EP 55: Natalie Rae | It drives me absolutely nuts
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Oh! The question is getting a bit far. What do you do when you work with lots of backstabbing bitches?

I was in the ER the other day. This is a quick story. And a nice new nurse, she looked like a travel nurse only because she didn't have like the same badge on that we had, walks up to the nurse's station and she says, can you show me where the fridge is so I can put my lunch in it? And the nurse sitting there was like in the break room. She's like, well, where's the break room? She's like, where the break room is? Like, don't be a bitch. Answer her question. She's coming up to you because she doesn't know where it is. That's why she's asking you. I stood up so fast from the nurse's station and I was like, come with me. It's back this way.

I looked at this other nurse. I said it so quickly. And I was like, Natalie, bite your tongue. I said it too fast. I looked at her. I said, are you always a bitch? Hey, Bessie. It's your favorite caffeinated, medicated, and never hydrated nurse, Nurse John. And welcome back to your favorite podcast,

I beg your pardon. Bessie, I miss you so much. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy to be back for another episode of your favorite podcast. If you're listening right now, do me a quick favor. Make sure that you follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Leave us a five-star review. Share this episode to your friends, colleagues, family, anyone so that they can listen to the podcast.

Everyone can listen to this podcast, not only those people in healthcare, but anyone who relates to it. Also, if you're wondering what kind of scrubs I wear, it's Gardmalade, G-A-R-D-E-M-A-L-A-D-E. And if you want to use my discount code, it's NurseJohnGM, N-U-R-S-E-J-O-H-N-G-M. All right, besties, before we head into our guests for our Healthcare Creators Series...

I just want to check in with you. I just want to know how you are doing. How's life going? How's everything? And remember, if things are not going the way you perceive it or want it to be, remember that there's always another day to do it. As long as you don't give up on yourself, as long as you have the passion, the love for yourself. And again, you are the most important patient.

you could ever have and taken care of. All right, Bessie, I think it's time for us to introduce our guests.

She is driving me nuts every single time that she posts a video because she's just so funny. First of all, to be funny and to be beautiful and to be a nurse altogether, she's the trifecta of the perfect social media, healthcare, content creator. Ladies and gentlemen, welcoming Natalie Ray. Hi.

I am so excited to be here. Nurse John, I flew across the country for this. You did. Listen. Across the country. Right.

I am so thankful that you come in here to the podcast. Oh my gosh. To be a guest. I was like, oh my God, I'm meeting these amazing people and they're coming here to be with me, to talk to me, to yap for hours. I was like, I love this. Oh, I'm so excited. I can yap. If there's one person who can yap, I can yap. And this is the time. Listen, girl, that's, I was like, first of all, the first time I saw your videos, I was just like repeating that video. It drives me nuts.

When people say I only work three days as a nurse. Only work three days a week. I was like, baby, have you been on one shift as a nurse? Oh, my God. One shift, half a shift, the first two hours of the shift. And you know what's crazy in the comments? You can tell who works in health care and who doesn't work in health care. It's crazy. I don't even read them anymore. That's right. It drives me nuts. I started that and then it stuck and it stuck and it stuck. And now that's all I do.

It drives me nuts. And people remember you for that. They do. It's like my, I beg your pardon, like people just remember me for that. They do. And I think that's the most important thing in social media is you need something that people can remember you from. Oh, yeah.

Because they're like, you know what? That's Natalie to me. Yeah. And people, it's so funny. They come up to me at work and they're like, it drives me nuts. I'm like, oh, it's so awkward when people say it to me. But it drives me nuts. Right? It does. It'll be funny if one of your patients is just like, listen, you nurse, it drives me nuts.

Honestly, I would go with it. I would go off and be like, it does drive me nuts. Period. Period. Period. Well, again, thank you so much for coming in here. Of course. Thank you. All the way from New Jersey. Yes. All the way. Wow. Thank you for having me. Of course. I was so excited.

