Keeping Spirits Bright on Holiday Shifts

What if goal-setting could be as fun and engaging as a game of bingo? Join us as we usher in 2025 with stories from Colby and Christopher, who share their creative approaches to New Year's resolutions using a bingo card. Colby celebrates a win with her goals, while Christopher reflects on his journey and plans to tackle unfinished objectives. You'll walk away with fresh ideas to keep your personal, financial, and leisure goals on track throughout the year.

The holiday season brings unique challenges to those in the nursing profession, especially when it comes to staffing. From the complexities of holiday pay discrepancies and gender roles to strategies for shift swapping, we uncover the realities of working through festive seasons. Discover how different health systems might incentivize working on personal holidays and how nurses navigate scheduling amidst family commitments, ensuring fair distribution of shifts among staff.

Finally, we sprinkle some festive cheer into the discussion, highlighting ways to keep spirits high during holiday shifts. Explore playful traditions like Elf on the Shelf competitions and the importance of potlucks and festive attire in fostering camaraderie. Learn about the Sunshine Fund’s role in supporting colleagues during life's milestones and how creative holiday parties can maintain team unity. Whether you're a nurse or simply curious, these stories and tips offer a heartfelt glimpse into the holiday hustle in healthcare.

Send us a text

Support the show

✨ Follow & Support Us ✨

Stay connected and never miss an episode:

• Twitter: @NurseLyfe101

• Facebook: Nursing Lyfe 101

• Patreon: NL 101: Office Hours

💬 Join the Conversation:

We want to hear from YOU! Share your thoughts, questions, and nursing stories on social media using #NursingLyfe101.

🎧 Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share Nursing Lyfe 101 with your friends in scrubs. Your support keeps us going! 🩺

Episode Transcript

Christopher (00:00):
Welcome to Nursing Lyfe 101, the most important
nursing class you never got totake in nursing school.
We will be traversing differentobjectives, like interviewing
what to do in nursing school,boundaries burnout and so much
more, if this interests you.
I hope you are taking goodnotes because class is now in
session.

(00:45):
Well, Happy New Year, everybodyand welcome to Nursing Lyfe 101.
We're so excited to have youhere with us as we dive into the
world of nursing, sharing ourexperiences, insights and a
little bit of fun along the way.
I'm Christopher.
I haven't changed my name inthe new year.
And I couldn't be happier tointroduce my co-host.

Colby (01:04):
Hey guys, I'm Colby, and together we'll be bringing you
real stories, practical tips anddiscussions about all things
nursing.
Whether you're a fellow nurseor just curious about life
behind the scrubs, we'rethrilled to have you join us.

Christopher (01:17):
And since it's happy new year, it is 2025.
I can't believe wow, you know,I was just born just a wee bit
ago that we decided to just talkabout holidays and how that
kind of impacts you as nurses,because it is interesting, for

(01:38):
sure, and I think, in terms oflike kind of starting out, it's
a brief explanation, actually.
No, let's not start with that,let's just what's your favorite
holiday?

Colby (01:52):
My favorite holiday is my birthday, always

Christopher (01:55):
no.
Not the answer.

Colby (01:58):
It is

Christopher (01:58):
no,

Colby (02:00):
listen, your birthday is a holiday.
But if we're talkingconventional holidays, yes, the
federal holidays, listen, yourbirthday is a holiday but if
we're talking conventionalholidays, it's the federal
holidays.
The federal holidays that mostother people don't have to work
is New Year's Eve.
Such New Year's it is my holiday.

Christopher (02:15):
Actually, I didn't know that.
I was like did I know that?
I didn't know that?
Yeah, so I mean, why?
Why is that?

Colby (02:23):
I just think it's like it's the perfect time of year to
do your final reflections ofthe year that you just went
through.
You just passed, that justpassed, and it's a great time of

(02:47):
year to kind of like look aheadand picture what you want the
next year ahead.
And I'm not I'm not huge onresolutions, but I do like to
kind of have like last year wegot together and we did a bingo
card, which was really fun.
So I like to have goals, I liketo reframe it.
I feel like resolution is kindof worn out.
I guess you'd say

Christopher (02:57):
well resolutions don't tend to last.

Colby (03:01):
They don't last, it's more.
It a worn out term, but I liketo reframe it and set it more as
like goals.
And we did it in a more fun waylast year, where we filled out
a blank bingo card and it waslike things that, like, some of
them were just like throwaways,like, oh like we tried

Christopher (03:17):
On your birthday was one,

Colby (03:18):
yeah, the middle one, like a free space, is your
birthday.
But then it was just like otherthings that like would like to
do, like one of the things wasbuy a mountain bike and I bought
one this year.
So, like, for you know, anexample is that yeah.
But then I also had a real goal.
I had a goal like pay off mystudent loans.

Christopher (03:38):
Oh, yeah, okay yeah .

Colby (03:40):
Like.
So there's like a mixture.
You can put financial education, finance, whatever I said,
financing twice.
But clearly that's a big onefor me.
And then just like fun thingstoo, like I also had like go on
a girls trip, go to an MLB game,which we did together.
We did that, yeah, yeah.
So I think it's just, it's likea fun time of year, it's your

(04:01):
final wrap up for the holidaysand it's excitement going into
the new year cool.

Christopher (04:08):
How did you do in terms of your bingo?
card.

Colby (04:10):
Oh, I I got, I didn't.
So I didn't get like a fullsquare.
I mean, you know, like you know, a full blackout card, yeah, um
, but I did do.
I did hit a bingo.
I actually wish I wish Ibrought my bingo card here, I
could have gone over and sharedwhat I got.
But I got a bunch of you know Idid.
But I got a bunch of you know Idid a I knocked off a bunch of
things, okay, which was exciting.
I did not at all.
You didn't get bingo at all.

Christopher (04:31):
No, I didn't.

Colby (04:32):
Oh, not even like postage stamp at the four corners?

Christopher (04:36):
That's not bingo

Colby (04:37):
It is, it counts.

Christopher (04:39):
No, I still didn't get that one though.

Colby (04:40):
Oh well, we've got to look at this.
I feel like there's probablysome things we can.
Well, technically, we'rerecording this before the new
year, but it's coming out afterthe new year, so we might be
able to squeeze in a few morethings.

Christopher (04:51):
Yeah, for you.
I mean, I could really justpound out my some of the stories
that I'm planning on writing,because I haven't.
Yeah, but I also this was notsomething that I was planning in
there.

Colby (05:02):
This, yeah, I was going to say like there were things
that didn't fit in the bingocard.
This didn't even get writtendown.
So, like in the borders, I justwrote down some extra ones,
like things I might want to door that I did want to do with
that.
I think one or two of themactually did, but they weren't

(05:23):
in the bingo card.
I definitely could have doneLike I was supposed to go to two
MLB games.
I did one, yeah, yeah, this season's over, but I think
I plan on doing something inthat realm again for this year,
for 2025.
Maybe another bingo card,because it's kind of fun to.
It was.

