Joe Garcia has been an operating room nurse for 5 years. He was often on call on Saturday and Sunday, but he enjoyed his work and knew that he was good at it. Joe was called to come in on a busy Saturday afternoon just as his 5-year-old daughter's birthday party was about to begin.
"Can you find someone else just this once?" he asked the nurse manager who called him. "I should have let you know in advance that we have an important family event today, but I just forgot. If you can't find someone else, call me back, and I'll come right in." Joe's manager was furious. "I don't have time to make a dozen calls.
If you knew that you wouldn't want to come in today, you should not have accepted on-call duty. We pay you to be on-call, and I expect you to be here in 30 minutes, not one minute later or there will be consequences."
Joe decided that he no longer wanted to work in the institution. With his 5 years of operating room experience, he quickly found another position in an organization that was more supportive of its staff.
Questions:
1. If you were Joe, what would you have done? If you were the nurse manager, what would you have done? Why?
2. Who do you think was right, Joe or the nurse manager? Why?