So excited. I was sitting outside with my sister. I'm the youngest of four. I have a bunch of siblings with one of my sisters. And I said, Nurse John, just message me on TikTok. She's like, it's probably a fake account. I'm like, all right. So I clicked on it and I was like, no, it's Nurse John. He asked me to be on the podcast. Yes. And you said if you're ever in L.A., I'm like, well, first of all, I'll never be in L.A., but this is a good reason.

to go to LL you're so sweet I was super happy when you said yes I was like listen I feel like the healthcare community have to know you I mean they already know who you are but the rest that haven't heard about you has to hear about you and I'm ready

I'm ready to meet them. Because you're so funny. All right, since we're already here, I think one thing that people want to know is who you are outside of nursing. Well, I'm Natalie Ray. I go by Natalie Ray. Ray is actually my middle name, but I go by Ray. I'm from New Jersey, all the way on the other side. Oh, my God. You're from Jersey? Not from Montreal. Oh, my God. We're like four or five hours away. Do I sound like I'm from Jersey? No. You know what? You sound like you're from L.A.,

No.

But I've been telling you before this, I was like, I feel like you belong here. Yeah, you were saying that. But you know what? It reminds me so much of New York. And I live like an hour from New York. LA and New York are so similar. They're very different, but they're very similar. For sure, for sure, for sure. And the mannerism here, I'm still trying to figure out. I'm like, hold on. Are they as rude as we are in Jersey? Or should I be nice? Should I smile? And then we're walking on Rodeo Drive and people are not smiling. I'm like, oh, I'm too happy. Let me just...

Let me just like, no. But people are super nice here too. Like they ask you how you're doing, all of those stuff compared to like back in the East Coast. Like, cause I go to New York a lot of times in Jersey, but sometimes they get rude as fuck. Oh yeah. I know. I'm like, go to Jersey and you'll see how rude they can be. I was just, I was just asking for direction. You're like, you. Yeah.

Yeah, it'll curse you off. It drives me nuts. Yeah, that drives me nuts. You'll look at them for three seconds and they'll give you the finger. Oh, that's too freaking funny. So you're from Jersey. I am. Were you born there? I was. I was born in Jersey. We moved once. I used to live in like northern Jersey. Now I live in central Jersey. I know that that's some beef in Jersey. There's no such thing as central Jersey, but there is.

There is a central I'm all the way by the beach By the shore So Oh my god So you're always Love You're always in the beach You know what honestly I don't really go to the beach Believe it or not I could ride my bike to the beach Okay I really don't go Because in Jersey You have to pay to get on the beaches Are you serious? And they're expensive The beach by my house I think the day pass now Is $14 To get 14? That's a little ridiculous To swim on the beach? To swim To walk on the sand

$14. I do not. I feel like that's kind of expensive. First of all, why do I have to pay to be in the beach? And don't our taxes in Jersey cover that? I don't know. I think it's a little crazy. That needs to be spoken about. That is too crazy. So you're from central Jersey by the beach. Oh, that's amazing. It is. It's nice. So I live with my parents still at home. The average home in Jersey is about a million for a bungalow with no AC, no windows and the broken floor.

Oh, my God. I live with my parents. Listen, you have to do what you got to do because it's insane right now. Like nobody can afford a house no more. Oh, my God. It's so, so expensive. Even here in California, it's the same thing. So expensive. Zero. But I still live at home. So I'm the youngest of four. I have two sisters and a brother. And we're all two years apart. So everyone, it ranges from 31 and I'm 25. So in between.

Did your parents plan that? You know what? It was planned. Planned. They were busy. They were busy. And then they were going to have another one after me. But then I came along and they're like, oh, that's enough. You know what? She is the last one. She is the last one. And you came from what culture? What kind of family? Big Italian family. Everyone is so rich.

Everyone eats. Everything's about the food. And I love that. That's the same thing in my culture. Like us being all together as a family, no matter how far that family is. And food is the center of the freaking table. Food, always. Everybody brings their own share from different families. And if there's no food, everyone's hangry. And then when everyone's hangry...

I know, right? Oh my God. I get hangry myself too. I get so hangry and then I turn into a beast my family knows. I'm so mean when I'm hangry. I know. They're just going to put food in your mouth and just like, oh, okay, she's good. Yeah, they're like, shut up, just feed her. I work with a ton of Filipino nurses and they bring in their Philippine food. Is that what it's called? Philippine? Is it Filipino food or Philippine? Filipino food. Yeah, Filipino food. Oh my God, it's so good. So the one night, when I was on night shift, they brought in the ube.

