To ask what you would think of this?

[HoppingDragon]

Natalie works in a children's home. Lots of upheaval at the moment due to staff changes.
Had 2 temp workers in. One been coming in for over a year, requested by the manager to work and highly qualified and experienced, always found to be helpful and caring. More like permanent staff than temporary. (Anna) the other, level 2 in health and social care. (Sarah).
Sarah was sitting back and was not really being useful. Anna was helping kids wash their hands for lunch. Sarah was asked to help and then gave a kid the wrong lunch and as he was allergic, this could have been very dangerous. Yet because Anna had pushed a chair towards the table for the kid to sit on, they were both shouted at for the error.
Natalie then shouts out that she can't cope and rushes into the other room to say she is doing everything on her own and can't cope with just having temps in. Everyone in that room laughs and discusses it amongst themselves.
The next day Anna makes a formal complaint pointing out everything she does for the home and says she won't be coming back. What would you think ?

So what you are saying is that I should be fine with letting people yell at me and be disrespectful because I don't have a permanent role with them ?
The nature of my role is that I go from home to home. Saying I won't go back is all part of being a temp. I'm just annoyed as feel I got treated badly when I have done so much for this particular place.

Your mistake is in thinking they have any regard for you over other temps. Management I mean. You choose what you do. They don't care.

I know this because I love my job and bust a gut for it. I expect (and get) no thanks from the senior leadership team. Neither do my similarly hardworking colleagues, permanent or supply. SLT aren't horrible, they're busy and under pressure so petty arguments among staff don't make their radar. The advice is always to talk it out with the person concerned (and leave them out of it).

I'm not saying it's right. But in my experience, that's how these things go. You're easily replaced so that's what they'll do.

No it's not ok to be shouted at, and you're right not to accept that. But surely there is a better way to address this?

If you've done so much for this home, presumably you've built relationships with children there. How will they feel that you've just disappeared? Presumably they've had a lot of that in their life already.

You could instead return and ask for a meeting with the children and other staff to jointly apologise to them for the outburst in front of them and talk about how issues will be dealt with in the future, whilst reassuring them they are not to blame etc.

Appreciate the manager sounds very difficult and may not be up for that, but it doesn't exactly sound like you've got the children at the front of your mind either.

The best thing for them would be to have it role modelled how to work through difficult situations - to better equip them to deal with similar issues in the future (eg being shouted at in employment or otherwise).

Were you really shouted at? How old are you? When I managed a nursery I wasn't a shouter but I certainly would have been very stern and annoyed with the girls. I know when I was direct and stern one of the girls said I shouted (I didnt - we had cameras to prove it). However, because I told her off very sharply she felt I had shouted.

At the end of the day allergies can kill. Kids with allergies should be on a completely separate table and there should be strict procedures in place.

I'm not apologising for anything. I wasn't the one shouting or being disrespectful.
I will not tolerate being shouted at like an incompetent child for something that was not my fault. I didn't even give the child the lunch.
I am a grown woman. Doesn't matter if I'm 18 or 78. It's unacceptable to be so rude and then go into the other room and get other staff involved, speaking in a derogatory manner about the temps who can hear every word.

“Anna was helping kids wash their hands for lunch. Sarah was asked to help and then gave a kid the wrong lunch and as he was allergic, this could have been very dangerous.”

Who has responsibility for managing lunch and allergies?

If no-one told Sarah (preferably properly formally told her) about an allergy then said, “can you help get the kids’ lunches sorted” (you say she was “asked to help”) then it’s not Sarah’s fault.

If Anna was supposed to manage lunches (including checking the allergies) and asked Sarah to help without training her - then if I were Natalie I probably have a, “FFS do I have to do it all?” moment. Though I’d stay professional and not say that in front of the children, I hope.

It’s hard to see what actually happened here.

Anna and Sarah have nothing to do with food prep. That's down to the permanent staff to manage. They do not work for this company alone and so are not trained in the specifics. In many of the homes, they aren't even allowed to give out or serve any food which makes sense because of the allergy risk and the not being trained in each individual setting.
This particular child is given a special plate which Sarah had moved around so he ended up with someone else's.

Yet because Anna had pushed a chair towards the table for the kid to sit on, they were both shouted at for the error.

Ifeel like there is more (or less) to this than you are saying.

