Same bulls--t, different day...I am forever amazed that with as emotionally I'll say "diseased", as I am, how it is that I manage to be, in general, the healthiest person in the room the majority of the time.  I find that the hardest part of playing nice with others is coping with everyone else's crap...Especially at work. 

So many of my coworkers seem to have less insight than most farm animals, and as a result, I am left mucking around through all of their collective "issues", making my job immeasurably more difficult than if I could just do what it is that I am there to do, which is take care of the patients.  At least with the patients, their problems are named, diagnosed, and out in the open.  This makes it possible to navigate with some idea of an appropriate direction regarding how best to accomplish whatever it is that I need to do with them.  For example, if they are diagnosed with depression and PTSD, I know that I need to be gentle with them, encouraging, and provide them with a sense of safety so that they can more easily trust that I am working for their interests whenever doing any teaching or trying to convince them to do something difficult.  But there is no heads up warning that say, the LPN I have to work with has severe insecurities, father issues, and a faltering ego, thereby assuring an awful day to follow if she requires any constructive criticism or professional guidance from me.  I will undoubtedly get to play the bad guy in her little mental scenario, and this, along with any other factors causing her to perceive any slights against her that day, make for a very long shift. 

It is my absolute opinion that professionals should check their crap at the door.  All hang-ups, insecurities, mood disorders, and nasty attitudes or opinions of the world around them would be so beneficial to leave behind before employees walk through the door to their workplaces.  It gets so very old dealing with people.  Of course, I suppose I should never have become a nurse if this is my general attitude.  But as I said, the patients are the least of my problems.  I have absolutely no difficulty dealing with them.  The problem I have, as previously stated, is dealing with my coworkers.  That isn't to say that there aren't some whom I absolutely adore working with.  In fact, I enjoy the majority of people with whom I work.  But the problem is that it only takes a very few bad eggs to spoil the salad.  And they always do.

No one is perfect, and the last thing I would ever expect is perfection.  I simply want a tablespoon of insight, some overriding bit of knowledge within the gray matter of even one or two of the brains of my coworkers that might suggest to them a small amount of censoring when dealing with their overly emotional rantings and general reactions to those around them.  If they could just once say to themselves, "Gee, I AM at work, and as such, perhaps this isn't the most optimal place for me to rant loudly about another coworkers offhanded comment about their political viewpoint, or their religious affiliation, or even their muttered opinion about childrearing."  Because sometimes people just say stuff.  And if you aren't adult enough to be able to overhear a comment not even directed at you and just let it go quietly, then in my mind, you aren't adult enough to have a paying job, at least not one that allows you to have mortgage and car payment.  Perhaps if you are that fragile, wearing your opinions so openly, a paper-route or another similar job would be more your speed than say, a career? 

This doesn't even take into consideration the reactions of others to comments that are, in fact, directed at them.  When I have to mention to a coworker at a psychiatric facility that perhaps it isn't the best idea to curse out a patient, or to give out protected, medically sensitive information about a patient to some person who hasn't even identified themselves on the telephone,  I actually must first decide how bad of a day I wish to have.  Because people are so f--king fragile that I know if any of these insights are handed down, I will no doubt be dealing with the wrath of my comments, regardless of how gently they are made, for at least the remainder of the day, if not for the rest of the week!  When did people become so sensitive?   So  unable to self-censor?  To see their own actions through a filter not completely clogged up with the gunk of their daily lives up until the point at which I encounter them?  These aren't difficult insights.  People just seem unable to have any at all.  The baggage of others is bogging my daily life down to the point that it is often difficult to even navigate across the floor.  And I am getting very tired of tripping over everything.