Oh my God, ube is so good. It was like ube pancakes. Yes. There's a lot of Filipino in New Jersey. There's so many. There's so many. So many, but they're so nice. I've never met me in Filipino. I'll tell you that. I feel like Italians, Filipino, I just noticed this from my best friend's family is that we're very family oriented. We're work oriented. We work hard because a lot of our families are immigrants to this country.

Yes. Country. And like, I think also in our culture, it's very instilled to us that you work hard if you want a good life. Yes. So then. I can see that then. That makes sense. We put all that we could to work and to treat others right because it's how we were taught growing up.

Yeah, I love those are my favorite nurses to work with is the Filipino nurses. They're so nice. I love them. I love them so much. So you grew up and was born in Jersey. And you were the last of the four kids youngest of four. Oh my god. And is any of your siblings in healthcare? Yes, my sister. So you're not. You're kidding me. Yes, she's a new grad nurse in the ER.

She's thriving. She was actually supposed to come with me on this trip. But she's new and she's working. I was so upset that she wasn't coming because she loves you. Sister, if you're working right now, we love you. You got this. Take some deep breaths. A lot of coffee. A lot of Red Bull. You got this. No, she's got it. She's so smart. So she was a tech like PCT for years, six years, I think.

Wow. She's going to quote me if I'm wrong. But six years. So she was like accustomed to health care. But she's a new nurse in the ER. But she's doing great. I'm so proud of her. I know. That's super nice. It's so nice. So she actually, we went to nursing school at the same time. Okay. We're the only two health care personnel in the family. Really? Yeah. Everyone else is business.

Oh, that's interesting. So my next question is, where did the healthcare stem from? You know what? It sounds a little silly, but there was a program when I was in high school. It was called vocational school. So it was half a day nursing school, basically, and then half a day regular high school. You can only do it junior and senior year of high school. It's really interesting, but they never promoted it. But then my sister, she's a year older than I am. She's 26.

She was like, I heard about this nursing program. My friends are going. I'm going to give it a shot. She went through it first junior year. And then she was like, you know what, Natalie, you should try it. You might like it. So it sounds a little silly, but I tried nursing based off of recommendation. I went to that vocational school. Right. Fell in love. They taught you basic things, you know, medical terminology. We went to nursing homes. So I got to experience nursing homes, assisted livings. Wow. Which was like...

It's a whole lot of like... No, that's like so different than a hospital. That's a whole lot of other universe. So different. So then she went, I went, and then I basically stuck with it. So the way that that worked is that if you went to that vocational school, the nearby community college saved you a seat in the nursing program. What? Yeah, you got to skip the waiting list. Oh my God. So I started nursing school when I was...

18, 19. I was so young. 19 maybe? Yeah. I don't remember. Probably like 19 and I graduated nursing school and became a nurse at 21. So I was so young. Look at you, girl. It was exciting, but it was a lot to take in at a young age. And that's so interesting too. It's also for the people who's listening right now is that

You don't gotta have a history in nursing or have someone in your life who is doing something around like healthcare for you to take on nursing. It could be just something that's so like random in your life and you're like, you know what?

I actually like taking care of other people or strangers. But I think also it might be coming from how your family environment is. You might have come from a very caring, loving, empathetic family and you always have that in you. And then you kind of, as you grew up,

When you went to that vocational thing, you're like, oh my God, I actually like making other people feel good. Well, that's why I went into nursing. I love the feeling, inside feeling, personal feeling that I get when I take care of other people. It's more of the satisfaction. Even if they're 99 years old, 101 years old, you might be the last person to take care of them. Like what an honor that is. It really is. Right? I love it too. I think it's also, it gives me a sense of like,

Being part of like their memory, like for them to remember that. Oh my God, that one nurse that I've had, they probably could not remember my name or whatnot, but they remembered the good things I've done to them. And how you made them feel. That's it. That's the saying. Oh my God, there was a saying like... They might not remember your name, but they'll remember how you made them feel.

Period. Okay, Florence Nightingale. I'm the modern day Florence Nightingale saying that. Period. You are the bougie. You are the demure cutesy Florence Nightingale. Here she is.

I love that so much. So that's super nice. And for anyone who's listening, if you are thinking about going to healthcare and you're like, oh, but no one is in healthcare and no one's like motivating me to go to nursing, just do it. Sometimes you just never know. And then so when you went to nursing school, how were you as a student?

