Margaret3

Am definately losing the plot, i cant take work at all now!!!

Am a scrub nurse in melbourne, was preparing for an op when i couldnt get an instrument together, i wasnt particularly worried, i have lots of experience and knew i would get there, however the 2 nurses i was working with were asian and , once again, they started shouting at me, am sorry , but i have had one too many asian nurses shouting at me, i lost it, started shouting back, and off they went crying:curse: in comes the clinical teacher , explaining its my accent , they cant understand me, yes i had gathered that, but why shout at me, i dont shout at them:curse:


At the end of the working day it was all asians in the operating theatre and the asian surgeon cracks a joke about glasgow and their accents. I asked if i could speak to him at the end of the op and explained i did not appreciate these comments, in comes clinical teacher again, i explained i was going to keep a diary and write down every derogatory remark about the u.k and my accent and sue the hospital, yes i am losing it big time!!!!!!!!!!


I have even looked into some sort of counselling to help me with this issue as its a huge barrier for me at work, !!, i know its something i have to work on, i have tried to look on it as a challenge and goal, but its difficult!!

quoll

OMG Margaret - that is horrible! One hesitates to ask whether you (or anyone else for that matter) can understand the Asian nurses. I have a Glaswegian friend and her accent is perfectly understandable - nowhere near Taggart standard and I can even understand him although I will admit that the lass who served me at a motorway service station just outside Glasgow was a teeensy bit hard to understand (my son thought she was talking in a foreign language!). I am sure you are perfectly comprehensible! You should definitely keep a log, that is racial discrimination - well, it would be if it were viewed in reverse!!!!

tillysmum

Oh margaret I can empathise with you not liking work, I am in the same boat and I'm sure I would have reacted the same.

In a former job I was a witness to a bulling and harassment case which went on for quite some time and did very nasty at one point but its a very long story which I wont bore you with but there are some good websites out there one I used a lot was bullyonline temp unavail and they are now using www.bullyoffline.org it has lots of good tips and reasures you that it just isn't you being picky.

One tip we where told by a solicitor was emailing yourself stuff as it happens, sounds daft I know but its a good way of recording stuff contemporaneously ie day time etc and its harder to tamper with and good to use at a later date.
Take care

Ozzidoc

So sorry to hear about this Margaret!

Can I suggest that you contact your HR dept, and explain the situation, and also that you feel that they need to review their bullying and cultural awareness/discrimination programmes.

You may also wish to clarify with them that being competent at a job is not just what is done but the way in which it is done....with a view that some of your collegues are underperforming.

Margaret3

I have contacted h.r, got a meeting next tue,

and thanks all, was a bit unsure of posting this, but i really am fed up with it

Margaret3

great tip about emailing it, will start doing this

TraceyW

Good job you didn't treat her to a Glasgow kiss eh?!!

Keep notes about things as they happen, that's your back-up.

Oh, and I think you're holding it together very well indeed. If that was me feeling the way I feel, I really don't think I'd be quite so nice!

Margaret3

I worry Tracey if its a cultural thing and it is natural for them to speak to people this way and i am just being over sensitive, am gonna listen more closely on how they speak to other peeps, there was also a japanese nurse in the operating theatre and they treated her like crap to

claire edwards

I agree it, it sounds like a cutural issue that needs addressing. Without going back to your past threads, has this happened to you before?

No one, where ever they are from in the world should be shouted at in the work place, this is where your clinical lead should be supporting you and trying to bridge that cutural gap (If that is the problem).

I think it should be wise that you logg all occassions where this happens. I also think you should tell your clinical lead every time it happens too.

good luck with HR.

Keep us posted.

Sandra

Margaret - At the risk of being told I am broad stroking and labling and being racist etc, there are some wonderful differences with groups I have found. The Singaporeans I have met in Business all tended to shout and I spent many a meeting wondering what I did wrong only to find out they thought I was doing a good job. Filipinos never seems to stand up for themselves but basically ignored everything that was said anyway! Large numbers of Indian males did not want training from a female but the ones that did went over board in learning from me.

Anyway - I have been given lots of workplace training for working with other cultures I am aware on all sort of levels what I can and cannot say to Indians, Chinese, Arabs...etc etc

But no bugger seems to run a class for being nice to the Irish! I meet the odd plonker now and again and I get the piss taken all the time and some days I cannot take it - many times I am supposed to like the crack! Well not every day all day level that some people took it to and made fun of my accent.

It can be a form of bullying and if you cannot get it sorted alone take it higher. Stand up for yourself and point out it is unacceptable. Many times I have handled things from the start and turned the tables but not all the time.

Alas I have to say that the majoirty of bullying I have experienced was when I lived in South East England - possibly because my accent was much stronger then.

We could form an aliance with others and start a Celt Culture Class with its own training manual - any tips for entries?

I would want in the training Manual

(1) Please note the Northern Irish and Scottish have some of the highest standards of overall education in the UK, and should be considered more intelligent than you not less, before you open your mouth and make a thick joke.

(2) The Celts speak so quickly because they think so quickly and it is your problem to understand not have someone slow down for you.

(3) Scotland and Ireland are beautiful not waterlogged and cold 12 months of the year

Look after yourself Margaret

Yoong

My goodness,after reading about your horrible experience in the theatre,did give me flash backs of my horrible experience in the theatre 30 years ago
in London ,UK.
I am Asian myself,the heart and lung theatre was ran by Asians.There were
alot of shoutings and abuses by the Asian nurses.That was the worst
time of my nursing career.Finally with persistant requests to get
out of the theatre,they finally transferred me to ICU which was a great relieved to my mental health.
Do what you can to get help and take care of yourself.
Yoong

ezzie

There's nothing worse than having trouble at work to knock your sanity is there. Hang in there Margaret, sounds like you're doing exactly the right things and I LOVE the Scottish accent (mind you, I love Brummy accents too!).
We had a friend many years ago from Northern Ireland...we could actually understand him better when he was drunk! He married a Japanese girl and went there to teach English, so if you ever come across someone Japanese with a broad Irish brogue, then I reckon you've found one of his former students!

ukecadet

Hi Margaret tell em to getyfuk. Are you agency,a lot of them can get funny with that,can't they ?
I've got some Rabby Nessbit video's I can lend you next time I see you ,if you want cheering up.

Margaret3

funny thing is , its my 2 days permenant, was working agency today at the alfred and it was bloomin magic, not a problem all day, think its coz its a big hosp in the city and they are used to lots of nationalities there.

Margaret3

thanks all, comments really appreciated, especially re; the cultural thing, i do think i struggle with it, but as someone said, i still dont deserve to be shouted at, when i think about it , i aint heard them shout at the aussie nurses, just me, so far!!!


Really appreciate all the support, am working there tomorrow and feel i can face it again, as you lot have made me feel sane again.