There is a long list of jobs that I could never do — not necessarily because I’m lazy (although that’s part of it), but because I’m unskilled and I have a low tolerance for blood & guts. Today I discovered that I could never be a nurse. No way. No how. Not now. Not ever.
- You could try to offer me $1,000,000/year, a car with a driver, and twelve weeks of vacation.
- You could offer me a television show and a prime-time special with Barbara Walters that goes along with my nursing duties.
- You could even try to offer George Clooney as my personal assistant.
I wouldn’t take the job. I wouldn’t go as far as to allow you to take a second of my time — the time it would take for me to turn down the job.
Nursing requires patience, compassion, and a tolerance for the intolerable. Nursing requires strength of body and character. Nursing requires you to work with sick patients AND the stupid family members of sick people. Nursing demands that you resist the urge to throw up in your mouth when you see gross things.
Me? I have a gag reflex. I would take one look at something sick — a broken bone, a staph infection in an eye, a gangrenous foot flayed open — and I would sway & puke on myself.
Thank goodness for nurses. You aren’t paid enough, and you are awesome.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Have you been watching Ax Men on The History Channel? I totes couldn’t be a lumberjack, those guys are crazy.
I don’t know how much they get paid… but I straight wouldn’t do it, I’d die on day one.
Nurses are totally underpaid and undervalued. It is crazy. Not to mention companion-care givers like CNA’s and the like. They get about $9-12/hr in my area. Unbelievable.
Lexy – I want to see that show but I only have the crappy kind of cable. Darn it. I will just have to keep watching reruns of Dirty Jobs I guess.
I was just reading about the worst jobs in America.
Street prostitute was listed on most of the top 10’s I found, but apparently regular prostitution isn’t so bad.
-Brad
http://www.clashofculture.com
@Lexy — I’ve never seen that show, but I have heard of Ice Truckers. I could never be an ice trucker or any kind of trucker, for that matter. I’m too short.
@Wenchie — The CNA & the LPN are the guardian angles of people who are in the hospital. They saved me from having to wipe some stuff that I should never have to wipe. Ugh.
@Brad — I like corporate prostitution, myself.
Don’t sell yourself too short. You work in an animal shelter…for free. You raise orphaned/sick/injured little animals. I know from experience — they’re sweet, but they make some really nasty stuff, and you’re brave enough to wipe that. I bet we could share some animal rehab stories that would make your readers dizzy.
my best friend from childhood has a heart of gold and is a nurse. she’s paid quite well, but she gives her life to it in a way that few people i know give their lives to their professions. she has so much love and compassion for her patients and has to deal with death on a daily basis. this also makes her an incredible person to speak with when i lose perspective. she knows how to keep it real.
word.
love,
my husband makes $13/hr as a CNA.
(um, he would only make $12/hr if he didn’t have a college degree.)
@LaMama — you give me too much credit because I like kitties more than people.
@Col — We need your nurse with my Gramma. Stat.
@Gemellen — Your husband has big dreams and a big heart.