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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to not like the Tik Tok videos made by “key workers”?

37 replies

JaneyIRL · 06/05/2020 23:16

I’ve worked for the emergency services myself so understand the gallows humour and the need to let off steam when working in stressful environments. However, I do find the videos of medical staff dancing around the wards and through the corridors quite off putting. I know people who have lost loved ones to covid19. If a member of my family was fighting for breath on a ward where the staff are busy making tik tok videos I don’t think it would be unreasonable of me to have concerns about their attitude towards the patients care. I like to imagine that the staff making these videos are working on wards that have become quiet due to the lockdown. But if this is true, I can’t help but feel they’re letting the side down and their colleagues working with covid19 patients. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be allowed to make videos etc, but surely it should be during downtime, away from the wards and not posted so publicly.

OP posts:
P1nkHeartLovesCake · 06/05/2020 23:18

They are allowed a break, they are human after all. They can dance or eat in that break.

My paramedic friend makes them on her BREAK. If you’d been to hanging then a Covid patient maybe you’d need some light relief too......

Yabu

Aquamarine1029 · 06/05/2020 23:20

Don't watch them. Problem solved.

hibbledobble · 06/05/2020 23:21

There has already been a long thread about this, everything that could be said, has been. It's time to leave it now, please.

Pipandmum · 06/05/2020 23:21

I haven't seen any of the videos. Are they dancing around the icu and where patients are? Or is it in the endless corridors of most hospitals that have admin or wards with less seriously ill patients? Most hospitals I've been to are like mini cities and have loads of space that are not full of critically ill patients. I hope that's where they are making the videos.

ScarfLadysBag · 06/05/2020 23:23

I find them really cringey so don't watch them, but I don't have any issue with people making them. If it gives them a bit of downtime to de-stress then it seems like a good thing.

vodkaredbullgirl · 06/05/2020 23:24

Don't watch them.

SquirtleSquad · 06/05/2020 23:27

Nurses dancing on TikTok has made people take lockdown less seriously www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3890178-Nurses-dancing-on-TikTok-has-made-people-take-lockdown-less-seriously

Sparklingbrook · 06/05/2020 23:27

Here's the last thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3888633-NHS-staff-dancing

SquirtleSquad · 06/05/2020 23:27

Dancing nurses hate www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3888421-dancing-nurses-hate

SquirtleSquad · 06/05/2020 23:29

There should enough on those 3 threads to help you make your mind up if YABU or not Op. enjoy.

Original poster
JaneyIRL · 06/05/2020 23:32

I’m not saying they shouldn’t make videos or have some light relief. My point is that they shouldn’t be making them in such close proximity to patients. If it was a member of my family with covid19 and the staff were dancing through the corridors it wouldn’t inspire me with hope that they’re taking it seriously. I know most videos aren’t made in patients surroundings. And I get that nhs staff are under immense pressure, but surely the patients feelings (someone who is potentially staring death in the face) should be considered also when these videos are made/posted.

OP posts:
slipperywhensparticus · 06/05/2020 23:35

It's not the dancing it's the wasted ppe the clap for us and we will dance because we are bored with no patients it jars totally with the headlines of the ones in tears attered by their face masks saying they haven't had a tea or pee break and people are dying stay at home save lives but then we also have time and resources to do this 🤸‍♀️

They feel like mutually exclusive statements being made so people are getting angry feeling they have been lied too it feeds the conspiracy theorists since they came out people have been flouting lockdown more and more in my town no one is bothered anymore I had trolleys up my arse couples shopping people pushing past my road is back to almost motorway madness

Aquamarine1029 · 06/05/2020 23:40

I’m not saying they shouldn’t make videos or have some light relief. My point is that they shouldn’t be making them in such close proximity to patients.

The patients are not in the videos. These healthcare workers are there for most of the day working their arses to the bone, exhausted beyond comprehension, needing something, anything, to let off some steam and feel human .

You are being ridiculous and totally unreasonable.

Impiz · 06/05/2020 23:41

YANBU

Disrespectful and a waste of PPE.

Aquamarine1029 · 06/05/2020 23:41

I guarantee they take their job and their responsibilities very very seriously. They need a few precious moments of release.

CtrlU · 06/05/2020 23:43

I think they are great.

It’s always nice to spread abit of happiness in such a bleak time we’re in at the moment.

Simply don’t watch them

Rubyred24 · 06/05/2020 23:50

I agree. My H is military and those videos of the parents surprising their kids at school are cringe.

I understand your point is different though and it's to do with the patients welfare. I just hate attention seeking videos but I'm a hermit.

Wishforsnow · 06/05/2020 23:53

Yanbu

MinteeFresh · 06/05/2020 23:56

yanbu. All Tik Tok videos made by anyone over the age of 13 are utterly pathetic. Especially those ones with the middle age mothers doing synchronised dancing with their 12y old daughters and all the "still got it babe" tags. Cringe.

CraftyGin · 06/05/2020 23:58

It's about them, not about you.

Don't underestimate the power of team building, even if you don understand it.

SionnachRua · 07/05/2020 00:06

If I had to go to work in full protective gear (or without it despite being in need) and in fear of catching a virus with no cure, I think I'd want to goof off and relieve the stress too.

If I were a patient on those wards I think I'd be glad to know of the staff dancing around. It brings a bit of humanity to the staff - the necessary protection staff have to wear do make it harder to read their expressions etc.

You don't have to like the videos.

WaterOffADucksCrack · 07/05/2020 08:25

I actually agree. I manage a care home and if we did that CQC would be right up our arses, loved ones would be complaining and rightly so. Yes our jobs are mentally and physically exhausting, wearing the PPE all day isn't pleasant but that doesn't mean we need to publically post videos of "dancing". We do have gallows humour etc but that's private between us. We do what to protect and care for our residents. That's what we're here for pandemic or no pandemic.

WaterOffADucksCrack · 07/05/2020 08:29

Also, us care homes have been bottom of the list for PPE (and everything else) so to see it wasted making tiktoks is upsetting. We still can't get some of the PPE we need if we have an outbreak. I'd never abandon my staff or residents so I'm prepared to become very ill if we do due to not having all the PPE and being more vulnerable due to 3 conditions.

Rockbird · 07/05/2020 08:33

So you think that while half a dozen nurses are doing a tiktok in the corridor that no one would be looking after the patients? I suspect that while they are dancing, another highly dedicated team is looking after your ill relative. And I'm sure you know that.

dottiedodah · 07/05/2020 08:59

As others have said , this has been extensively covered in previous posts .FWIW I agree with you that its in bad taste ,but if it takes down some of their stress then who are we to complain? Anyway I think theres not much more to say now really .