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If this is considered bullying or even "unacceptable" ... it does not bode well for the potential emotional state that could be induced when transitioning from school into the workplace.
I graduated from nursing school with my RN in 1992, in the middle of a divorce with small children. During my years in the workplace, I have worked with single women in their 20's & single (never-married) women their 60's. I have worked with married moms, single moms, widowed moms & divorced moms.
I have worked with nurses who were cheating on their husbands with doctors & nurses who were cheating on their husbands with the guy that delivered meal trays from Dietary. I have worked with gay nurses, bi-nurses & nurses who were nuns.
I have worked with nurses whose husbands were deployed in Afghanistan & nurses whose husbands were incarcerated in prison. There were nurses who desperately wanted to be married, nurses who desperately wanted a divorce & a nurse who had been single until she was 55 years old, met a guy on an online dating site & was soon sending us postcards from her honeymoon.
I have had doctors trying to set me up with their sons, a patients mother trying to set me up with his brother & a patient who was a WWII veteran who wanted to set himself up with me!
One patient's wealthy father, who was a Jeweler from Egypt, once returned to my floor with jewelry to try to entice me to become engaged to his son ... & he brought necklaces for every nurse who worked on that unit!
When I was single, everybody wanted to know "Why haven't you found somebody to get married to?". When I was dating, everyone said: "Why would you date him instead of Dr. so&so?" When I got married everyone said, "Are you sure that's what you really want to do?" & when I got pregnant; everyone said "Again? You're an RN; don't you know what causes that?"
I have been lectured by stern women in their 90's on why I should be married in one patient's room & been lectured by another stern elderly lady in the next room as to why I should never get married. Once, while still in nursing school, my clinical instructor who was a retired Army nurse, yelled at me by saying "How do you expect to ever work as a nurse with all those kids?!"
And once, a few years after I graduated, I was lectured by a nun who said "You know; it wasn't that long ago that only single, young women were allowed to enroll in nursing school!"
So ... if anyone going into nursing is going to pick a fight over a small, inconsequential comment like "When are you going to get married?" You need to invest in a mouth guard & a pair of gloves OR learn how to nod, smile & then do it your way, anyway.
Trailer Park Nursing school? Maybe they can beat each other up and then treat the injuries for practice.
It’s probably pretty typical for most community college RN programs. It’s a great way to give people a career path. You wouldn’t see that at a strong 4 year BSN program. If you have the aptitude, get the RN so you can get the income stream and then do a BSN at a good school. You can then specialize with a 1 year program and a year of clinical training and launch a pretty high income career. Nurse Anesthetist is like that. The people I know who do that for a living make $150k+ and it’s mostly an 8 to 5 midweek job with some on-call nights and weekends. To get the initial income stream, you have to deal with that first RN program.
You have to decide what approach is right for you. You could try reacting in a formal, aloof, none-of-your-business way. You could try reacting with humor. It's up to you. But to report a person for casual remarks makes you look weak and petty.
If they are people who you won't be stuck with for a long time, so you don't have to worry too much about fall-out, you can try "How kind of you to involve yourself with my marital condition" or "When I need advice about my marital state, I'll let you know."
You could always just say "Uh-huh" and drift off.
Or, "Yeah, you've said all that already."
Or, "Actually, I hate children."
Or, hey, how about saying, "Thanks, but I prefer to sleep around"?
Whatever you do, don't get into a physical fight with another individual in a work/school setting.
I don't know what community you grew up in, but respectable adults don't do that. Ever. Ever. Some slap fest/hair pulling contest between nurses about who-called-who-old will land you both without a nursing certificate and a job. Really, as well it should. I can't even imagine two nurses getting into a physical altercation with each other over perceived disrespect.
It's sad that you even have to post this. But it needed to be said based on the OP's comments.
OP, if you don't grow a thicker skin, than perhaps nursing isn't for you.
You do realize that nurses get yelled at, sometime by doctors, many times by patients and their families. You are going to come across a lot of emotional people..
If you are falling apart over this, or are thinking of a physical altercation, you might want to rethink nursing as a career. Sounds like you're not too far along in your studies.
DO NOT GO TO THE DEAN, as some have suggested. In fact if you do go to the Dean, he/she may repeat to you what I just said.
You have to decide what approach is right for you. You could try reacting in a formal, aloof, none-of-your-business way. You could try reacting with humor. It's up to you. But to report a person for casual remarks makes you look weak and petty.
If they are people who you won't be stuck with for a long time, so you don't have to worry too much about fall-out, you can try "How kind of you to involve yourself with my marital condition" or "When I need advice about my marital state, I'll let you know."
You could always just say "Uh-huh" and drift off.
Or, "Yeah, you've said all that already."
Or, "Actually, I hate children."
Or, hey, how about saying, "Thanks, but I prefer to sleep around"?
That's not bullying, and no, you shouldn't report it to the dean. If it bothers you, find better friends.
I think she/they are probably doubting their own life choices and are trying to deflect. 25 is young. In my world, it is unusual to be married and have kids while still in school, especially under the age of 25.
Next time she does it, give an equally "sly grin" and say something weird like.."the biological clock runs both ways on the wrong track..." then laugh knowingly and walk away.
She'll feel stupid for not knowing what the hell that means.
No-one likes to feel stupid.
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and say something weird like.."the biological clock runs both ways on the wrong track..." then laugh knowingly and walk away.
