care work - difficult people

liney

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Good point. honeyD is this the case? Does the old dear pay for 30 minutes thinking it is all at her house and perhaps your employer is paying you 30 minutes including travelling?

Care agencies are supposed to specify a X time call, and allow travelling time between vists to ensure the client gets the time booked. If the travelling time is too short realistically then the agency need to be informed so that other arrangments are made.

"Some" agencies will know the travelling time is not acceptable but will be banking on MrsP not complaining :mad:

Money_maker

Speak to your manager. If she is known to be a difficult client then nothing will reflect back on you. Most good care companies will also respect your wishes if you ask not to go to that client again so you do have the opportunity to 'pass on her'.
Are you under 25? Some folks get quite irate when they get a young carer in and dont give her enough of a chance. Or it could just be that she's made a career of moaning - you do meet allsorts in this type of job and I'm sorry to say that these people DO exist.

seven-day-weekend

I just wish you well in a very demanding and worthwhile job. I for one could never do it.

I think maybe asking HER what order she wants things done in might help, but she just might not be a very nice person, in which case it does not reflect upon you at all. And if she asks you to post a letter, just take it, you are sure to pass a letterbox at some point.

And look on the bright side! A friend of mine, a care assistant, was left £100k in the will if one of her old ladies! (She left a similar amount to another care assistant and the district nurse).

Morgan_Ree

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

And look on the bright side! A friend of mine, a care assistant, was left £100k in the will if one of her old ladies! (She left a similar amount to another care assistant and the district nurse).

Were they allowed to keep the money?

I was under the impression staff were not allowed to accept gifts from patients/clients?

loulou123

I work in a care home and sometimes all you can do is to rise above rudeness etc. It may be that the client is just having a bad day, is in pain or even part of their condition (or that they are just a grumpy person in general!)

I really wouldnt take it too persoanlly, especially considering you said in your 1st post that everyone else you see, seems to think your ok.

My best advice would be too think of her more as a another person and not just as next on your list that day-if that makes sense. As too alot of elderly people the thing they like the most is some company and a chat over a cup of tea (realise this isnt easy if you have lots to do and only short time to get it done) and try to get to know her abit too.

vaporate

honeyD wrote: »

I started working nearly 2 months ago as a care assistant for elderly people in their homes.
Ive found myself in a situation with one 'client', lets call her P.
I try my hardest with all of the clients, to do everything they need doing and in the time Im given. This one client is really making things difficult for me. Nothing I do is ever good enough, not done well enough/fast enough/ in the right order, anything really. P tells me Im "not doing my job right" and Im just getting really sick of it. P is the only one Ive had complaints from so far, everyone else is really happy with me and others have specifically requested me to attend their homes so I must be doing right somewhere? lol.
Im just not sure what to do about it all. I bite my tongue everyday with her and its starting to depress me. Im only in there for 20-30 minutes and just feel like crying sometimes (feel so stupid!).
There are a few different things I do for her when I go, includes getting a couple of drinks for her, emptying the bins, making the bed, washing up etc etc. Well today I went in and she was upstairs and I thought she might be at the loo so didnt go up and got on with other things like emptying the bins etc. When I went upstairs to see where she was she had a right go at me for not seeing where she was as she was in the shower and I should have been there "more important things than getting her drink" she said. Yet if I hadnt done these things she would have complained anyway!
Ive spoken to work and said she is very rude at times and Im supposed to just ask her not to but she never lets me get a word in!
The other week she asked me to post a letter for her so I did. Couple of days later and she asked if I was passing a postbox, I said I wasnt sure because I was going to a new house and didnt know if there was a postbox there and she was so rude saying she pays me for 30 mins and was only there 10 yet cant even post her a letter?! :mad: She is not my employer lol. Argh. I really dont know what to do about this!
Reading this back I think Im over-reacting or not doing things well enough but I know I am and shes just never happy. Even complained to work about me which at the end of the day could lose me my job so that adds more pressure to do things right with her.
Does anyone who works in this kind of job offer any advice for dealing with "difficult" clients?
Thankyou.

Sorry but the client is a waste of space. I would love to say what I really think but this forum is rated PG lol. Sounds like a mentally ill client to me.

speedbird1973

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

this is exactly why untrained people should not have these responsibilities, not even level 2, it's scary, I feel sorry for you, have you had any training at all?

