Nurse Betty

I had the unfortunate experience of a trip to hospital over the weekend - my 2.5 year old son couldn't breathe, so the ambulance was called and off we went at 3.30 am! It's all good now, but the experience has prompted me to reflect (again) on what makes some people happy at work and others miserable. Nursing must be a tough job, right? Well, my son had the happiest, loudest, most energetic, playful and entertaining nurse you could imagine! Not only that, but she was great with me, chatted away happily with the other staff, made heaps of time for every patient and was exceptionally competent! I was very surprised to experience such a happy soul in such a place at such a time of the day. When the shift changed however, one of the new nurses was the complete opposite. She was stooped over in appearance, overweight, grumpy with the other nurses, and she didn't once make eye contact with me, my son or any other patient that I could see. When she did speak to the others it was to complain. I wonder if their lives were so very different? I wonder how much difference their attitude and thinking and language has made to the quality of their lives? Interesting.