(05:43):
Also the thing about the bingocard that was fun was that I was
constantly looking back at thebingo card throughout the year
to see like, oh, did I kind ofcross something off?
And so I think that's even likeit's a little more involved
than just like writing down yourgoals.
I used to.
I used to write down goals andI used to like break it up to
like four categories and I'd putit next to my calendar on my
wall and I would look at itevery now and again and I would

(06:05):
cross things off.
That'd be great, but I thinkthe having the bingo card like
on the fridge and like it's justmore interactive.
I like, I don't know, I feellike I was a little more
successful this year.

Christopher (06:15):
with that, I mean there I definitely feel like
overall, in terms of likehitting goals was something that
I definitely did more this yearthan I have in previous years,
and I'm pretty good at hittinggoals no matter what.
But yeah, I was supposed to do75 hard twice, but I didn't do
that.

Colby (06:35):
I didn't even do it once this year, let's go on the 2025
bingo card.

Christopher (06:38):
Yeah, I think.
Maybe.
Just once though.

Colby (06:40):
Yeah, don't be too ambitious,

Christopher (06:43):
that's my problem.
I shoot for dang, dang Pluto.

Colby (06:47):
Yeah, you shoot for the yeah, yeah Pluto.
You're all the way out there.
Maybe if you shot for the moon,you might have a little better.
Okay, what's your favoriteholiday Circling?

Christopher (06:57):
back.
Yeah, yeah, can you share mine?
I am a huge Thanksgiving fan.

Colby (07:02):
Yeah.

(07:03):
I love me some Thanksgiving

Colby (07:04):
who doesn't love?
But it's a food holiday.

Christopher (07:07):
Yeah, I'm a foodie.
Yeah, I might be a vegan foodie, but I'm a foodie.

Colby (07:12):
Yes, we've talked about this plenty, but there's good
vegan food these days.
It is not just like bland tofuand vegetables Like we have had.
I've had some great vegan mealswith you.

Christopher (07:24):
Yeah, you know blue zones, gotta keep those vegans
in your life.

Colby (07:29):
Yes, that is factual.
I'll live forever,

Christopher (07:33):
so you know.
We got to talk a little bitabout actually two very major
holidays and before we get toofar into the topic, I do want to
take a moment and justdifferentiate major holidays and
minor holidays.
So a major holiday in terms ofour.

(07:55):
so this is all our facility ourhealth systems wording and it
can be very different dependingon which health system you're a
part of, but in terms of ourhealth system, we have major
minor holidays.
Major holidays are the holidaysthat you get the holiday pay

(08:21):
and the ones that are usuallydifferentiated as you have to
work them.
You know we're essentialworkers and you have to at least
work one of them.
Those holidays are New Year'sEve, new Year's Day, christmas
Eve, christmas Day and BlackFriday, thanksgiving I don't

(08:47):
know why I didn't say it in thenormal cadence of everything
else and then the minor holidaysor any other federal holiday,
depending on your unit specific.
There was a point where mymanager and I were looking over
various holidays and Mother'sDay, father's Day, july 4th,

(09:13):
memorial Day, labor Day,halloween those are your minor
holidays where things can godifferently than your normal
regular shift.
That's not a federal holiday,

Colby (09:29):
do you guys, um, do you guys on your unit, do you guys
on your unit um, assign minorholidays like you're?
Like, for example, on my unit,even though we work in the same
health system and same facility,they assign major and and minor
.
So like I'm assigned likefourth of july or memorial day

(09:54):
and then it's like labor day orlike last year I worked, but you
, but you are pre-assigned theseholidays like some of the minor
ones.

Christopher (10:06):
Yeah, and so I guess and this is the cool thing
about I will briefly ventureinto another episode at the
moment and pop back, but it'sstill related I promise, in
interviewing, when you interviewfor a unit, you need to ask
about these things.
Interviewing when you interviewfor a unit, you need to ask

(10:30):
about these things because verymuch so colby has a unit that do
you split it up?
Or is it two holidays or is itthree holidays?
Is it like a three holidaygroup?
Two holiday group?

Colby (10:38):
we, yeah, we have a, b and c, okay, so there's yeah,
three groups.

Christopher (10:43):
Okay, so that that was not the thing for transplant
.
This year being 2025, we justswitched to a three holiday
schedule, and so now we have thekidney, pancreas and liver
group.
It was just it was just thekidney and liver group, and

Colby (11:04):
so you guys have more staff, so you could add a third
group

Christopher (11:06):
, right, and so now we can split it up to where
they're only working one majorholiday every three weeks uh,
three years, but that was notthe case

Colby (11:18):
yeah, yeah, that's how we have it, split it up
So it's like either you'reworking, either you're working
the three majors thatChristopher just went over.
So either you're workingThanksgiving and Black Friday,
then you wouldn't have to workthe Christmas, christmas Eve or
New Year's New Year's Eve, youwouldn't have to work those you
would work.
You know Thanksgiving's yourholiday.
So this year was for meThanksgiving and Black Friday,

(11:40):
which is great, um, and lastyear for me it was Christmas and
next year will be New Year's,but I always get out of that.
I'm a good switcher.

Christopher (11:52):
We'll talk about that.

Colby (11:55):
Yeah, we'll talk about that.

Christopher (11:57):
So I guess my question, Colby, you, I have
only been in the health systemthat I've been in.
I have worked in healthcare,other places in terms of like
nursing homes, home health, butnot in another major health
system.
What were other health systemslike?

(12:18):
Well, actually you've worked ascore in another health system
and you've worked as a travelerin another health system.
Yeah, I've worked.
So kind of explain the two ofthose, if you can.

Colby (12:32):
Yeah, I've worked as a core staff in two other major
health systems and then I'veworked as a traveler in, I guess
, like one health system butdifferent hospitals.
It wasn't that health system,health system but different
hospitals.
It wasn't that health system.
Um, the first hospital I everworked at was a smaller
community hospital and it wasactually more seniority based
they were making.
So I worked there for two years, my first two years of college,

(12:54):
and they were moving towards amore fair model, but we were
also a very small unit, so itwasn't as many people.
And I think I think you workedtwo holidays and two major
holidays and you got one majorholiday off and it was seniority
based.
Um, I can't remember because itwas pretty far back, but I know
that I worked new year's eveand I think I worked new year's

(13:18):
eve and christmas.
I had thanksgiving off, likethe first two years.
So thanksgiving, two major,yeah.
So because we were like asmaller unit, smaller amount of
staff, so they just didn't haveenough to go around.
And then when I left that joband went to another major health
system I'm trying to remember Idefinitely worked.

(13:38):
I think it was just one holidayand we had more staff.
So I was only there for a year,but I know that I was there
during the holidays, so I'mpretty sure I just worked one.
But for me, again, I'm a reallygood switcher.
We'll talk about that in asecond.
But um, I often, depending onwhat my, what it is in my in the

(14:01):
rotation year, will work twoholidays in one year.
Okay, yeah, interesting.
And then when I was traveling.
So the thing with traveling isit could be tricky.
I think the mindset for mostmanagers and this is totally
expected as a traveler is thatlike, why wouldn't you put your
travelers on the holiday to giveyour core staff time off with

(14:24):
their families?
Right, and you you should.
If you're traveling, you shouldexpect and you're traveling
during the holiday season, youshould expect that you're going
to work those holidays.
So if you're on a contract thatstarts in the beginning of
november, you can probably putmoney on working all three major
holidays.
But you may get a manager who'slike nope, equitable for

(14:45):
everybody, we'll put you on oneholiday and you'll have the
other two off.
Or you could work if you,before you sign your contract,
you can talk to the manager andget it in your contract that I
will only work this holiday, orI will work one of three, but
not not all three.
You can decide which three, oryou can decide which one of the
three, so you have a little more.

