On-call jobs

[Guest bigm350]

Do any of you guys that have jobs that are on-call get tired of the constant nagging from your employer? I have a job as a phlebotomist, which is drawing blood, and I like to work. When I first got this job a few months back, I really enjoyed it, and didn't mind getting called in on my days off. Now, I'm the low man on the totem pole, and usually pick up hours offered to me at work, by people who want the day off. It seems though, even if I want a few days off, here and there, I get calls about going in. It seems every day there is at least 1-2 people that call in every day, and it gets annoying as hell, to hear my phone ring, and see the hospital calling. They called me yesterday, and I made up a lame excuse that I wasn't feeling well. They called today at 4 in the freaking morning, and also again at 6:30 AM, but I haven't called them back. I don't know if I will or not. I'm working tomorrow and working Christmas Eve. I'm also working 6 days in a row from December 26th to New Year's Eve, so I'm not hard up for the money. I guess my point is, should I feel guilty about not going into work, or take the RVD approach, and say, since its voluntary, I'm not going? Maybe I'm whining though, since I did accept an on-call job. For people that have on-call jobs or just you guys, in general, would you go in every time you got a call to go to work, even if you didn't feel like going?

[kkktookmybabyaway]

Get another job if you don't like your situation. You knew you'd be on-call when you started. Like you said in your post, you're the low man on the totem pole -- this is supposed to happen to you. If you advance up the ranks at your job and they eventually hire lower men on the totem pole, you'll be posting here bitching about how you wanted a day off but they wouldn't come in to cover your shift...

[Guest bigm350]

Good point. I guess I should have rephrased it. On-call means on-call, but should I feel guilty about not going all the time?

[Sideburnious]

Maybe a little bit guilty, but its to be expected that you dont want to go all the time. Id be more worried if you did it often enough as they might start looking for more reliable people to go on-call (thats is if you actually want to keep the job)