In Which I Get Judgemental

You know those things you think about people but you aren't supposed to say because it's mean/prejudiced/snotty etc.? That's what this is about.

I recently trained a new employee at the GreatRep, who seemed nice. She's CNA certified but hasn't worked as one before. However she was working as a caregiver at a group home for developmentally disabled adults. Lower volume/patient load than what we do at the GreatRep, but same basic principles plus she's been through the CNA course so she should already know the essentials from that. Seems like a reasonably good hire, is polite, reads and writes English well.

The first red flag for me was when she mentioned something about her home life; that she had been traveling around the world or something for a few years (the first few years of her son's life) and then finally came back because she fell in love with her high school non-sweetheart, and now they're engaged and living with her son's Father. Huh. I generally think one needs a pretty good reason not to be around for their child's first few years of life, and wanderlust doesn't really count in my book.

The second one was that she was complaining about her job at the group home and how the stress of combative residents there was triggering her PTSD (acquired when she was younger, not through serving in the armed forces but ostensibly by having an effed up childhood). Uh-oh. Our residents get combative, and even though they're mostly old ladies, they can be a little scary at times. Would this be a good fit for her?

Answer: nope. Apparently even though she quit her job at the group home and now only works part-time at the GreatRep, she was STILL calling off frequently, wanting to go home early, etc. That's such BULL! Our jobs are hard but do-able when we're fully staffed. Leaving your coworkers short-staffed for no good reason is totally rude and shady.

Then the other night she insisted she had such a bad back injury that she had to go home. Seriously? Even though you were sitting there talking to me like everything was fine and bustling around preparing your dinner? I don't buy it. I think that this girl has a crazy family and that made her crazy, and then she hasn't bucked up and gotten un-crazy. Which sucks, because she's a parent now. And instead of growing up and holding down a job, she is hoping to get disability or something after working part time for a few weeks. Ugh.

I know it's not kind to assume people are going to suck if they tell you they had a bad childhood or whatever, but here's the thing: if they've gotten over it enough to function well? They won't tell you right away. They'll be aware that doing so is inappropriate. People can come from chaos and turn out wonderfully, but those are the people you're surprised to find out were raised so horribly. The ones where you go "Oh, that all makes sense" are the ones who need to get their butts into therapy and figure their crap out.

Or at least not come work with me. Sheesh.