but the job market is hard and was struggling to find something else.
Work Load
Midnights has two workers, I am always alone or whenever I had help that person either quit or was fired because they got sick of the drama and being overworked, afternoons has two workers. So they all get partners and I was always solo for the most part. I was always doing the most barrels out of anyone and the logs prove it. I worked my ass off and one time we were insanely shorthanded due to ONE person being on vacation and everything was overflowing in the sorting room, barrels were all full in the hallway and I had CNA's yelling at me to get them an empty barrel and I didn't even know where to start back there. I saw how much was left for me and froze. I had a mountain of folding left for me, washers and dryers were full and no room to put anything. I worked 4 of my 8 hours and caught up almost until it all avalanced back down on me and it was like nothing I did mattered. Back overflowed again and all the barrels were filled and here I was getting yelled at by the CNA's again. I ended up having a panic attacking, crying and I had to go home. That was about 2 months ago.
Prior to that the woman who trained me was fired for her attendance I believe it was so her job duties were dumped onto me without asking me first. She and another woman who worked over on the personals side were in charge of delivering briefs to each court. I had never asked to do them but it was thrust into my lap and I had to learn on the fly. Well the other woman was treating me like I was stupid the entire time and kept telling me stuff like you better stock them up good in their rooms or else the boss will check and you'll get in trouble. You better do this and that or she would appear behind me and ride me for everything. One day I had enough and said if each time will be this way I no longer want to do briefs. She said that's too bad because this is your job now. I said oh really because I was never asked it was just thrust into my lap. Eventually I was freed from that duty but it was always a nightmare. Then eventually briefs stopped getting delivered regularly and I constantly kept getting interrupted throughout my entire shift to go get briefs for whichever nurse or CNA came down to ask for them which was really annoying.
Why I Walked Out
I walked out because 2 of the 4 washers were operational and everything was overflowing and backed up. Nobody was there to bridge the gap between midnights leaving and my arrival at 8am so I came into chaos. All barrels were lined up in the hallway overflowing and there was just no way with 2 washers and me by myself that I was going to be able to handle this. Lazy coworker who always sits down at the desk to do personals and is exempt from coming to help with actual laundry was like I'll tell the boss who in turn told me to just dump bags on the floor from the barrels to get them unloaded. I said where am I putting that sheer volume because the sorting room is very cluttered at the moment. No answer. I was pretty much left drowning in dirty linen and told to figure it out myself. I was having war flashbacks to the last time it got this bad and I just froze up. I couldn't do it anymore and walked to the folding room and folded a few things then paused. I walked to the personals room stood by my locker and gathered my things and paused. Lazy coworker saw me and was like what are you doing and I said I don't know but I can't do it anymore. I ended up just walking out the backdoor and sat in my car and cried. I texted my boss a really nice paragraph detailing I have always appreciated her flexibility and understanding with me and that I clocked out and am in my car having a panic attack and do not know if I am coming back in right away or not. She basically wrote back welp I need to know if you are coming back or not because those barrels can't sit in the hallway all day long. I was gobsmacked because in the past she was always understanding and for someone concerned with losing me that response hurt. I told her I appreciated the opportunity but will not be coming back in and that today was my last day.
Other Odds and Ends
We have ran out of soap a few times and one time two large bottles of tide were bought and we were told to ration them to make them last all day long. Stuff wasn't really coming clean because it's not meant for the volume of clothes we do. That half a cap full we were told to use wasn't working but I was yelled at by another worker for using a full capfull. Staffing was always a problem they never hired anyone when we needed it. We lost three people in the span of 2 months and only one person was hired who quit not even a month in. I myself lasted 4 months. It was funny how older workers told me nobody stays because of lack of staffing and being bullied or overworked. I clung to hope because it was my first job in a field I want to work in (healthcare). All I ever worked prior to this was food or retail and I am scared for what will happen now. I have never walked out of a job before and I am scared for what this means for me.
The Laundry Room Filth
The department consisted of four rooms. The sorting room had big bins we had to sort the linen barrels contents into. One bin was for bedding, the other for towels, pads and washclothes, there was an overflow one, one for personal clothes, then one for housekeeping mops and rags. Those bins were always gross and I don't know if they were ever wiped out. I did my best to keep them free of debris and stains when they were empty. I doubt they were ever properly cleaned. In that room it was always 90 degrees and humid and AC didn't exist. The vents in the ceiling were filthy and coated in thick dust. There was a big fan in there also coated in grime and thick dust but we weren't allowed to use it for some reason. I almost passed out back there a few times because I was drenched in sweat overheating. There was the washing room which housed all the machines that were never properly maintained. Also dirty back there with moldy ceiling tiles and the so called ventilation was a crappy always open window behind the dryers. That room was also always 90 degrees. The other two rooms the folding and personals room actually had AC window units in them but we weren't allowed to adjust them it was always set at 68 degrees.
Infection Control Was A Joke
We were supposed to sanitize and clean the big linen barrels after we took all the bags out and sorted them. I was shown to sweep them out and wipe them down with watered down simple green cleaner. To me that wasn't enough because who knows what is on the dirty linen coming down to us. I felt we should have used bleach wipes or some type of disinfectant the housekeepers used but nobody ever listened to me about that. Red isolation bags were tossed into the linen barrels instead of in the special isolation bins. There were constant findings while sorting linen of soiled briefs, lumps of actual crap, food, PHI such as medicine blister packets (empty) which identified residents and what conditions they were being treated for and dietary slips were also found. I have found used colostomy bags, dentures, garbage all mixed together without a care. Whenever laundry got backed up due to lack of staffing and refusal to hire help the solution was to always throw the dirty linen bags on the floor until space is made because the barrels can't sit in the hallway full. That never sat right with me because we are now contaminating the ground and who knows what else.