Sounds like Sarah put a meal down and Anna told a child with allergies to sit there. And that Anna is not only over reacting at the "shouting" which was basically Natalie panicking because it seems she has to remember and notice everything because both the others only see themselves as temps

Um, no.
Anna just pushed a chair towards the table from a distance where she was attending to the other kids.
It was Sarah that had moved the plates around and was looking after that table.
If you excuse Natalie's behaviour then I despair. Can understand the frustration but shouting, lying about how she had worked by herself and was doing it all and then speaking disrespectfully in the next room is not OK and as I say, would not be tolerated in any other workplace.
As for the other two only seeing themselves as temps. What else would you call them then ? Permanent staff are trained in policy and procedure of their permanent workplace. The temps as I said and will say again, are not. And I will say again. In many homes they are not even allowed to serve food or be involved in that side as it is not their role.

In the ideal world, no boss would ever raise their voice at anyone, I absolutely agree. But I have NEVER worked anywhere for any length of time where the manager didn't at some point get stressed and say something he or she probably shouldn't have said, or something they didn't really mean, over-reacted to something, raised their voice, etc. And the poor behaviour may have had only a small amount to do with the work thing they overreacted about - maybe they were getting divorced, maybe a child just failed A levels, maybe they were coming down with something, maybe a parent or friend was terminally ill. You don't know what's happening in people's lives but we are all human and won't always behave in the perfect way we would wish.

If Nathalie is a generally crap boss who yells and blames people for things unfairly on a regular basis and it is causing you to dread going into work or feel miserable while there, then I wouldn't stick around. But if she is otherwise ok and this was a bit of an aberration, cut the poor woman some slack.

Natalie isn't a boss. She's late twenties with little in the way of qualifications which is why the temps are in.

It sounds like you need a permanent position, where your voice will be heard and your efforts acknowledged. You don’t sound like temp life is for you.

What do you want from this thread, given that you're already convinced you're right and everyone else is wrong here? 🤣

Nobody who is a temp should be expected to deal with any disrespect to be honest. Or for it to be the norm because 'You're just agency so suck it up.'
Generally I am appreciated there but after the experience, why on earth would I go back for more treatment like that. Nobody else would. I'm a human being, temp or not.

You are starting to sound a bit bitchy now and you obviously have a chip on your shoulder about being a temp.despite it working in your favour as you have been able to choose not to work there anymore.

Well she isn't a boss and she isn't qualified. They are facts.
I'm frustrated at the situation as feel I was treated badly. Temps deserve the same respect as permanent staff. That shouldn't even be up for debate.

Why are you still referring to yourself in the third person when you’ve already said you’re Anna?

Natalie is stressed and has more responsibility than she should because of temps not being allowed to do certain things, she was a bit unprofessional though. Sarah made a mistake, she’s human. You didn’t do anything wrong but are being over sensitive, which is fine, just don’t go back.

No one is debating that.

This is one instance in a full year of work? I think you could work it out with Natalie who was having a moment she might be a bit embarrassed about in hindsight. I'm not saying ignore or accept it, just work it out if it's this one incidence and the rest of the year you've been there has been fine. Things happen.

You’re right. Temps should be treated with respect.

But in the real world - having been a temp for a year - you must see that it ain’t necessarily so. There shouldn’t be disrespect but even if there’s not active negatives you’re never going to have your opinion listened to, be able to influence how things are run or be a proper part of the team in the way a permanent member of staff is, mostly because you don’t bear any responsibility and you can leave (or not come back) at any time.

If you can’t cope with that reality, look for a permanent position.

You’re not in the wrong to decide not to work there again - it’s a big perk of being a temp, after all. But I’m unclear what you want to happen - you’ve decided not to return and that’s OK.

You sound quite cold considering the job you have Anna.

Sounds like the kids are getting a pretty poor experience.

The problem with the care sector is higher up, refusing to pay their permenant staff proper wages, resulting in understaffed and extremely stressed workers who despite committing to a company and being a permenant staff member agency staff are brought in ( due to the law and ratios) earning sometimes double the pay of the original staff with zero pressure (they can just not go back and still have a job elsewhere) and less responsibility, the creates a hugely unstable work place and resentfulness between agency/temp and permenant staff. However the way your expressing yourself is extremely childish, I don't think being an agency worker and thinking your doing so much for the company is valid you become agency for the money as the top priority, or you would of just joined them on lower pay as permenant staff and become a part of the stable team for your service users (of course this also is infuriating and knowone in their right mind would do that! Which is why the problem is higher up and the system they use) I have never come across any permenant staff EVER in over 20 years of being involved in various roles in the health sector that enjoy working with agency staff due to the issues above, factor in the added stress of the cost of living crisis right now and honestly those feelings are going to get worse!