(15:07):
You could potentially have alittle more flexibility as a
traveler.

Christopher (15:17):
Well, how many holidays did you work as a
traveler?
Well, yeah, that's what I'msaying.

Colby (15:21):
Yeah.

Christopher (15:22):
I know that, so go ahead.

Colby (15:24):
Well, my first year traveling, I think I worked one
holiday.

Christopher (15:29):
One major holiday

Colby (15:30):
One major holiday.
But then, going forward, I wasreally smart with where my
contract fell and I actuallyfinished up like mid-November,
before the Thanksgiving, and Itook off until after the new
year, so I didn't have to workany holidays that year.

Christopher (15:46):
Yeah, that's the impressive thing about travelers
like you.
You make enough to kind of havea break in between.
If you really do like plan yourcontract appropriately, you can
really optimize your notworking a holiday.
Yeah, and at our health systemcurrently I don't know if you

(16:09):
know this, but the contractsthat we do they say in the
contracts that you have to workone every other holiday.
You have to rotate every other.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, yeah, every other holidayand every other weekend.
I didn't know that.
That's good to know.
Yeah, every other holiday andevery other weekend.

Colby (16:27):
I didn't know about the weekends, but the holiday thing
is interesting, that's cool.
So I mean, that's not, that'snot like mandatory you're going
to have to work all of them.
At least you can.
Yeah, I mean, depending onwhere you, where your, that

(16:51):
could stink but it could beworse, for sure, depending.

Christopher (16:52):
I mean, and you know to your point, if you, if
you have worked on the unitbefore and kind of know the unit
and know the manager, you canalways talk to the manager and
be like hey, like I want torenew, but I I have christmas
plans or I have new year's eveplans.
I'll definitely work yourthanksgiving day and black
friday and I'll even, you know,pick up one or two extra

(17:13):
weekends or something like that.
Like to you.
You, as a traveler, have a lotof power

Colby (17:19):
if you have a good report , like with your management and
you're you know, you're outthere, you're doing and you're
doing your job.
This is like they're gonna be.
There's gonna be managers outthere that are pretty flexible,
like if you could prove thatyour work, like you're doing the
hard work, you're you know, notsaying like you need to bend
over backwards and do some crazystuff and like and pick up

(17:39):
every shift.
That's that's asked of you.
But these three days asked ofyou, you need at least three
days before a manager doessomething, get working.

Christopher (17:46):
So with minor holidays, have you noticed any
like weird staffing snafus?
Like have they?
do you see that people call outmore?

Colby (18:01):
I think it's a toss up.
Yeah, I think it depends, and Iwould love to hear from your
perspective too, because youhave like a more of a bird's eye
view as far as staffing things.
Where I'm more like I'll noticeit if I'm working, but if I'm
not there it doesn't matter tome, right?
So I will say it depends it.
Yeah, I'm gonna say it reallyjust depends.
I feel like fourth of july, I'mgonna guess there's probably.

(18:23):
I'm guessing that there'sprobably more call outs because
it's summer, it's nice out, alleverybody has like a long
weekend and people want to gohang out and grill and barbecue.
Same thing probably formemorial day.
Yeah, I'm gonna say I see, we,we have some things like
halloween, probably not as much.
I'm gonna say it looks like wehave like easter written down on

(18:44):
our notes, probably not as much.
I'm going to say it looks likewe have Easter written down on
our notes here, probably not asmuch, but I feel like Labor Day,
memorial, on the 4th of July,there's probably a pattern of
higher call-out rates 100%.

Christopher (18:58):
Yeah, you know which other one,

Colby (19:00):
what one?

Christopher (19:01):
Mother's Day.

Colby (19:02):
Well, it's a female-dominated career, right?
It sure is his mom's want tohang out their kids.

Christopher (19:08):
They want the gifts , dang it no, but honestly,

Colby (19:11):
their mother's day brunches.

Christopher (19:13):
They should, they should, they deserve it I cannot
believe people can carry otherpeople in their bellies for that
long.

Colby (19:20):
Okay, this is interesting .
So, now that you are in yourrole as an assistant nurse
manager, do you or did you thisyear or?
do you plan for this coming yearto staff more males on Mother's
Day?

(19:33):
Oh that would.
I think that's like

Colby (19:35):
Interesting play

(19:36):
.
Well, it is, but I think that's.
I think that's like teeteringon like.

Colby (19:42):
Sexism.
Yeah, okay, yeah, no,

Christopher (19:47):
I mean it could it could, and I, you know that's
what.

(19:51):
That would be an interesting experiment, experiment,

Colby (19:55):
but you have to keep to yourself,

Christopher (19:56):
yeah, like I could not.
Yeah, the fact that we justreleased this podcast.
I can't do it now,

Colby (20:06):
as long as you do an equal study on Father's Day.

Christopher (20:09):
Well, the thing is, though, that Father's Day isn't
really a problem, right?
What I think Father's Day islike the 8th, it's in June,
right?
Oh, I know, yeah, okay, sorry.
But it's like the 8th, it's likenot the top five celebrated
holidays.

Colby (20:25):
That's true.

Christopher (20:26):
I'm not going to give an actual number, but it's
not as high as.
It's not top five.
Yeah, mother's Day.
I think it's like third afterChristmas.
Oh really, I didn't realize itwas that high up.
It's really high up.
Yeah, okay, after Christmas.
I think it's ChristmasHalloween, as it should be Okay,
like Christmas Halloween, as itshould be Okay, like you said.

(20:47):
Yes, as it should be, butChristmas Halloween Mother's.
Day, and I think New Year's isafter that oh wow, I would not
have guessed that order.
That's cool.

Colby (21:00):
I think everybody's going to be fact-checking me and
telling me how terrible I am,Like actually.

Christopher (21:03):
But I'm putting Mother's Day pretty high up.
That should be a good thing.

Colby (21:07):
Yeah.

Christopher (21:10):
So at your other health systems have you had pay
differences in those minorholidays?

Colby (21:18):
Okay, that's a very good question.
So, as core staff, minorholidays no.
As a traveler yes.

Christopher (21:28):
Really.

Colby (21:28):
Interestingly enough, and I didn't think I did because I
thought it would be morehospital-based, even though I'm
a traveler, Right.
But I did notice, like on MLKDay I was like, oh, on my
paycheck I was like, oh, I'mgoing to holiday pay for working
MLK Okay, like that's awesome,got holiday pay for working MLK.
Okay, that's awesome.

(21:49):
Like that was the first time Inoticed it because our current
health system does not pay extrafor MLK, like no.
So then I started looking backat other pay stubs and I was
like, oh, I got extra onMemorial Day.
I got extra, yeah, so at leastmy travel company did, and maybe
they weren't supposed to becharging the hospital for that
holiday pay, but they did and Igot it Very, very interesting.

