I've recently begun my career as a CNA in the past 3 months, and with a year of caregiving under my belt, I knew what to generally expect. However, the company I have been working for has had some of the nastiest and toxic people working for it. Because of this, I have continuously been in contact with HR, and I have, with no exaggeration, had to report 5 staff members in the span of two months for harassment and unprofessional conduct.

Most recently, I had a resident care manager (RCM) yell at me down the hallway in front of other staff and residents because I was unable to get a resident to a meeting that was planned a) during my break and b) literally minutes after resident lunch ended. That said, I set the resident to get up but was running late since I was doing incontinence care and needed assistance transferring him which meant I was hunting down another CNA who wasn't occupied. I had just come out of another resident's room after seeing my hall partner was busy and the RCM shouted at me asking why I was 'just standing there' and not doing anything. This pissed me off so I told her I needed someone to help me transfer the resident (two person assist), so how about she stop just sitting there and help me, to which she stormed off like an angry child.

I later reported it to the assistant administrator who told me she'd get me a meeting with the administrator on my next work day. I met with her yesterday and after being questioned on why I bothered meeting with her, I unsurprisingly heard no actionable plan to fix the toxic workplace culture, and heard excuses ranging from not being able to control everyone's behavior, to not seeing it happen so it's hard to know when it does (literally why I have constantly reporting this type of behavior!!!) and having to work with different personalities. Last time I checked, being an asshole isn't on the list of my acceptable personalities. I told her it was inexcusable for someone in that position to act that way, and that she represents the company, so why in the hell would I work for a company that acts like that? She told me she tries to work with these people so they can learn, and I snapped back that she is talking about them like they are toddlers. They are adults and they need to conduct themselves as such or I won't be working with them. I gave my two weeks there and wrote an email to her and HR describing some of the lies, and poor and illegal labor practices that I have encountered working there. I have never worked anywhere so toxic.

With that said, because of this and incidents prior, I had an interview two days before the meeting. They offered me $10k more a year plus a $5k signing bonus and they're not much further away. I got the official offer and accepted it a few hours later. The moral of the story is to stand up for yourself and know your worth. I have been nothing but patient and kind with others, and if that is not appreciated then I will take myself elsewhere. I will be making more than 90% of CNAs in my state.