I was quiet as a student. I mean, I'm quiet as a nurse, too. It's funny because if you watch my social media, it's like, shut the heck up. You know, she doesn't. But listen, I understand that, though, because I talk a lot, too, when I'm by myself. Yes. And then when I'm with a group like in school. Like, shut up. Yeah. Like she needs to just stop talking. But when I was in school, I was very quiet. I went to class, went to lecture, went to lab, clinical, did my thing, left.

I was very quiet, kept to myself, passed nursing school. And I was like, okay, that's it. She's a nurse. She's a nurse. She's a nurse. But even as a nurse, I mean, I'm quiet. As a student, though, I like studying alone. I feel like when I studied in a group, everyone was just talking.

And I'm like, there's too much talking, not enough studying. I love that we're so different because I'm more of like, I need to be in a group of people. But of course, my group of people always have to be the right people. It also depends, right? For me, I made sure that the group that I was with in nursing school are all motivated to study and to make it to the end. Because I know what you mean. Sometimes you go in a group and everyone's just talking. I was like, okay, guys, we just talked. I don't know what he's studying.

We just gossiped the whole time. Like, we did not even study. Yeah. But I could never study by myself. By yourself. For some reason, my ADHD would just kick in and I'm... You'd be panicking. I'll be scrolling on my phone all the time. Yeah. I can't. No, I was a solo studier. I was actually talking about this last night with Vinny. Vinny's my boyfriend, for people who don't know. Yes. Oh, my God, you guys. Give them a little introduction of Vinny. Okay, a little introduction of Vinny. So, Vinny and I have been together almost three years now. Beautiful. Lovely. Lovely.

But he's all over my social media now, too. At first, he never was. But then I ended up, you know, he's on it now, too. He's here for the ride. And I just want to let you guys know that I met Vinny for less than 24 hours. And I can tell you right now that this man right here is the biggest walking green flag. He is. He is just the sweetest, most supportive guy.

most respectful man ever we love him we love vinny we love vinny we love vinny and we're a vinny stan hashtag vinny stan vinny vinny all the way i love that man no he's great he treats me very well we can see it like we were leaving on the special project that we are working on yesterday so excited and we're like man we love vinny we want to hang out with vinny outside of everything

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We're like, first of all, he got good cars. Really good cars. I was like, he knows what his car is at. He styles good. I was like, we need to hang out with this man. He knows his cars. He owns his own business. It's a auto... I want to say the right word so he doesn't back... He's probably watching right now in the green room. I know, we kicked him out of here. Vinny, please. Vinny, give me a break. But it's an auto customization shop.

It's car detailing, but they customize cars. They wrap cars. It's based in New Jersey. It's called Onyx Detailing. Onyx Detailing. You guys, if you want to hit up and see Vinny. Vinny looks exactly how you would think an Italian man looks like. He looks like a meatball. Just fresh out the sauce. That's too funny.

He's the cutest. He's so cute. He's the cutest meatball ever. No, cutest little Italian meatball. So what I was saying is that we were talking about that last night. And I was like, sometimes I feel the same. Because we were just talking about how in nursing school, we were two opposite, right? You like to study with a group. I like to study solo. And every student's different. For sure, for sure. So in life in general, outside of being a nurse, I feel like I'm so solo. I like to do...

most things by myself. I hang out with my siblings more than anyone, hang out with Vinny more than anyone. I'm always friendly in groups, introduce myself, walk around. And then I'm like, okay, I'm leaving. You were always been like a solo, solo writer. Always. I mean, even through like high school, I'd rather just do a lot of things by myself. I'm the youngest of four. And I feel like a lot of it comes from there because when you're the youngest, you're

You're very independent. Very. Very independent. You know how they say they put so much love and work on the first kid? The second, they're like, a little love. The third, like, fuck. And the fourth is like... Whatever it is. Fuck no. She's got it. What the fuck? Yeah, no, but you're absolutely right. Like, even if my sister, we were laughing before I left, my oldest sister. She was like, if I was 25 and told mom and dad I'm going to LA, they'd be like, no.