Unfortunatly Care Assistant = Minimum Wage - If they weren't employed a min wage, the homes would go bust and there'd be no care homes. Half of the assistants must have an NVQ that are working at a home, the rest can have no qualifications at all.

seven-day-weekend

Morgan_Ree wrote: »

Were they allowed to keep the money?

I was under the impression staff were not allowed to accept gifts from patients/clients?

Yes, she was allowed to keep it. She paid their mortgage off with it and bought a new car.

honeyD

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Good point. honeyD is this the case? Does the old dear pay for 30 minutes thinking it is all at her house and perhaps your employer is paying you 30 minutes including travelling?

Yes I guess so, if she pays it herself, Im not sure if the government pay it as I think they do for some? I know there have been big issues with the times she is given for the call which she isnt happy with and Ive tried to fix this myself speaking to those in charge but nothing really changes and Im not happy about that myself.
They give 30 minutes but if there is nothing to do I can leave earlier as long as Ive been 15+. The company does not pay for travelling. They set up my rota to where some days I dont have time to get from call to call so I have to cut times down for some to be able to get to this lady in time since she doesnt like me arriving early or late. Usually means I rush like crazy to get there on time.

Are you her only, or main carer? If other people go in, are they treated the same way?

There are others but its mostly me during the week 5 out of 7.

Just something that stands out here. If she is a 30 minuite call, why are you only there in your admission for 20 to 30 minuites, and were you indeed only there for 10 miniutes one day as she stated?

If the work is done and she requires nothing else then I leave. And no I was there over 20 minutes that day before she had even asked me.

Couldn't the postbox thing have been handled better?

Yes, possibly. To be honest she had been so terrible to me that day that I didnt really want to do it, if that makes me a bad person then so be it. (Though I really didnt know where the next postbox was, never been to the area before)

I try to chat with her everytime I go. She just makes it very difficult with comments about my accent, my work not being done good enough, not done right, didnt do this (only because I hadnt got to that yet)! She also makes sure I know that she prefers the other carers, but nothing I can do about that. I think maybe Im there in place of her 'favourite' and she doesnt like that. Also once when I went she said there was nothing else to do and I asked to use her toilet before I went then heard her in the kitchen, came down and she says "you havent washed the pots!". Its just everthing is said in such a way that I cant get across to you all.
Reading things back it seems so petty yet it really gets me down? I dont think Im explaining this all very well but thankyou for the comments, I will take it all onboard and try to get more conversation going with her.

liney

honeyD wrote: »

Yes I guess so, if she pays it herself, Im not sure if the government pay it as I think they do for some? I know there have been big issues with the times she is given for the call which she isnt happy with and Ive tried to fix this myself speaking to those in charge but nothing really changes and Im not happy about that myself.
They give 30 minutes but if there is nothing to do I can leave earlier as long as Ive been 15+. The company does not pay for travelling. They set up my rota to where some days I dont have time to get from call to call so I have to cut times down for some to be able to get to this lady in time since she doesnt like me arriving early or late. Usually means I rush like crazy to get there on time.

There are others but its mostly me during the week 5 out of 7.

If the work is done and she requires nothing else then I leave. And no I was there over 20 minutes that day before she had even asked me.

Yes, possibly. To be honest she had been so terrible to me that day that I didnt really want to do it, if that makes me a bad person then so be it. (Though I really didnt know where the next postbox was, never been to the area before)

I try to chat with her everytime I go. She just makes it very difficult with comments about my accent, my work not being done good enough, not done right, didnt do this (only because I hadnt got to that yet)! She also makes sure I know that she prefers the other carers, but nothing I can do about that. I think maybe Im there in place of her 'favourite' and she doesnt like that. Also once when I went she said there was nothing else to do and I asked to use her toilet before I went then heard her in the kitchen, came down and she says "you havent washed the pots!". Its just everthing is said in such a way that I cant get across to you all.
Reading things back it seems so petty yet it really gets me down? I dont think Im explaining this all very well but thankyou for the comments, I will take it all onboard and try to get more conversation going with her.

The women hasn't booked "job and knock" she's booked 30 minuites. Would you stay after 30 minuites if you hadn't finished and still only charge for half an hour? No, you would say "I'm only booked for half an hour". If you booked a cleaner for 2 hours and she left after 1 hour because she had "finished", but handed in a timesheet for 2 hours would you feel short changed or even accuse them of fraud?

The time is obviously an issue hence the comment about you owing her time to post a letter. I think you need to find out why she prefers the other carers? What do they do that you don't? Or you could ask the agency to supply her with a different carer of course.