Health professionals in uniform being stopped by public

[stripedsocks105]

Hi! I've namechanged because I feel quite guilty.

I work as a uniformed HCP, when I'm at work I like to use the hospital shops/ canteen to buy lunch etc. Each time- I mean EVERY time I'm always stopped by hospital users to ask for directions to whatever ward/service they need to use. I'm polite and generally tell them where they can find out the information (there's usually volunteers nearby at each entrance to give out info) but this happens when I'm on the phone, reading etc.

I know this sounds incredibly selfish but I've only got a limited time to get food, eat it, return to ward. I've always got a coat/ cardigan on so looking as off duty as I possibly could. I know it's just friendly and helpful but WIBU to just want leaving alone to walk and eat food in peace ?

I was in Asda wearing a fleece that said NHS in huge letters, and ambulance in huge letters. Random woman asks me if I know where the sugar is. I say I'm not sure but I think aisle X
She glared at me and said "if you're going to impersonate an Asda staff member, you could at least be HELPFUL" and stomped off
My face was

Wtf? I work in a hospital and regularly see patients/visitors who are unsure where to go. It's never occurred to me it's a hassle and usually after helping someone I feel good. I really can't see your attitude (and I say that as someone whose lunch today was a biscuit I grabbed before walking to my car at 3pm having started work early with only time for 1 coffee and no breakfast. I'm not a martyr, it's just normal nhs day (and in my last profession I also rarely had lunch).

Anyone reading this who doesn't work in a hospital, if you're ever lost in a hospital please please do ask staff, 99.9% of us want to help!

Thank God for the sanity that is MotherOfDragons.

Ollivander84 Haha that’s hilarious! I was once coming out of the fitting rooms in H&M when a woman waiting outside asked me ‘how many items can you take in at a time?’ I just looked at her blankly and said ‘err, I don’t know, I think it’s maybe four or five?’ and started to walk off when she gave me the dirtiest look. I really didn’t understand what she was so angry about.

I then looked down and realised I was still wearing my work lanyard and even though it was very clearly not from H&M (and not even from a retail place at all) she had clearly just seen a lanyard and thought ‘staff’. So she thought I’d just given her a shit, vague answer and then walked off without helping her. Oops!

It's difficult. On the one hand, people in the hospital can be stressed, worried, disorientated, and bewildered. So I do try to help.

On the other hand, I do not get proper meal breaks. It is quite often "can I squeeze 10 minutes to grab a sandwich before the next crisis". In the last week, on 2 days I did not get lunch at all because I got stopped for help on the way to do so, and so never had the chance. On one of the days, having missed lunch, I didn't get to eat until I got home at 9 pm. I'm pretty sure that makes me less efficient! And no, I do not have access to a fridge to put a packed lunch into, and it's very hot on the ward for something not in the fridge...

I've had abuse shouted at me in a hospital for not knowing where something was before. I didn't even work there, I was there for my own appointment, but they'd seen me in a different healthcare setting and for some reason assumed I'd know all.

The public are shit at times.

If you are sitting eating your lunch in the canteen you're obviously on a break, uniform or not. And people should leave you alone.

I completely understand why you to get annoyed at this. I don't think people can understand unless they have been in your shoes. I had a friend who used to work on a cruise ship and people would come up to her and ask her things, start talking to her while she was having her lunch break. She was the manager, and worked all day every day from 6 AM until about 2 AM in the morning. She really needed those 30 minutes to relax. In her case, there was a crew mess but you're on a cramped vessel on the sixth month contract and you need to be able to have some free time without having to be bombarded with peoples questions, some of which were just ridiculous.

Not the same thing, but because I have a disability and I do things that not many other people do, I am off and being stopped and asked questions. Nine times out of 10, I totally don't mind, but there are some days when I'm tired, or when I'm overloaded, and I just want to be alone and it is very hard to be patient with people. I just say, I'm sorry I have a headache and I don't want to talk. One of the two traffic accidents I had in Vietnam was because I was so upset with people not leaving me alone, that I didn't pay attention while crossing the road. So when I need quiet, I make sure I tell people.

