But your not special (no offense meant). There's a lot of people with equal or higher qualifications these days who simply don't even HAVE work. Among those who still DO have work the new normal is pay cuts, furloughs, "we'll call you when we need you", doing the work of three people, etc.

Look I'm just as unhappy about the 2009 world economy as you or anyone, but I'm just saying that to quit a job THESE DAYS is something to be thought about extremely hard, much more so than in years past.

Even if you're being used and abused.

I think that Vulg has a good take on this.

Is it that bad in the USA? I heard nurses are one of the most recession-proof jobs there.

Here, I think I can find work in a few months. BTW, aside from all I've been spouting, let me add "2 years in the Operating Room" to that. That's a special area and not a lot of nurses have it. Sure, there are other with more qualifications and what not (I'm not the epitome of my profession), but I'm sure I have my good points that I can bring with me to whoever hires me. Hardworking is one.

In any case, I feel for you, Vulgarity. I'm just glad I have my UK job lined up, or else you are 100% correct, I wouldn't be resigning even if I were used and abused.

Then again, it's my UK job that prompted my boss to transfer me to the ward that prompted me to resign anyway (since I already have something else lined up). Kinda twisted, huh?

On the plus side, I finally get to spend Christmas and New Year with my family....

That's not always a perk.


Wheels

I don't think its that bad... at least in the "Healthcare" job market. Our hospital is hiring all the time and usually can't get enough nurses. Heck, our hospital gave everyone a 1% bonus this year. The benefits are good as far as retirement goes here. They essentially match you 6% of your salary if you put in 6% too. However, from what I have heard other hopsitals in the area are on a pay freeze.

Usually its either feast or famine with hospital budgets. If the dumb@$$es in administration would leave a d@mned cash reserve and NOT touch it until they need it to get through a though stretch and then rebuild it during the good times things would run smoother but usually the administration is a revolving door of people with short term goals to make themselves look good and then move on to bigger and better institutions.

Nursing always seems to have a cycle of too many then too few nurses. One field of nursing you may want to consider is Nursing Informatics kinda of half IT half nursing where you are the liason between the clinical staff and the IT staff. You help make the clinical informatic system more user friendly for doctors and nurses. Its a relatively new field that I have only seen utilized in the last five years in the two hospitals I have worked for.

That's a nice suggestion, Chef! I'm kinda into computers, and I was taking up Computer Science before shifting over to Nursing. I've always been told that my "l337 skillz" would come in handy later on. So far, this hasn't materialized yet, but here's to hoping!

wheelsup, it kinda is for me right now. I've never really been able to enjoy Christmas and New Year since taking up Nursing. The college days were taken up doing projects and on-call duty at hospitals and what-not, working days usually had me on duty at one shift or another. So this is the first time I'll be able to actually really ENJOY the holidays in, oh, 6 years, without worrying about going on duty in a few hours.

I am glad to hear that you will be able to enjoy the holidays this year.


Wheels

Hehehe... Thanks Wheels. Really, I haven't been able to fully enjoy it for some time now, so it is a big deal for me. Unlike other jobs, we do have to work on holidays (sometimes, we even have MORE work on the holiday or the next day :D), so this is a real treat.

Hehehe... Two days before I was to stop working, I went to assist with a surgery and the doctors and the anesthesiologist looked up and exclaimed that they thought I had already left. Same thing happened the last day of work. All of them expressed their disappointment at my leaving and the lack of manpower and the idea of the OR getting handicapped without my l337 skillz.

I'm happy to be away. I'm sad to leave them, but I have to move on.

Two day later, my sister accompanies her friend to the hospital to submit her (the friends') application as a staff nurse. They overhear the chief nurse curse and whine about me leaving --- the chief nurse was on leave for the two weeks prior to my resignation and only learned about it the day before. Apparently, now they have a staffing problem, but they're not hiring anyway. My sister and her friend left the office without submitting her application, as they decided (from what they overheard) that it wasn't a good place to work in.