A better Saturday

This Saturday was better than any I've had in a while. A second shift aide, AA worked today. She has been a hospitality aide on dayshift, so she knows what to do as well as the resident lunch routine. That is an important part of the day here. We did not have an undercurrent like we did two weeks ago when the activities aide worked the floor. She was distracted, uncomfortable, and acted like she could not wait for her shift to be over. I know this because she was my aide on Sunday. I wondered if her days were numbered. Apparently, they were because she no longer works here..

I'm wondering what made the difference today. The other two aides were behaving better with less grumbling. I thought maybe the nurse manager gave them a pep talk on Friday. But, I think they acted differently because the second shift aide is only 18 years old. I think maybe they were acting like older sisters, or treating her in a motherly way. That was certainly better than the way they treat their coworkers during the week – whom they feel are equals. I hate it when older,, more experienced aides give young ones a hard time. I have seen a lot of it.

My aide J said AA did a good job. Jay told me me AA is a good worker who helped J with things all day. AA also said she likes to keep busy because it makes her day go quicker.

AA thought she was going to have me today. So, the other night she had another aide, who has worked dayshift on the weekend, explain my morning routine to her. I also gave her my version of what might happen in the morning. I told her to be prepared if I was not up or if another aide was late, or called off. I told her to be prepared for anything to happen. I was hoping that might be helpful to her. I told her she would be better off if she got here early.

AA showed up first and she got to pick which hall she wanted. She wanted to try out dayshift to see how it feels. Most of the aides think that dayshift aides are crabby and find fault with everybody. Working dayshift as an aide is not easy. Dayshift does mostly everything and has to due to males. It's a lot to do and keep things running smoothly at the same time.

AA is also quiet – at least in the facility. I did not hear her voicing her opinions loudly to coworkers or the residents. That's another good trait.

AA can also carry two lunch trays at the same time without dropping anything. It was so much better seeing her deliver trays to residents in a timely manner.

It looks to me like AA I be able to join the dayshift team if she's interested.