Years ago when I was hospital based, I was walking home from work (still on hospital site as was living in hospital accommodation) with a coat done up over my uniform.
I was on my phone, having an important non social conversation, there was no signal inside the department I worked and by the time I got home the place I was calling would have been shut. I had a guy try to stop me to ask directions, as politely as I could I mouth sorry and carried on with my conversation, he tried to block me and continue to interrupt and get quite nasty as I wouldn't stop my call to help him... When you work in the NHS some people think they"own" you!!

So op no you are definitely not being unreasonable!

Also now I'm out and about (paramedic) it is amazing how many people want to stop you to discuss their medical history with you... Frankly I don't give shit, and also I'm not going to give you a consultation in Tesco carpark with no paperwork to back me up... Go and see your GP!!

For all the people on the thread who think it's fine and reasonable to disturb a HCP when they are clearly on their break, maybe have a read of this... [https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2018/apr/12/wife-destroyed-job-ae-nurse-convinced-quit]] and think about what that person may have experienced on their shift so far today, and whether it's worth interrupting their recharging time to ask the way to x-ray.

www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2018/apr/12/wife-destroyed-job-ae-nurse-convinced-quit

I used to work in clothes retail , in a distinct uniform.
I had A half hour break and was sat with my coat on because of the aformentioned distinctive uniform,in MacDonalds with a coffee.
A dad and his two kids appeared and the guy started demanding I measure his kids feet " while i wasn't busy".
I directed him to the actual shop I worked in literally opposite MacDonalds but no, he wanted doing now and was prising the shoes off his kids feet for me to measure at my table.
I told him I was on break. He starts asking me prices instead, still waving this child's stocking foot under my nose , and having a mini complain about a school shoe we sold him that lasted no time at all.
I said " break, mate " got up and left to go outside for a smoke.
HE FOLLOWED ME OUTSIDE!
with two kids , to stand next to me smoking to go on relentless about prices of kids shoes.
We were opposite the shop!
He was so rude when I wasn't very interested with his conversation and pointed the shop out and just so entitled that he thought I would spend my unpaid break with his kids and his enquiries just because I worked in a shop he had once been a customer of.
I told him in a very final tone to ask in the shop and pointed over the way.
He literally snatched his kids away shouting "BAD SERVICE!" And how he was putting in a complaint to my manager.
Reader, I laughed .
He stalked off with his whiney kids along the high street and into subway.
I don't know if he thought MacDonald and subway were the places to buy kids footwear or if he was just an entitled knob end , or if his usual shopping method was to go into cafes and find shop staff members on breaks to serve him.
Maybe he thought we carry a selection of stock in our pockets ?

No, YANBU to expect to have a full break free of interruptions.

On the average day at work I walk 14000 steps which is about 12 kilometres. I burn almost 4000 calories a day. I have breakfast at 6am and don't get home until 730pm. The only chance I get to sit down is if I make it to the toilet or if I get my unpaid lunch break.

Personally I wouldn't want to be in the care of someone that's only eaten a bowl of porridge in the last ten hours.

I also work in the NHS and am happy to help because hospitals are big and frightening and you never know who is having the worst day of their life. On the flip side to that is the fact that HCPs give a part of themselves every single day, they do it gladly and willingly and go above and beyond what's expected because the NHS may as well be a charity for the amount of goodwill it relies on, you leave work exhausted, sometimes emotional, you sacrifice your family for other people, it is not unreasonable to want 20-30 minutes in that very long day to recharge your batteries so you can go back and perform at your best.

I don’t mind people asking me the way to x,y,z. I’ve never been approached whilst sitting in the canteen eating though, that’s a bit bizarre. It’s only when I’m walking in the corridors/foyer. I don’t think there’s much you can do about it really, short of changing out of work uniform entirely (and as the changing rooms are normally miles away, in the opposite direction to the canteen, that isn’t an option).

