As of today, I am officially a stay-home Mommy (SHM).
I tendered my resignation with immediate effect. For those of you who are familiar with Nursing in Singapore, you'll know that most nurses are bonded with a hospital who sponsors the nurse's studies, right down to course fees, allowances, salary etc.
In return, the sponsored student upon graduation has to be bonded with that respective hospital for 3 years.
In the event that the nurse decides to terminate her employment before her bond period is up, he/she is liable to pay the remaining of the bond monies (depending on different hospital policy whether in full or pro-rated).
For my case, I still have 5.5 months of bond to fulfill but because I decided to terminate my employment prematurely, and with immediate effect, I need to pay a total of SGD$10,000 + compensation of 1 month's salary.
A whooping $10k+!!!! Which could well go into the renovation of our new pad, or buy me a Birkin bag.
But to me, money is not important. Family is. My son is.
It is necessary to put food on the table and pay the bills, but other than that, to me, money is not important.
If I have to spend $10k in exchange for my freedom to be with my son & family, so be it.
If I have to buy one bag less, so be it.
I am lucky I have the support of my family, an understanding husband, and supportive in-laws as well. I never thought my in-laws would be supportive of my decision (esp my father-in-law, who's always deadpan serious, but he was supportive and did not object to my having to pay so much $$).
So yeap!! The freedom is liberating! It feels terrific not having to wake up to alarms, and not having to work shifts.
The patients' families demand more attention than the patients.
You get interrupted at work ALL the time - to talk to the social worker, to answer the phone calls, or the doctor needs something, this patient needs to go to the toilet, etc etc etc!
EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is upon the nurse if something goes wrong.
If the dietetics send the wrong food, it is the nurse's problem to rectify it.
If the housekeeping doesn't make up the bed fast enough, the nurse has to do it.
If the blood specimen is not despatched on time, it is our fault again.
Nurses work long hours and we work 3 shifts.
I work 6 days a week in my hospital, including weekends and public holidays - That means I get only ONE day off. I dont get off work on time, and my job is stressful like hell.
Weekends are for play and rest, no??
And shiftwork screws up your body clock.
Even when you knock off and get back home, your mind is not in peace in case you missed out anything at work because God forbid.
I'm sick of sacrificing my weekends and precious time with my family just to watch over demented people and be berated by their families and a [insert profanities] supervisor.
I feel horrid that my son has to miss his school excursions while his friends get to go with their parents, all because Mommy is working on a weekend!
So there, Goodbye R**** !!!!!!! You will not be missed!
It's been an extremely trying 2.5 years with ups and downs in this job.
I need to close this chapter in my life in order for more doors to open as well as to give myself time to reflect on my future direction.
It's high time for me to embark on a new journey in life - a journey which is led by my heart.