No, you're not. But my mom, they were so excited. They were like, nurse, my mom's like, perfect. Go bring Vinny with you. And I'm like, great. So funny. So I've always been like very independent. Float nurse. Perfect for me. I get to go there, work, do my thing. 12 hours. Clock out, leave. And I love that. I love it. And I think it's a good thing too for the listeners to understand that if you go into nursing, you can match your own freak. Oh,

Oh, yeah. You can match your own freak 100%. Period. Like for me. Find your freak and match it. Thank you. Like for me, I'm chaotic. Like my head is everywhere. So I belong in med search or ER. Oh, 100%. Because like I will be, I can do 25 different things and not finish them. And that's totally fine in med search and ER. Perfect. You know. Perfect.

And there's people who are like, listen, I'm going to sit down, listen to my classical music and then write everything in like different colors.

Who the heck has time for that? ICU. I know, ICU, two patients. Clock them T. Me and my six patients in med search. I'm throwing the papers. I'm like, I don't have time for any of this. I don't know anyone's name. Exactly. And I like that because a float pool, like you said, it matches who you are as a person. It does because I love change. Believe it or not, I was always scared of change. And that's always the first question I get as a float pool nurse. How do you deal with float pool? Why would you ever want to do that? You're changing. Every time I go to work 30 minutes before the shift,

I get an update on our scheduling app where I'm going. So you have to be able to adjust. You don't get to pick where you're going. You have to be able to adjust. So I feel like if you love change, Flowpool is the way to go. So for me, I...

I don't think I could ever do float pool. Okay. Because with my ADHD, which is undiagnosed, I diagnosed my own self. Yeah, that's perfect. I feel like I am unable to just go into a random unit and get used to like for the 12 hours. Because for me, like I need like reassurance that I know what's going on in like a certain floor. Yeah. So if you put me randomly on a psych unit, I was like, damn girl, like tell me where the exits are. Yeah.

Tell me where the nearest call bell, emergency button. Because I'm going to die here. I'll be next to the patient. You'll see me getting choked and I would be dead. So the best part of the float pool, at least where I work, they give you, I know it sounds crazy, but they give you one shift of orientation per floor.

So I trained for like two months because I'm part-time. It took forever to train. For sure. Because I'm barely there. But you get one shift of orientation per floor. So you get to see the floor. A lot of the floors are very similar. So I'm in the MedSurge Teleflow pool. So everywhere you go, it's MedSurge. But we do also go to Psych. Now, believe it or not, I love Psych.

I love psych. Oh my God. I love, like if you kept sending me there, I would love it. I love psych. First of all, I see my own people. I know. I feel like I fit in when I was there. I was like, hold on. Wait a second. Why are you medicated? I'm not. No, I know. I'm like, should I try this medication?

medication. No, it's perfect though. Yeah, for sure. The patients are so, they're just like you and I. They're human. I mean, I make a lot of videos on this because now since I've been working in psych, you get more of like an outlook on psych patients. Oh, for sure. Because I feel like that's such a fear in nursing. It's so taboo. It really is. Everyone's like, psych is scary. Those patients are scary. They're dangerous.

Sometimes they could be dangerous. For sure. But not all the time. Sometimes they're just sad. Exactly. I'm also sad. Let's sit down and talk. Let's talk together. They're human beings. And I think what I understand from psych when I did my rotation in there and when I used to work in psych is that a lot of these people did not want to end up like this. Not at all. It's more of like...

it's where they grew up in and who they grew up with that caused them to end up like this. It's their support system. Right. It is. Correct. It is. So float pool for me is the way to go. You love it. I'm loving it. You love it. And how long have you been doing float pool? About a year now. About a year now? A year. So I'll give you my whole rundown of my nursing. Period. Career. Let's go through it. So I started nursing 2020. 2020 was the time of COVID. So I

So I was, yeah, it was a little crazy time to graduate. That's crazy.

But I was a PCT, a tech for two years, almost three years. Okay. On a MedSearch tally floor. Wow. And then I was like, you know what? Why don't I just stay here as a nurse? And I always recommend it. If you're a tech on a floor and you like the floor, stay there as a nurse. Because then all you have to do is upgrade to nursing. Learn now your nursing skills, but you already know the supply closet. You know the, you know. Everything. Wave of the floor. Just stay there. So I did that. I stayed on that floor. And then we got the email. This floor is now going to be the designated COVID floor. I'm like, oh.