Christopher (22:11):
Yeah, Well, I also had heard that.
What did that traveler say?
They had teamed from a hospitalthat did give you holiday pay
and overtime if you worked youryour birthday,

Colby (22:29):
oh yeah, my aunt's hospital um, they, my aunt's
hospital will either give youlike 12 hours of pto like extra
to take your day off, or, if youwant to work and you get paid
overtime.

Christopher (22:40):
See, that's cool.

Colby (22:41):
Yeah, that is really cool .
No, I don't, I didn't realize,I forgot about that, but I don't
think that that's very rare.
I don't think that you get, Idon't think you get to do that
in most places.

Christopher (22:51):
If, if, if you do, if you're working at a place
that does this, let me know.

Colby (22:56):
Yeah, also, wait and correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm
pretty sure that our healthsystem, even though we're
required to work Christmas Eve,christmas as our holiday
rotation, we're only gettingpaid holiday pay for.
Christmas Day from midnight to11.59.

Christopher (23:11):
Yeah, that's correct.

Colby (23:12):
Yeah,

Christopher (23:14):
so day shift is really ranking in the money.

Colby (23:18):
Well, night shift will too, if they keep it, whereas
you have to work Christmas Evenight into Christmas, because
Christmas Eve, obviously atmidnight you're into Christmas,
yeah so, but you have to makesure you work both of them,
otherwise you're only gettingfour hours of holiday pay, and
that's a bummer.

Christopher (23:35):
I'm so sorry to hear that.
Yeah, yeah, but that's that istrue and it was interesting
because I thought it was onlyjust Christmas, thanksgiving and
New Year's Day for no, I didn'tthink New Year's was a holiday

(24:00):
that we got paid for.

Colby (24:02):
New Year's Day is, but not New Year's Eve, right,
but not New Year's Eve, right,yeah, which then throws off the
whole.
Oh no, if you still work nightshift.
Yeah, if you work New Year's Eve, you still get from
midnight to 7, so you still get8 hours.

(24:21):
But Thanksgiving you don't Right, okay, if you work
Thanksgiving, you don't right.

Colby (24:25):
Okay, you have to work thanksgiving, you have to work
wednesday, wednesday, thursday,friday, but and they used to do
that.
So when I work night shift atour health facility, night shift
would work the day before andthe day of to get their holiday,
but if you were a day shift, itwas day of day after yeah for
thanksgiving.

Christopher (24:39):
yeah For Thanksgiving, specifically yeah,
Do you.
Have you ever been asked toswitch off of like?
a minor holiday

Colby (24:50):
by management or by like.

Christopher (24:52):
Well, okay, well, colleagues, this Good question,
let's start with colleaguesfirst.

Colby (24:57):
And then let's, we'll get .
Uh, um, I'm trying to think ofcolleagues.
I think Someone was looking toget off Christmas and it was a
year.
Mine are, mine are, mine areoff Christmas.
Oh, I mean Christmas, christmasEve.
Are you talking about likeyou're talking about, 4th of
July, that kind of stuff?
Yeah, like 4th of July, colleen?
Um, that's a good question.

(25:20):
I'm gonna be honest, I don'tparticipate in a lot of switches
but you ensure that you get offon.
New Year's Eve.
That's the only one that I'm out here battling in the war
zone for um.
I don't get asked toparticipate a lot, but I also
and we touched on this in thelast few podcasts but when I'm

(25:41):
not at work I'm booked and busy.
So I think people know thatabout me and so they're like oh,
she's probably got this andthis and I'm not going to even
bother asking.
But I have.
I mean not holiday related, butI mean I have done switches
here and there when I wasavailable to help accommodate
other people, but I can't thinkof a minor holiday that I was

(26:04):
like yeah, let me pick that up.
I probably had a plan.
I had probably had plans if Iwasn't already looking.

Christopher (26:11):
I've been asked on July 4th, which I live in a
state that isn't my hometown, somy family is not in this state
and so, like, I'm like if, if Ijust go work the holiday, you
know that's fine.

(26:32):
Honestly, you know why I likethe holiday.
I will work almost any holiday,to be honest and the reason is
there's no management.
Yeah, there's less peopleusually.

Colby (26:43):
Census is usually lower,

Christopher (26:44):
census is usually lower.
I'm like that's okay, you goenjoy whatever you're about to
enjoy, because I'm getting paidto must sit chill.
Yeah, just chill, have a goodold time.

Colby (26:59):
Yeah, I know I will say more often than not, at least
the pattern that we see, or anexperience, is that holidays are
, as far as the hospital goes,pretty laid back most of the
time.

Christopher (27:12):
Yeah, and honestly I can remember, strangely enough
, the nursing homes that I well,I only worked one, but the
nursing home that I work in, thecensus would kind of die down
too, like there.
We had like a rehab part of thenursing home so the nursing home
part stayed the same, right,but the rehab part, yeah, they

(27:36):
were trying to get people out.

Colby (27:37):
Yeah, last year when I worked Christmas we had, um, it
was like less than 10 patients,it was like no patients.
So I've been like we called offeverybody.
It was me, two other nurses anda tech on a unit that normally
is like me, eight other nurses,two to three techs like we were

(27:57):
like hanging out.
I put up, I was streaming um,holiday movies on like our two
big flat screens.
That normally is our graceboard with patient assignments
and rooms.
We did a potluck.
Just the three of us we hadbrought stuff, or four of us we
brought stuff in.
We shared food with thepatients because we all had

(28:18):
brought so much food in, becauseyou were expecting this huge
group of people.
One of our patients had thisreally sad it was the smallest,
shrivel, huge group of people,yeah.
And one of our patients hadlike this really sad, like it
was like the smallest,shrivelest piece of like pork
and like we were like this looksterrible.
We were like loaded up withfood from our potluck and gave
it to the patient and they werelike this is so good.

Christopher (28:37):
Yeah, because it was full of salt and they had no
sense of diet.

Colby (28:40):
Hey, it's Christmas, let them live.

Christopher (28:42):
Oh my gosh,

Colby (28:42):
let them live a little.
Have you ever been asked toswitch and you're like you could
, but you didn't really want to?
What did you do?

Christopher (28:56):
No, no.
So yes, but I usually said yesanyways,

Colby (28:59):
Because you have no boundaries.

Christopher (29:01):
You know I am not going to be bullied about my
boundaries.
I've set this boundary rightnow.

Colby (29:07):
Okay, Respect.
I respect it, but I askedbecause I knew that would be
your answer.
And the reason why I askedbecause I know the answer is
because, on the flip side, Ihave been asked and I'm like,
even if I didn't have a plan andI didn't want to come in, like
no is a full sentence and a fullresponse, like no, no, thank

(29:30):
you Period.
Like you can be nice, you cansay no, thank you, though.
Thanks for asking.
You don't have to say sorry,but you can if you want, no,
sorry, thank you, though.
Thanks for asking me.

Christopher (29:39):
Thanks for asking me, it's for you.

Colby (29:40):
but thanks for asking me.
Yeah, thanks for asking me, butno, I can't sorry.

Christopher (29:46):
Well, so, honestly, this is a hot take that I don't
think I've told anyone.

Colby (29:52):
Can't wait for this one.

Christopher (29:54):
A lot of the times I was so willing to switch with
people because I was like thisis just my bank, for I'll call
it back if I need to call itback.
Yeah, good karma, yeah, I'mlike which I never needed to,
yeah, and now I'm in managementso I know it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
But I was like this is just,I'm keeping this tally.

