karma?

Hello ladies (and gents?), it is 9:45 pm and I am writing this blog before I go to work. You see, I learned a lesson in the last 24 hours. Last night (Friday), I was supposed to work at the hospital. However, 30 minutes before my shift was to start (I was already dressed in scrubs and had scarfed down a quick dinner), the day shift charge nurse called to tell me I was being "low volumed." Low volume = there isn't a whole lot going on, so we have no need for you. My response: crap. With the holiday season upon us, money is tight, and I need every shift! However, we decided to make the best of it, and I had a lovely evening with my husband and puppy. At 9pm, the night charge nurse called to ask if I could come in to work. At this point, I should've eagerly accepted and gotten back into my scrubs and driven to the hospital. But I was enjoying my night off and decided to stay in. 

Tonight (Saturday), I had just finished up my run at the gym and I noticed I had a missed call. Uh-oh. Unknown number...double uh-oh. Checked my message, "Hi this is so-and-so, and we're low-voluming you tonight." DAMMIT! It cought me totally off-guard, and I tend to cry when I am surprised in a bad sort of way, so I high-tailed it out of the gym and to my car so I could cry in peace at least. When you work 12-hour shifts, 3 shifts = a full week of work. When you are low-volumed for 2 shifts...that just means you aren't getting paid very much. I have the stress of being the breadwinner upon my shoulders, and I was just extremely frustrated. Luckily, I have the most understanding and amazing husband ever, and he immediately made me feel better once I called him. I got home, and he had cooked me dinner (chicken nuggets and oven-made french fries : gourmet, I know), and he just said all the right things. Man, I love him. He reminded me that we have his student loans to live off of if we need to, and that I should just enjoy the evening off. He was so right. We did just that. We watched Kung Fu Panda, which is a movie I have wanted to see for a very long time! It was really funny :) But a small part of me wondered if there was some karma action going on - since I chose not to go into work last night, I was low-volumed again tonight. Luckily, they called around 9:15 tonight to say they were going to use me from 11pm-7am. Phew. And technically, I can use PTO to get "paid" for the hours for which I was low-volumed. Alas, all will be well :) 

Funny how I need these life reminders from time to time. Things will always work out in the end.