Sugo

Ok been here for 4 months now and am still enjoying it, have got some homesickness though but not planning on going back just yet.

This thread is about kiwi personality traits. Ive found on the surface they are really welcoming and friendly, but after getting to know the people at work, and some of the people who come through our doors ive found that kiwis are very different from brits.

Firstly they have a major inferiority complex, they seem to feel everyone is out to get them and they can be less than welcoming to overseas workers, it gets really irritating how many times per a day you will be asked 'how long are you here for, where are you from' and this is from strangers, at first its nice you think there interested then you realise they are being kinda negative and patronising.

Humour- Kiwis=prudes some topics nurses in the UK would talk about completely shock the kiwis, the other uk docs, nurses have chats and you see the faces of the kiwis some even walk out the room in disgust.

whats with the kiwi nurse thing that makes it ok to run off and tell on your team mates when something doesnt go there way, they are writing incident forms about each other every day and having meetings about each others behaviour, things like inverstigations spanning months because a nurse 'ssshhh' another during a hand over. For F Sake its like the playground, so very petty.

This kind of thing never happened in my old UK dept, you sort it out between yourself. Also kiwis dont seem to see there is more to life than work, they accept crappy off duties, and think its ok to stay on later than you should and not get paid for it. Im far to mercenary for that crap


i have some really good kiwi friends but theyre gay guys so its different, maybe its a kiwi nurse thing, oh and whats with the badge and course craze here, the nurse get these medals and badges, looks like you should be in the army, im often mistaken for an untrained nurse cos i dont wear any, and the trained nurses dont talk to me on other wards, kinda funny really, class less society mmmmm

rant over

Batty

"that kiwis are very different from brits." Good job they're not living in Britain then

Sorry, don't mean to be rude but they don't HAVE to be like Brits. They're New Zealanders. I haven't found any of what you're talking about - yes I'm asked how long I'm here for but I don't take offence where there's none meant. They're just like any nationality - you'll like some individuals, you won't like others. If other 'foreigners' at your hospital feel like you then maybe it's that particular environment and you could look for another job.

cottageinthesky

It's interesting - one of my English friends took a radiotherapist contract in Christchurch and went back to the UK early, despite she and her husband absolutely loving NZ. She reckoned she was subjected to discrimination, workplace bullying, etc. I was really surprised, not just because it was a medical environment but because I've never had any really negative experiences - apart from the "there are good and bad in any race". I put it down to Christchurch which has, deserved or otherwise, a reputation for stuffiness - there is a saying "In Auckland, it's what you do, in Wellington, who you know and in Christchurch, which family you were born into" or something to that effect! But maybe it's something about the kiwi workplace. I didn't work for the first 8 years we were here and, have to admit, that MOH used to complain about kiwi discrimination against immigrants - he used to say that everyone in NZ is an immigrant, it's just that some are more recent than others! And, of course, there's always the love-hate relationship with us Brits - hence the "lack of crowd support" for the English team during the recent Rugby 7's!! It was all made worse when the UK joined the EEC, or Common Market, as it was originally, and told NZ that it was no longer going to guarantee a market for kiwi butter and lamb - I'm sure we're still paying for that through the hoops many of us have to jump through to get into the country!

Sugo

ok this is poorly written, hey ho to the crap shift my dept puts us down for,

what i really should write is that the new zealand medical and nursing professions are rife with bullying. Going out and socialising with non hospital staff is sweet, easy going and fun, but the work ethos in kiwi hospitals is bizzarre.

People report others at the drop of a hat , back biting bitching, all rife at least in my dept. Too many big fish in a little pond, amazing how many egos there are in both nursing and medical staff. There are other overseas nurses who feel the same, dont know what its about really, there is no unity between the professions. Also although nurses here are highly trained, they do less than UK nurses and are still treated as hand maidens to docs.

so sorry for the incorrect title for this thread, kiwis are still chilled people just they suck at work

Sugo

oh yeah the rugby 7s were great loved it, well what i can remember of it,

cottageinthesky

Note we haven't heard from Dappadee since he said he was going to soak up "the 7's atmosphere" !