Colby (30:23):
.
Yeah, on the sentiment of like,going back to what you said,
like you're not, you're, youdon't live in a, in this, in a
state where your family is.
It's not your home state, right, it's, neither is it mine.
So like I'm more apt to changemajor holidays than I am the
minor ones because, like majorholidays, if I'm off, like my
close friends that I considerfamily here, most of them are
from here, like me and you are,which is great, right, but most
of my close friends are fromhere so they're with their

(30:45):
families.
So, like I'm not often likegonna have something to do on a
major holiday on the minorholidays, though, when, like all
, my friends are off and theirfamilies are having cookouts
like, yeah, I'm gonna come crashthat cookout, I'm gonna come um
, but I'm not gonna like crashon their christmas dinner.
So like if I, if there's someoneat work that's like, oh, I wish
I could have christmas off withmy kids, or I really want to do

(31:06):
like thanksgiving the family,I'm like I'll switch you, like
no problem, like I'll work, I'llwork that, I'll work that and
get that holiday yeah, as we say, like,

Christopher (31:14):
and the census is 10 people,

Colby (31:16):
yeah, yeah.
I'll do that for you.
No sweat off my back Like,honestly, I'm out here, I was
out here looking to switch forChristmas already, like I was
like, hey, anybody wantChristmas off.
I know we're a little late inthe game, but Thank you, my gosh
, I'm not here.
That's crazy, but it's also notmy holiday.
I was just going to pick it up,or?

(31:39):
Welcome to CareerRx, where weshare quick, actionable tips to
help you in your nursing career.
Thrive.
From strategies for finding that elusive work-life
balance to advice for new nursesstepping into the field and
insights on managing workplacedynamics.
This is your weekly dose ofcareer wisdom.
Let's dive in and help you makeout the most of your nursing

(32:00):
journey.

Christopher (32:01):
So one thing, and we kind of briefly touched on it
already how do you survive aholiday?
shift

Colby (32:15):
.
Well,

Christopher (32:15):
is there, like a Colby

Colby (32:17):
There is a RX.
Yeah, let me write this out onscript paper for you guys, okay,
one planning in advance,potluck, this is important.
This is going to get you throughyour day.
Okay, we need to a week, atleast a week, if not more, in
advance start the potluck signup, because not everybody works.
You know sometimes this,sometimes this is the assigned

(32:40):
holiday major holiday where youknow that wage or PRN staff
member.
They don't always see.
This is their holiday.
They have to work, so they'llbe there.
So throw it up there in a weekin advance so they don't come in
barehanded.
They can come in empty-handedto this potluck, although I will
share with you.
You're more than welcome tohave it.
But like, share with you,you're more than welcome to have

(33:04):
it.
But like you're gonna feelbetter if you contribute, so
throw it out there, get it onthe board.
We're starting a potluck and ifyou think I did it for
thanksgiving, you're wrong.
I was the first one.
I started that list,

Christopher (33:08):
did you really?

Colby (33:08):
Oh yeah,

Christopher (33:09):
I mean, I knew, I knew you had a potluck, but I
didn't know you would that.

Colby (33:12):
I know it's too close.
Um, yeah, no, I started it, itwas me.
I said alright also.
I am a charger, so I feel likeit's a little bit it's a small
amount of my responsibility,like if I'm running the circus,
let me get my ring later hat andget this going, okay.
So potluck is super important.
Okay, not as important, but,like Christmas, if I'm wearing

(33:37):
Christmas, I love to wear a funsweater.
I like a holiday sweater puts asmile on my patients faces,
makes my co-workers laugh andthey can come for it.
You want to bring the holidaycheer?
I would like to remind you wedid mention it before, but
management's not in the house,except for this one,
management's not in the house,except for this one.

(33:57):
But yeah, yeah, but you're chill, management's not in the house
and we're not doing like formalmeetings, everything's on hold.
So like this is this is we can.
We can just have a nice relaxedday.
Okay, last year I streamedmovies on our flat screens is
that franco probably?
but again we had 10 patientsyeah, it's not like y'all had we

(34:22):
weren't yeah, we weren't likecranking busy and like ignoring
people.
We had 10 patients.
They were chill, like they wereeating food with us.

Christopher (34:28):
Um watching the movies too.

Colby (34:30):
They were watching.
We had a couple of them inwheelchairs out there.
Um, okay, yeah.
So you want to prioritize yourpotluck?
You want to, you know, comewith holiday cheer.
You want to stream movies ifyou have the capability.
Christmas music, christmasmusic, that was yeah, yeah,

(34:50):
holiday music, whatever, right,whatever your fancy is, I don't
know.
I feel like those are the majorkey points.
I don't know, I feel like thoseare the major key points.

Christopher (34:59):
One thing that I realized last year that y'all
did was, and I thought it wasreally cool.
I did think it got a littlemuch at times, but I still
thought it was cool.

Colby (35:10):
Oh I know what you're about to say, go.

Christopher (35:13):
Elf on the Shelf.

Colby (35:14):
Yeah, we still have it.
I think it's pretty cool.

Christopher (35:18):
Do you not like it?
You sound a little annoyed byit.

Colby (35:21):
Um, I'm not.
I am annoyed by it clearly,because I was just not annoyed
by it.
But no, I am kind of annoyed.
But I think it's funny, on dayshift I don't have the time, so
I get I get annoyed becausenight shift it's like a night
shift versus day shift, kind oflike war, and I don't have the
time on day shift to be messingaround with some elaborate elf

(35:43):
on the shelf scheme Like when Isay elaborate.
I mean currently the elf on theshelf is set up by night shift
and it obviously, if you don'tknow, there's any fluid bag
shortage related to hurricanehelene that affected north
carolina and took out the baxterplant.
So it's just elaborate and Idon't have the time on day shift

(36:07):
to come up with an elaboratescheme for the elf.
So it gets frustrating for mewhen I'm like running around and
then I come in and I see likethe elf is in a new position and
it has a whole storyline andwhatever.
You're like, oh, like, oh.
It's so cute and so funny andI'm like why weren't they
working?
What were they doing?
Oh, they had enough time to bemoving the elf on the shelf and

(36:27):
creating a whole storyline forhim.
Why wasn't this X, y and Z done?

Christopher (36:31):
Okay, yeah, See that there.
That's like I'm okay with theelaborate scheme.

Colby (36:36):
It's the elaborate scheme and story.
It's the elaborate scheme beingdone, but things that are
actually part of their jobthat's not getting done.
That gets under my skin Also.
I just think it's a huge wasteof some of our resources, like
right now we have a toilet papersnowman in the nurse's station,
someone unwrapped three rollsof toilet paper and a round of
gauze, and I just sound like acurmudgeon Scrooge right now and

(37:07):
I'm like stop wasting supplies.
But like come on and again.
Just what it comes down to isI'm like you have time to do
this, but I'm out here cleaningup your mess, right, or like
picking up things that didn'tget done, like I'm just a little
sour, can you tell?
I mean just a little sour, canyou tell.

Christopher (37:18):
I mean just a little bit.

