Ok, before I write about my brave April moment, I have a
question: what happened to April? I mean, I remember the 1st day of
Spring, then suddenly I saw it was May Day. I seemed to have lost some time in
the middle there somewhere.
One moment I do remember in the middle somewhere, when I
stood up for myself at work. There has been a particular client who has been
very troublesome for all of the caregivers. The client is verbally and now
physically violent. After a very bad incident, a night of ducking thrown
objects, an hour of being threatened by a hidden gun and listening to prayers
to god for my death, I decided I had had enough and spoke with the office. They
were able to cut me down to only once a week with the interesting person. It
seemed to alright. The hardest bit was always putting up with the insanity for
12 hours only to go home, sleep and turn around to do it all over again. It was
easier knowing I’d have a break between.
Or so I thought, the very next week took an even worse turn.
I called the office and informed them I would not be stepping foot back into
that house.
The last time I tried to stand up for myself at work,
actually, I don’t remember the last time. Even when I’ve quit jobs, I think and
stress over it for days before taking the plunge. The idea of it makes me sick.
I’d say I’ve never raised my voice or gotten in someone’s face before, but
anyone who attended certain community theater meetings knows better. ;D But in
those cases it was really acted out of passion, I didn’t go into the events
with the plan of being confrontational.
In this case, I had time to think and still quit, but wasn’t
allowed. After a half-hour discussion, I did refuse to put myself in danger any
longer and was rewarded with 2 new clients. So my moments of bravery actually
came out to be a real benefit. While on the same roll, I even threw out some
comments to hopefully help the other caregivers. Because even if all this helps
my personal situation, the overall problem still exists. So maybe some things
will change to make life better for my co-workers and even the client.
For cases like this, you need to do exactly what you did. Life is too short to be miserable or at risk of injury or death. Wondered if this client was suffering from alzheimers or dementia. Seems like violence comes with both of those conditions.
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