I think some people just look more approachable than others really. Some people never get asked for directions, even though they’re in uniform.

However, a tip - visiting B&Q wearing a bright orange top is not a great idea. I asked a lady for help once, and her response was so irate I can only imagine I wasn’t the first person to ask her for help that day.

Seriously? Is no one reading the OP’S original post?
OP isn’t talking about helping people lost in corridors! She clearly states when in the canteen or shops when buying / eating her lunch.
If I see a HCP in a canteen or shop I wouldn’t dream of accosting them because quite bloody clearly they’re on their break! The sheer number of people on here that think this is acceptable behaviour is astonishing.
If I’m lost I generally find the nearest lift has massive boards stating what is where and where I am too.
OP and any other HCP on here, I feel for you, I really do

@MrsImsy1. Great post..! Spot on.

This happened to me once and I didn't realize it. I had on a same color shirt that workers in the shop wore and a woman asked me where something was. I just said "sorry, I don't know". She then saw me in another aisle and must have realized I didn't work there because she apologized to me. She must've made a face/comment I couldn't hear when I didn't help her

YANBU.

Yanbu. It’s no wonder there is a shortage of hcps in this country, they are treated like shit.

I am one of the nurses who has had enough. I left the profession last year. I am so much healthier having lunch breaks. My blood glucose levels (am diabetic) are now normal.

And who in my there right mind would try and stop a nurse escorting a post-op patient on a trolley with IV blood bag, catheter, drain, oxygen to ask where the shop is?

The arrogance and nastiness of some posters on here astounds me.

Oh and nurses etc DONT get paid for there lunch breaks thank you very much cocoa.

I’m a nurse. I think It’s part of your professionalism - on breaks you still need to uphold those values, just as you would in lots of ways outside of work. tbh it feels nice to be nice. These people are in hospital with potential health worries etc. I know this work can be draining but if you find it too much, take your lunch or book to the staff only areas (there’s a few in my hospital)

I know this work can be draining but if you find it too much, take your lunch or book to the staff only areas (there’s a few in my hospital)

Well aren't you lucky. Staff only areas aside from the locker room are all work areas in my hospital.
It takes a special kind of arrogance to see a member of staff clearly eating their lunch and still approach them to ask for directions or some other trivial thing.

Health professionals in uniform being stopped by public I thought you were going to have a moan because, they were asking you for advice on their illnesses. To outsiders hospitals are notorious for getting lost in. I know there are volunteers to assist the public, but if you are a uniform, and I have done this myself, I invariably ask that person if you come across them, before a volunteer.

My husband fell and broke his neck on Tuesday. He was taken to a hospital in a different county to a Neuro-surgical Unit. It is the most enormous hospital I have ever seen. They have a hotel where I got 2 hours sleep that night. I had to ask several people how to get back to the ED when I got up. All were unfailingly helpful, as was everyone else I asked when he had been taken to a ward and I had to find my way there. Several staff (not Guides) saw me looking lost and asked if they could help. I do appreciate your problem but please see it from the other side. I used to work in hospitals myself and was always delighted if someone asked me to help.

I personally find this a bit self centred and some what selfish. My Son works in a place that is busy 24/7 and he regularly spends his breaks eating his meals, whilst helping lost passengers, or directing or taking them to where they need to go and just sees it as a part of the job. He likes the interaction with the travelling public and cares about people.

I personally find this a bit self centred and some what selfish

Yes.... wanting a break in peace (such a rarity for many of us) is self centred and selfish . I hope you never take a break at work... It's selfish you know.
No one has said they wouldn't help people who asked, of course you help. Doesn't stop you getting pissed off and a bit tired of those people who ask whilst you are clearly on break. If anyone's selfish and self centred it's those people who expect anyone in public service to be "on" every second they're in the work place.