Colby (37:20):
But the sentiment is fun.
It's cute, like sure.
I think one thing our unit doesreally well is we decorate for
Christmas, and I mean that in away of like not using supply,
but like we have garland, wehave the best Christmas tree in
the hospital.

Christopher (37:35):
Well, you haven't seen ours?
It actually doesn't.

Colby (37:38):
I'm coming up,

Christopher (37:39):
yeah, you should.

Colby (37:40):
I'm gonna go look at it.

Christopher (37:41):
It looks good,

Colby (37:42):
but how does it compare?
Maybe it's good, but how doesit compare?

Christopher (37:44):
No, no, no, I know.
I did say that yours was good,but I like ours.
It's different than what it waslast year.

Colby (37:55):
I'm excited to see it.
Currently, though, acutecardiology we hold the title of
best hospital transplant maytake the crown this year.
I don't know, tbd, it's not andagain, we're recording this
before new year's, so this isprobably a little confusing
about the time of year, butright, yeah, we're going back
and forth.

Christopher (38:16):
Yeah, it's not the size of y'all's.
I will say, that's one thing.

Colby (38:22):
We have a full six and a half foot pre-wet tree
Cardiology heart failure themed.
We saved all of our Bumix andLasix bottles and poked paper
clips in them and those are ourornaments on the tree.
Yeah, that's the clever part.
Y'all thought about that.

(38:44):
In the past we've used tellystrips with the patient
information removed as garland.
We haven't done that yet thisyear.

Christopher (38:58):
Yeah, share about.
Yeah, um, and I think I thinkthe potluck is a good idea.
I I'm not a huge planner ofpotlucks, because I just don't,
but multiple times people havebeen like oh, we're doing this.
This is fun, though.

(39:19):
Transplant is doing aholiday-themed team shirt.

Colby (39:29):
Oh

Christopher (39:29):
yeah so.

Colby (39:30):
For everybody to participate in or just working

Christopher (39:33):
the ones that are working.

Colby (39:35):
Is Transplant covering the cost or are people paying
for their own?

Christopher (39:37):
I mean, I could foot the cost if I wanted to,
but I'm not going to.

Colby (39:42):
I was just wondering if it was like the Christmas
present for the unit.

(39:45):
No, there isn't, I think.
Sorry, um.
Overall, our manager is reallygood at doing a Christmas gift
for the unit, yeah, and I guessreally good at doing a Christmas
gift for the unit, yeah.

Christopher (40:02):
And I guess my question is what do you think
about giving your management aChristmas gift?

Colby (40:14):
That's a great question.
Hot topic

Christopher (40:16):
yeah, yeah,

Colby (40:17):
hot topic.
Um, I think there's nothingwrong with it if everybody on
the floor can participate in.
I think we do something calledlike a sunshine fund, where
staff is encouraged not required, but encouraged that um a
yearly or twice yearly donationto the sunshine fund, excuse me,

(40:39):
um, and that's really just like, like just a fund of money.
That way, like we haveco-workers that are pregnant,
you can have a baby shower orsent flowers for a funeral, um,
so, in that, that's actuallywhere we got the money to buy
our huge tree that we have.
Oh, interesting, yeah,interesting, yeah, it was out of
the Sunshine Fund.
So I think, if we're gonna, ifthe staff wanted to, using the

(41:06):
Sunshine Fund is a good use ofthat money.
If you want to get managementagain, personally, this year
we're not.
We're not doing anything.
We've had a lot of managementum, fluctuation or like people
in and out the door, so no one'sreally worried.

Christopher (41:25):
Call it what it is, it's turnover

Colby (41:27):
, turnover.
We've had management turnoverquite a bit.
So I feel like I actuallyreally like my new manager, but
I feel like, um, nobody knowsthem well enough, I guess, at
this point yet to feel like youknow that connection, where
they're like, oh, we need to geta gift for them, you know, but
I worked in other places where,like, we've given like something

(41:51):
, like like a bottle of wine orlike you know nothing too big,
yeah, it doesn't have to beelaborate, yeah,

Christopher (41:57):
so, interestingly enough, I had mentioned that
there is the belief that it isimproper to gift up.
You gift down, oh okay.
Yeah, we can see that.

(42:13):
The main event should always gift to you and you can gift to
level or below.
So it's interesting.
I don't know how I feel aboutthat in terms of if I really
think it's proper or not.
I think if management's goingthrough things or if management

(42:38):
has been really good to you, Ithink it's okay to call it out.
Actually, one of our nursingstaffs and it wasn't a gift, it
was just an email, sometimesjust saying and it was during
Thanksgiving the staff memberwas like I just wanted to let
you know that I'm thankful fory'all.
Y'all do stuff behind the scenesthat we don't see and I just
wanted to say thank.
Know that I'm thankful fory'all.

(42:59):
Y'all do stuff behind thescenes that we don't see and I
just wanted to say thank you.

Christopher (43:02):
That was an amazing gift

Colby (43:04):
yeah,

Christopher (43:04):
you know like

Colby (43:05):
, yeah, words of affirmation, right, love
languages?
No, I do.
I think, yeah, I think you havesomething simple.
It's just like a note or email.
This can go very far.
I think it, like you said,doesn't need to be elaborate,
but it's also not required.
I mean, again, it goes very far.
Something small can go very farand I think, outside of gifts, I

(43:27):
mean that could be said, likejust when a patient says thank
you so much for doing everythingfor me today.
Like that will gas somebody up,like just think of that, that's
awesome.
But it's not required and um,there shouldn't be any pressure
to do it.
I do, um, I don't like our unitand again, probably related to
management turnover and like nota strong connection to this,

(43:50):
like staff, but we haven'tgotten gifts either in many
years.
Again, not required, butsomething small goes along the
way.
Yeah, situation, um, but I'veworked in other facilities where
we got sick gifts.
Oh, really, yeah, when I was,when I worked up north, um, we

(44:12):
all got these beautiful likepatagonia style.
They weren't Patagonia brand,but like vests with the health
systems, like logo on it andwhat unit we worked on.
Very nice stuff,

Christopher (44:25):
wait, so did that come from?
management or did that come fromthe health system?

Colby (44:28):
That was from management

Christopher (44:28):
, really.

Colby (44:30):
Yeah,

Christopher (44:30):
wow

Colby (44:30):
, yeah, they were nice.
They were not Patagonia brand,but they were Patagrion,
patagrionian, Patagucci stylestyle vests and they were.
They were really nice.
Um, and I've worked at otherplaces where it was just like a
small little like baggie of likecandy chocolate whatever with
like a thank you note and likehey, that's cool too.

(44:54):
Yeah, I think it goes both ways and Actually just being
honest, this is my I guess,technically my second Christmas,
or I had just gone through mysecond Christmas, but as ANM, I
need to learn the whole.
For those that don't know me,I'm not a huge Christmas person.

(45:19):
I don't celebrate it as much asother people do.
I don't turn on Christmas musicbefore Thanksgiving.
I turn it off day afterChristmas.
I don't, that's the window.
And I'm not a huge giftereither.
I do gift things, but I see itin terms of kind of like spicy

(45:50):
food, like you need to sprinkleit in instead of just overwhelm
yourself with spice.
Like, yeah, just do a littlesprinkle.
You know, every so often, whatabout?