Sugo

hes probably still there under a row of seats, the red zone was awash with beer, vomit and wine, apparently we drunk the bar dry, not sure how much that had to do with me but speights is like most kiwi beers, nats pee, was drinking it like it was pop, but bloody good day, and fiji one yayy

anyway back on thread, one of the overseas doctors just had a big whinge at how crap our dept is, just hope it is localised to here, cos my option is to check out the next dept to work there if that is pants will try Auck then Oz all else fails back to old blighty or win the lottery live in new zealand and not have to deal with the idiots at work

or could get a job in pak and save?

ezvanetree

Are you at Hutt Hospital, Sugo? I was in the hospital world for 6 years in Wellington and I found the Hutt Hospital to be disfunctional (although it could be changed now, so anyone who works there and loves it, this was seven years ago). So it could very well be a localised situation.

As for the comments from people about Kiwis not having to like Brits etc.--very true, but is there anyone they like other than themselves? I lived in NZ for ages and I am not British. I had no friends, no connection with anyone at work, and the members of my in-law family basically ignored me. When I finally left I had absolutely no one to keep in touch with--there is no one is NZ I email, or send pictures to, or phone at Christmas. It was a long lonely experience and ended with me seriously doubting my ability to relate to people. I now know it WASN'T me--I was just very ground down by the lack of warmth of my fellow NZers.

Dappadee

You have now.

sky

Lol all sounds very familiar to me Sugo even though I was a lowly sterile services worker

sky

You're right though about kiwis out of the work place they are cool, it's just the infantile work place behaviour and the confusing way of doing simple tasks that I found hard to come to terms with.

Sugo

yeah they make you feel like dumbing yourself down a bit to conform, one of our overseas doctors is a twit who keeps saying 'in england we did this', not a good idea to do cos that would irritate me too. But in the clinical setting when you know how to do something in a safe way but its different to the kiwi way but still in protocol they freak out, kinda funny.

i was also led to believe that NZ is classless it so isnt, it worse than the UK on that front, ive found from experience that if you didnt go to the right uni or are untrained your treated like a skid on a sheet. The health assistants here are really good but all they are allowed to do is stock up, clean and make tea, they even make tea for the trained nurses and docs :scared:

People in the health system are still hung up on which uni they went too, there is also far more backbiting and bitching than i expected.

my message from this to any health worker is you should go, new zealand is a lovely country to experience, but research your dept well, visit it before getting the job or get a short contract, dont tie yourself down. Also have back up plans, this could make it difficult if your in a rural area,

i hope its localised to my dept/hosp but will soon find out

sky

I worked in private and public in NZ and they were both the same, I was talking to a UK nurse in the private hospital and she was utterly fed up and was returning to the UK.

From what I've read and heard and my friends have told me over the last two years most work place environments suffer the same mentality.

Rascal

Hey Sugo, Happy to tell you mate it is not just hospital/medical enviroment that you will find out this kinda treatment.
I could write a book (or a web site lol) about the incidents people here have had to put up with regards the 'kiwi attitude'.
They say they are not racist but by far have come across the most racist bunch I have ever met.
As for the working hours, yes you will find that too, its expected for you to give up all of your life & family for work. If you dont then you will always be on the bottom rung of the ladder looking up to them who have sold their souls.
The country may be beautiful as far as the scenic views go, but the rest of it, is the pits IMO.
Good Luck.

Sugo

yeah its kind of weird really, they expect you to volunteer to fill gaps and shortages in work rota and often you dont get paid, or they change your rota at the drop of your hat, its not like i have a life afterall.


Its funny really, everything else is going well, and people here are really chilled and pleasant but put them in a work environment and they turn into complete arrogant twits. Dont understand the mentality really, little man syndrome?

rose tinted lenses are definately off, but i still like the country, shame about the health care staff