Getting in trouble at work

[Anonymous]

This is going to be kinda long winded, but I need to vent :\

I'm a new worker at my local hospital in the emergency room. (I've been there about 3 weeks) I work in registration. Basically, I'm the one with the portable computer who comes up to you in the ER and asks for your insurance, ID, contact info, gets you to sign consent forms, etc. Our ER is usually slammed, so it's a very fast paced job. Also, we are put under time lists. We're supposed to register a patient within an hour after them getting into the ER. That seems like it's a lot of time, but not really. If a nurse or doctor is with the patient, we're legally not allowed to be in the room unless they give permission.

Anyway, the list of people waiting to be registered is called the "tracker". I've seen the tracker full (20+ people waiting to be registered), I've seen it dead (1-3 people). There's usually 4 people on per shift. SO MY POINT IS....I worked on Easter Sunday and it was a slow day. I registered about 17 people in 8 hours. Not a lot. We joked that Monday would be slammed.

I walk into the ER Monday and it WAS PACKED. Patients filling rooms and hallways. Lots of nurses, doctors, and even a ton of student doctors. EMT's and stretchers everywhere. It was CHAOS.

Our 'registration office' is more like a small open hallway in the ER. There are no doors. One of the entry ways leads to where the ER secretary sits, and the other entry way leads to a hallway where there's a bathroom and just a random walking space. So, I get to the computer, look at the tracker and see over 40 people on it. I looked at my co-worker and was like "WHOA it's packed! it's like an explosion in here!!". She responded "Sry, it's like a what?" (I think she didn't hear me or was multitasking and couldn't understand what I was saying), so I repeated "Like a bomb explosion!".

I turn around to grab something, and see the CEO of the hospital standing there with his back to me talking to a nurse or doctor. I didn't think anything of it and starting working.

Not even 5 mins later, my director apparently runs over to my coworkers saying "WHO PISSED OFF THE CEO?!!!!!!??? BOMB TALK??". I was in the room with a patient and didn't hear any of this. My coworker finds me & says "Director wants to see you when you're done". I honestly was like "ok?!!?"

I get into her office.....

BTW, my director is Polish with an accent.

Director: Did you say something about it being too busy today?
..before I could respond..
Director: Did you say anything about a bum?
Me: WHAT? a bum? Homeless person?
Director: Explosion? Bomb?
(OMFG HER ACCCENTTTT SOUNDED LIKE BUM LOL my life)
Me: OH. A bomb. Uhhhhm, I did. Kind of. I did say it was busy....
Director: Can you tell me exactly what you said?
Me: Um. I said the tracker exploded and it was just..overwhelming.. *mumbles something*
Director: Okay well it's good that we're full. That's how we run a business. The CEO heard what you said and was very very upset. He said "Maybe this registrar isn't on the same page as us, isn't fit to work here", etc etc
Me: I'm new, and this is the busiest I've ever seen in the ER...I wasn't trying to say anything bad...I'm sorry...?!!?
Director: You don't say bomb in an airport, you don't say bomb in a hospital
Me: Okay, I understand, I didn't have any bad intentions....
Director: Okay. I'll tell him what you told me.

and that was kind of it. I went back to my shift and all of the bosses went home since it was late in the day (I was working a night shift).

I HATEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE confrontation and I felt SOOOOOOOOOO embarrassed, stupid, and honestly kinda mad at this guy (maybe I don't have a right to but I did at the time). As a new worker, I feel like I already fucked up.

I didn't work today but I go in tomorrow. I honestly don't even want to face any of my bosses, see the CEO, etc. Part of me thought I was going to get fired.

How can I get over this?

Can you just, idk, tell me a time you got "in trouble" at work? Lol :\

SORRY THIS WAS FOREVER LONG.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry that happened. Don't worry any more. It's over. Learn from it and move on. Just continue working hard, doing your job and staying under the radar.

[Anonymous]

OP, this is shitty. Sorry. There's nothing much you can do now except realize that you can be overheard and misinterpreted, and to just keep your head down. It sounds like your boss made a big unnecessary deal about something that was taken out of context.

[Anonymous]

I thought that was an Onion article. How silly you have to waste time being reprimanded for that.

[Anonymous]

Not totally silly PP. I work at a level one trauma center and we had a coworker make a light joke once along the same lines as what OP said and got reprimanded for it.

When you've actually had people admitted due to something major like a bomb, a lot of people don't find joking about it funny.

OP, you sound really young and perhaps a bit immature. My best advice is everyone screws up sometime at their job. And if someone says they haven't, they are lying. I second PP's comment about how you now know people can overhear you and misunderstand what you said, so think twice before saying something that you think might be a joke. Go in tomorrow and work hard. Don't act like you just got reprimanded as it can come across badly. Just do your job well, don't make any more "jokes" and it will be forgotten. Act like you are tiptoeing around and afraid/embarrassed of people and you'll leave a bad taste in some people's mouths. The ER is an insane place to work and you need to be able to shake things off and get back to the job at hand. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Doesn't the CEO have anything better to do? Geez.

[Anonymous]

Bomb bom bom bomb bom bom bomb.

[Anonymous]

I agree this is a silly and unfortunate situation, OP, so the advice to move on and pretend it didn't happen while working hard is good.

I will say that you shouldn't describe situations so vividly, including details like your supervisor's accent, on the internet. You work in a really confidential field, and if a coworker sees this, it'll reflect very poorly on you.

[Anonymous]

I would guess it was your attitude when you said it not what you said.
If you were smiling/joking and saying it and then said "let me get straight to work! I want to help these patients the best I can!" ... then no problem.

But you likely said it in a complaining way that was implying that the patients were bothering you and how dare they show up, well that's a problem.

[Anonymous]

Assuming there is no further reprimand, you just lay low, do your job as well as you can, live with the embarrassment and wait for it to be a distant memory. I feel your pain, OP. When I was in my first professional job I was accused of not turning in a report that I had turned in well ahead of time. The fault was with an assistant who didn't pick up all of her manager's (the exec director's) mail, but I was suspected of turning it in late. I talked my way out of a written (!) warning, but the exec director never apologized and that incident still makes me angry 20 years later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bomb bom bom bomb bom bom bomb.

You said "Bomb" on an airplane.

What's wrong with saying "bomb" on an airplane?

You can't say "bomb" on an airplane!

[Anonymous]

That is beyond petty. It's too bad the job market is a mess, cause otherwise I would have told them to both go fluck themselves.

[Anonymous]

It sounds pretty lame and inconsequential to me but there's little or nothing you can do about it now except try even harder to do an outstanding job.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like your director wanted to clarify what you said. The CEO very well could have thought you looked at a full emergency room and said something along the lines of "what happened, did a bomb go off somewhere?" in a joking manner. And I could see why he wouldn't think that would be the most aprop. thing to say in an ER.

SO just try harder and remember that people can hear you and can misunderstand what you are saying

[Anonymous]

I find it offensive that the director said it's good the ER is full because that's good for business. But I guess analogizing a chaotic ER to a bomb exploding is far worse. . . ?