Colby (45:58):
so we talked about quite a few things revolving around
surviving your holiday shift.
Do you have anything?
else that comes to mind,something that's like an
absolute must for you to survivethe day.

Christopher (46:14):
I think you really like it goes back to y'all are
in it together.
So, like anything that bringsyou together in some way the
team t-shirts, the pop-ups, thedancing not dancing around, but
like hanging around listening toChristmas music as you're doing

(46:35):
your shift those are importantand, honestly, I think, a way to
survive your holiday shift.
Let your family know whatholiday you're working and find
a way to adjust your familymember's holiday plans so you

(46:56):
can still go to them familymembers holiday plans so you can
still go to them.
Like, for example, transplantknows what holiday they will be
on from now until eternity,unless we decide to change the
holiday schedule rotation.
But even then, you can marchyourself out and be like, okay,

(47:19):
I'm working new year's eve, newyear's day this year, I won't
have to work it until 2028.
So like, I will be workingthanksgiving 2026.
I won't have to work it until2029.
So like, go ahead and planthese things out so that you are
able to hang out with yourfamily, because these are times
where you do hang out with yourfamily.
So I think that's another wayto like you won't, you won't be

(47:43):
missing out if you, if youplanned your holiday schedule to
hang out with your family onthe 27th of december.

Colby (47:53):
Yeah, whether it's like, oh, you guys reschedule dinner
and do it later in the eveningwhen you get home, or you do it
the next day or the day before,I mean, the reality is these
days that there's not a lot oflike families are all over the
place.
So I feel like it's morerelatable for everybody these
days to have to reschedule yourholiday, right?

Christopher (48:18):
Well, I mean, that's all of CareerRx Then.
I think that's all.
You're okay with that?

Colby (48:23):
Yeah, I think we gave good tips and tricks there to
survive your holiday shift.

Christopher (48:27):
Cool, if you happen to have different holiday
survival tips.
Rx hit us up NursingLife101 onTwitter.
That's not right, I think it'sNurse Life 101 on Twitter and
then Nursing Life with an I in Gon Facebook, instagram and.

(48:54):
YouTube

Colby (48:55):
and YouTube.
We're recording videos.
So I am very curious how do youget out of New Year's Eve New
Year's Day all the timeConsistently, yeah?
Yeah, I kind of already alluded to it, but I think the

(49:20):
highlight of working with a in afemale dominated career is that
, like moms want and dads wantto be home with their kids, and
if I know that someone, if I, ifI look, I can always look ahead
and see who's working it andand try and switch it, because
most of the time parents want tobe home with their kids on
christmas and would be willingto work new year's instead.

(49:43):
So I just I target the weakparents, okay, but I do target
them.
But it works on both ourfavorites.
It's a win-win, it's asymbiotic relationship.

Christopher (49:58):
A symbiotic Well, yeah, because you're picking up
their other major holiday, soI'm sure they're willing to do
that.
But have you?

Colby (50:11):
I've literally never been denied

Christopher (50:12):
, really,

Colby (50:13):
I just have a knack for asking the right person.

Christopher (50:19):
Will you go to a second one?

Colby (50:20):
Oh yeah, I'll find them.

Christopher (50:22):
Oh okay,

Colby (50:23):
it's not a one and done.

Christopher (50:24):
I thought this was a one and done,
a constant.

Colby (50:26):
I don't give up.
I think I've only had to ask twopeople in the past, never more
than two people.
If I didn't nail it the firsttime, I'll definitely find it
the second time.
I'll definitely find it thesecond time.
I'll definitely find you.

Christopher (50:39):
You're a little like shark that's going around
the water like smelling bloodyeah,

Colby (50:44):
I'm a predator, I'm looking for the weak ones I'm
gonna get you that sounds so bad.
But again I would like toreiterate that it is symbiotic
relationship, like you're doingme a favor but I'm doing you a
favor too, like yeah, and wejust like.
I think just the way healthcare is.
You often can't take vacationduring the holidays and I just

(51:05):
you don't get enough days off ina row to make it worth
traveling, for me to travel allthe way home, because it's like
at minimum an eight hour drive.
So even if I'm off christmaseve, christmas, I usually have
to work the day before christmaseve and the day after christmas
so it's just not enough time totravel.
So I'm like I'm always willingto like, let's do a switch up.
What are you thinking like,what can I do for you?
you can do for me, like

Christopher (51:26):
yeah, how do you feel like so to to.
I want to hear your perspectiveof how do you feel when a
coworker calls out on holidays,on major holidays.

Colby (51:46):
On major holidays.
Someone calls out.
Yeah, it's something serious,boss, that nobody's hurt or
maimed or anything but like theycalled out because of an
extenuating circumstance and notjust they didn't want to come

(52:06):
in.

Christopher (52:07):
I'm glad you have thought of this spirit.

Colby (52:09):
That's the only time.
That's the only time I wouldn'timmediately think like you shy
Steve person.
You got tough it out with therest of us Because again, it's
not toughing it out.
I really enjoy it.
I don't mind working, unlessit's New Year's Eve, in which

(52:29):
case I do not enjoy it.
I haven't worked on New Year'sEve since probably 2014 into
2015.

Christopher (52:38):
Wow, so that's a long time?

Colby (52:40):
Yeah, I think the only time I worked a year was my
first year out of school.
Dang yeah, and I realized howmuch I disliked that, and you
know,

Christopher (52:51):
I think I've asked a couple of people to switch off
Thanksgiving, did I?
I don't know, I don't remember,but I will say in management's
eyes, you calling off on aholiday, there's, there's,
there's two major thingsmanagers hate you calling off on
a holiday and you're callingoff the day before or the day

(53:14):
after your vacation time?

Colby (53:17):
yeah,

Christopher (53:17):
that's don't you dare do it?

Colby (53:19):
I did do it one time, but I was literally stuck in
another country.

Christopher (53:22):
Yeah, that was.

Colby (53:24):
I was literally stuck in another country and if I had
stayed on my original plane Iwould have made it home.
But there was anotherextenuating circumstance.
But I was like my sister is ona different plane, I'll switch
so I can fly home with her.
Let me be the good big sister Iam.
This is getting off topic, butI did call out.

Christopher (53:46):
Yeah, I mean it is a no-no.
I didn't realize how no-no itwas.

Colby (53:49):
We know what you're doing .
Not only management knows,everybody knows what you're
doing.

Christopher (53:55):
We know, you know, see, we know, we know Because it
was a thing we know you didn'thave a seat, we know.

Colby (54:01):
We know your flight didn't get cancelled Liars.
Even though it did happen to me, it legitimately did.
I was stuck in Costa Rica.
I was terrified I was in athree terminal.
No, it was one terminal, butthree little spots for the
airplanes to come in Right rightright In a field in Costa Rica,
I was like.

(54:21):
Same time I was like oh god,thank god she's not here by
herself, because I would havebeen terrible, that would have
been one, I know she would havefreaked out like we have a very
classic big sister, littlesister, sister relationship
where like I take charge andshe's like I'm all over the ride

(54:42):
, here we go, and I was justlike imagining her there by
herself, oh Lord.
So it's a good thing I wasthere?