Bullying and Lack of Consequences
I was bullied not even my first month in and I had some girl try it with me. That was dealt with thankfully but then it happened again with someone else. That was swept under the rug. Then it happened again and was being frozen out and treated poorly for reasons I don't even know by the midnight crew I saw in passing. I damn near quit a month in because of how I was being treated but was convinced to stay. I almost quit again 3 months in because of bullying and being overwhelmed but was convinced to stay because I was sat down by HR to get all the details from me and then I was given a dream schedule hours wise. Nothing ever came from the session I had with HR the bullies were never dealt with and got to stay together on the same shift. I actually was serious and wrote my notice up and everything 3 months in only for my boss to ignore it and thought I was joking. She thought she convinced me to stay and I said no I was serious about my last day being June 28th then suddenly I get this meeting with HR because I guess my boss was freaking out over losing me because I am a good worker. According to HR she went in there twice trying to figure out how to get me to stay. Mind you around the month mark I had already decided I wasn't happy and dreaded coming to work everyday but the job market is hard and was struggling to find something else.
Work Load
Midnights has two workers, I am always alone or whenever I had help that person either quit or was fired because they got sick of the drama and being overworked, afternoons has two workers. So they all get partners and I was always solo for the most part. I was always doing the most barrels out of anyone and the logs prove it. I worked my ass off and one time we were insanely shorthanded due to ONE person being on vacation and everything was overflowing in the sorting room, barrels were all full in the hallway and I had CNA's yelling at me to get them an empty barrel and I didn't even know where to start back there. I saw how much was left for me and froze. I had a mountain of folding left for me, washers and dryers were full and no room to put anything. I worked 4 of my 8 hours and caught up almost until it all avalanced back down on me and it was like nothing I did mattered. Back overflowed again and all the barrels were filled and here I was getting yelled at by the CNA's again. I ended up having a panic attacking, crying and I had to go home. That was about 2 months ago.
Prior to that the woman who trained me was fired for her attendance I believe it was so her job duties were dumped onto me without asking me first. She and another woman who worked over on the personals side were in charge of delivering briefs to each court. I had never asked to do them but it was thrust into my lap and I had to learn on the fly. Well the other woman was treating me like I was stupid the entire time and kept telling me stuff like you better stock them up good in their rooms or else the boss will check and you'll get in trouble. You better do this and that or she would appear behind me and ride me for everything. One day I had enough and said if each time will be this way I no longer want to do briefs. She said that's too bad because this is your job now. I said oh really because I was never asked it was just thrust into my lap. Eventually I was freed from that duty but it was always a nightmare. Then eventually briefs stopped getting delivered regularly and I constantly kept getting interrupted throughout my entire shift to go get briefs for whichever nurse or CNA came down to ask for them which was really annoying.
Why I Walked Out
I walked out because 2 of the 4 washers were operational and everything was overflowing and backed up. Nobody was there to bridge the gap between midnights leaving and my arrival at 8am so I came into chaos. All barrels were lined up in the hallway overflowing and there was just no way with 2 washers and me by myself that I was going to be able to handle this. Lazy coworker who always sits down at the desk to do personals and is exempt from coming to help with actual laundry was like I'll tell the boss who in turn told me to just dump bags on the floor from the barrels to get them unloaded. I said where am I putting that sheer volume because the sorting room is very cluttered at the moment. No answer. I was pretty much left drowning in dirty linen and told to figure it out myself. I was having war flashbacks to the last time it got this bad and I just froze up. I couldn't do it anymore and walked to the folding room and folded a few things then paused. I walked to the personals room stood by my locker and gathered my things and paused. Lazy coworker saw me and was like what are you doing and I said I don't know but I can't do it anymore. I ended up just walking out the backdoor and sat in my car and cried. I texted my boss a really nice paragraph detailing I have always appreciated her flexibility and understanding with me and that I clocked out and am in my car having a panic attack and do not know if I am coming back in right away or not. She basically wrote back welp I need to know if you are coming back or not because those barrels can't sit in the hallway all day long. I was gobsmacked because in the past she was always understanding and for someone concerned with losing me that response hurt. I told her I appreciated the opportunity but will not be coming back in and that today was my last day.
Other Odds and Ends
We have ran out of soap a few times and one time two large bottles of tide were bought and we were told to ration them to make them last all day long. Stuff wasn't really coming clean because it's not meant for the volume of clothes we do. That half a cap full we were told to use wasn't working but I was yelled at by another worker for using a full capfull. Staffing was always a problem they never hired anyone when we needed it. We lost three people in the span of 2 months and only one person was hired who quit not even a month in. I myself lasted 4 months. It was funny how older workers told me nobody stays because of lack of staffing and being bullied or overworked. I clung to hope because it was my first job in a field I want to work in (healthcare). All I ever worked prior to this was food or retail and I am scared for what will happen now. I have never walked out of a job before and I am scared for what this means for me.
26-30, T
