In my 30 year career I have found to be true what Out of the Deep is pointing out..
Given enough time, even the juiciest of gossip is forgotten, loyalties are realigned, people come and go..
Before you know it you are the only senior original person on your unit..happened to me anyway, lol
Let me give a true story that happened on my job...
On my unit, 3 or 4 years ago, this coworker of mine surprised the crap out of all of us nurses and doctors..
Mind you this is a busy trauma ICU with doctors, family members, vendors, clergy present at any given time..
My coworker's normal behavior was somewhat unfriendly and a bit immature for a social worker..
He was not very approachable by the nurses on our unit, we considered him a jerk..
I will assign him the letter J as his name for the rest of this story..
Well, on this day, let's say J was in an unusually happy and exuberant mood..
J and one of my nurse friends ( let's call her P) were standing at the nurse's desk, talking about something on a computer screen.....She later confided in me that the conversation wasn't job related, they were just joking with each other...
All of a sudden J grabbed P from under her armpits and lifted her up several feet off of the ground..Many of us became aware of the commotion when we heard P scream in surprise..
J wouldn't put P down right away..When he finally did let her go she was furious..
P asked for an apology but J refused to apologize..He told her that "she couldn't take a joke"
P gave him several days to apologize..When he didn't, she wrote him up for unprofessional behavior..
For the next year or so there was tension and friction whenever J was in the unit..
With the passage of time and the turnover of new nurses, however, J was finally able to relax.. Many of the people who had witnessed or were affected by this incident were either already gone ( like P and I), or else they considered it water under the bridge..
[This message edited by doggiediva at 10:25 AM, May 29th (Thursday)]