Christopher (54:47):
Yeah, it is.
But yeah, I think that's onething I wanted to make sure to
kind of hone in on in terms ofbecause I do have a different
perspective now it's like if youcall out yeah it's not cool,
it's not cool, it's not cool andit's not something that, or
majority of the times, well inthe least in terms of our health

(55:10):
system, we can't actually doanything about it, like we can't
reprimand you.
But when that yearly evaluationcomes around, we'll talk about
it.
We will talk about especiallyif it's a pattern, yeah, as it
should be talked about.

Colby (55:25):
So I also think, um, if you're lucky and and census goes
down like it most often does,there's like a good.
Like I said, last year therewere three of us, like two
nurses, me and me, and a text.
There was four people,everybody.
I mean it's four people, fourplus people, because also the
text of four nurses and like twotexts got called off.

(55:46):
Yeah, canceled.

(55:47):
The whole shit Right and if you're new more than likely,
you're going to be the first oneto get canceled, yeah.

Colby (55:52):
Because it goes by like if you've never been canceled
before, like you're the top ofthe list to get canceled.
Right, Like that sucks forlosing out on your holiday pay,
but you get to roll back overand go to sleep.

(56:02):
Go to sleep and enjoy the holiday with your family, yeah,
surprise.
And then do it again on theother planned day, exactly.

Colby (56:10):
So yeah.
So does that wrap us up on ourholiday episode?
I think so.

(56:16):
If there's any questions about holidays, or if you are like I
really want to say somethingabout Thanksgiving, because
Christopher likes Thanksgiving,you know.
Hit us up.
But oh, if you have any goodpotluck recipes, send them in.
Oh, interesting, yeah, yeah.
What would you bring?

Colby (56:34):
Yeah, what would you bring?
My classic last year, soThanksgiving this year and then
Christmas last year, go ahead.
I made these brie cranberrybites, so it's like puff pastry,
and then a little chunk of briecranberry sauce and then
rosemary, and I just baked themand they go like hotcakes.
Baby, everybody loves them.

(56:57):
Mine is vegan cinnamon rolls, and they are to die for I'm
mastering the skill of makingvegan cinnamon rolls and they
are to die for I'm mastering theskill of making vegan cinnamon
rolls.
They're very good.
Before we leave, I thought ofone more thing Holiday party,
you meant holiday party.
What do you think about?

Colby (57:16):
that I love a good holiday party.
It's tricky, gotta have theright balance of people there.

(57:23):
So okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Colby (57:24):
So it's a hit or miss, but if it's a good one, it's a
good one.
I think, okay, here's the flopand here's the success Flop.
Don't do the holiday party inthe hospital Bad idea.
That is what our unit is doingthis year.
I'm not going.
I was like I'm not coming tothe hospital on my day off.
You can't drink.
Yeah, there's no, you need tobe able to have.

(57:46):
You need the opportunity tohave a drink with your coworkers
.
It's true Once a year.

(57:49):
I don't know why I say that?
Because I don't drink.

Colby (57:51):
You don't really drink, but I just feel like every good
holiday party there's alcoholinvolved.
For sure we could be overnursing as a whole can be a
rowdy group and it's always alittle more fun.
But so flop is doing it in thehospital and if you don't have
like a budget where you can likeyou need to go out just an

(58:11):
impromptu one.
Just be like let's all meetwhoever is off on this day.
Right, let's meet at this timeat this place.
You don't have to rent out aroom it doesn't have to be a
whole thing like again we saidthis it doesn't have to be
elaborate, extraordinary, likeit literally can just be like
whoever's off on this day.
If you want to come, let's havea drink, let's get appetizers,
whatever, let's hang out for anhour or two.

(58:32):
You could go as far.
You have the budget, you havewhatever you want to use your
money for and say let's get aroom at this place and we'll
have.
You know, it could be elaborateand I've been to some that are
elaborate and a lot of fun andI've been to one that's like a
co-worker, like used to doparties at her house for major
and minor holidays, oh yeah, andwe used to go to her house all

(58:55):
the time.
I only went to one of those.
They were.
They were fun, yeah, they were.
They could get rowdy, um, butthat was great.
Like we would go there, like itcould be at someone's house.
It could just be like a casualmeetup, whatever, but flop is
don't do it in the hospital.
That is I'm like so upset aboutthis one.
I found out last week that Iwas like because, like, they

(59:16):
usually will send out an email,be like what day works for the
majority of you?
And that I was like becausethey usually will send out an
email and be like what day worksfor the majority of you?
And then it'll be like a littlesurvey, like pick the day that
you're available, so they'llpick the one that most people
can come to.
And I did and I just found outit was on that day.
And then they're like, yeah,it's going to be in the room
where we normally do our staffmeetings.
I said, excuse me, oh, oh, what.

(59:37):
Terrible idea.
You said count me out.
Bad idea I'll be booked in thisevent.
Yeah, With Trout.

Colby (59:44):
Yeah, I know you can just take Roman with you too.
I'll go to the party, I'll getin your stead.
You can have my share of thesnacks.
Yeah, that I can't eat.
I'm like really upset aboutthis one.
So thanks for bringing it up.
Oh God, no, I'm glad you did.
Oh, okay, because I could likevent it out a little bit.
Oh, okay.

(01:00:03):
Yeah, no problem.
What are you guys doing?
Yeah, it's always at mymanager's house.
Oh, she does a big thing.

Colby (01:00:13):
And my gosh, I'm gonna crash that, Not on air, you know
I had.
Only I had heard about it.
I mean it is a thing.

(01:00:22):
Yeah, I had only heard about it and I'm like I want to go and
I hadn't gone until last yearbecause I always worked.
I was like it usually is on aFriday because, I mean, it's a
Friday, it gives you time forrecovery on the weekend If
you're off.
If you're off and I usually,majority of the times when I

(01:00:46):
worked on the floor, I workedFriday, saturday, sunday or
Saturday, sunday, monday.
So I was like I'm never goingto get to go to any of these.
But then I became the assistantnurse manager and I went to the
first one and, my goodness toColby's point, nurses are rowdy
in general, but adding any typeof libation, so yeah, once again

(01:01:12):
, also to your point it's not atthe hospital.

Colby (01:01:16):
It's not at the hospital and we need to be able to blow
off a little bit of steam yeah,it's fun, it really is it's
something.

(01:01:23):
Even if your management doesn't set up the holiday party
, you are empowered.
I am empowering you to set upthat holiday.

Colby (01:01:32):
I might set up my own holiday party on the same day,
like anybody no okay, that, okay, that's very toxic, that is
very toxic, that's toxic.
I will not do that, but I willnot be going to the hospital for
a holiday party Any other day.
You can do it, it's totallyfine the day after, if you
couldn't go last night.
Tonight Tonight is the realparty.

(01:01:55):
The after party.
Again, that's toxic.
I'm not going to do that.
All right, class dismissed.
That's a wrap for today'ssession of Nursing Life 101.
Happy New Year again andwelcome to 2025.
We hope you found some usefultakeaways to bring back to the
floor.
Remember, nursing is a lifelonglearning journey and we're here

(01:02:17):
with you.

Colby (01:02:18):
If you want to connect, Find us on Twitter at
NurseLife101 or on Facebook atNursingLife101.
And don't forget to subscribeand share with fellow nurses.
No-transcript.