Oh, Lord. So that's when COVID was first a thing. And when they had a designated COVID floor, I mean, now they put COVID everywhere.

everywhere oh yeah for sure everywhere so it was the covid floor i remember we took care of the first covid patient in that entire hospital crazy that is crazy to me and he was my patient so long story short i was a covid nurse for a full year i i mean i was a nurse at 21 like i said a new grad body bagged over 40 patients in my first year girl

That's a lot of trauma. That's a lot of trauma to me. It really is. We were those nurses who were calling the family members on iPads to say their last goodbye. Like how traumatizing is that for us? That's literally crazy. Watching a family member and they were gathered in their living room say goodbye to the patient over FaceTime. Crazy. And then usually what I would do, because that's just the type of person that I am, knowing that I went into this field because I like taking care of others. I mean, I would sit there with them until they took their last breath.

I would. That is very sweet. And people don't really understand the amount of trauma we go through in nursing. And it doesn't leave you. I feel like you just tuck it in your pocket. Right. But like when you want to talk about it, let's talk about it. I'll pull the trauma card. Yeah, pull it out and you'll start. I could read you a novel.

Right. So I was a COVID nurse the first year. And then it started to kind of drizzle out from there. And they started putting the COVID patients elsewhere. That floor kind of transitioned back into cardiac med surge. But it was still kind of COVID and I was burnt. The first year being a nurse, burnt. Like if you...

Ever experienced nurse burnout Or what burnout is Oh baby I was at stage 4 Like severe I was burnt In my first year I'm like How the hell are people In this career for 40 years I'm like I'm year 1 And I'm Like you could see the smoke Coming from my head

Oh my god. And I completely, completely understand you and I believe you 150% is that older generation nurses and other nurses who has like maybe a decade of like experience in their back and they're questioning like, oh, why are these new nurses like burnt out after a year? You guys don't have the same like bones and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah like us. You guys don't understand everything.

how the environment in the nursing profession and in healthcare have changed drastically to the point that it's not sustainable for a lot of us. And it's not that we don't have the same coping mechanism like you guys do. It's the fact that... These are not the same patients that Florence Nightingale was taking care of. No. And the thing is, there's so many things that the older generation nurses...

have normalized that is not normal. It's not normal. It's not. But now you have us Gen Z coming in and we are the ones to speak. They don't always like to hear it. I'll be the first one to say it. We're that generation of nursing that's coming in like fangs out, paws out,

What are they called? Right. And I like that. That's what I like about your generation. I mean, I'm millennial, but I feel like I'm Gen Z too because I speak Gen Z. You're Gen Z. You know what I mean? But I like our generation because the thing is we're not scared of setting our boundaries. We stand up for what's right and we speak for what we think is right.

Right. The older generation of nurses, especially, they don't want to hear it. No. But we do. We want to make change in health care and we want to see that change in health care. That's it. You know, but the root of that is that we want safer staffing. We want safer ratios. And the safety of the patient is the top priority. These patients deserve the best care. And if you're going to give one nurse eight patients, I'm so sorry. Some of those patients are never going to be seen. It's too much.

It's the truth. It's too much. And I know it's different everywhere where people work. The ratios are different. Of course. Depending on the state that you live in, all the different policies or whatever. Some nurses get what? Like in nursing homes, they get like 20 patients. I mean, that's crazy. Also, what this new nurses have to realize is that if management ever told you like, you know what? We love how you work. You're such a hard worker. They're gaslighting you.

Yes, you are. Yes, you are a hardworking nurse. Yes, you are smart. Yes, you are this.

But if they start telling you those stuff and then they're like, we think you'll be able to be in charge next month. That's gaslighting, bitch. That's not something that you should be proud of. You should not. I was at work the other day and the charge nurse came up to me, sweetie patootie. She was nice. She was like, I've been a nurse for three months. I'm like, you're in charge? But I'm a float nurse. I can't be in charge. So I was the most senior on that floor. I've been a nurse for three years.

And in my head, I'm like, you, she was probably very excited to be charged. I don't want to be charged. I've been charged before. Fuck charge. I don't want the extra one dollar. For an extra dollar? One dollar that's taxed anyway. In Jersey, you'll see five cents of that. You take it. I don't want that responsibility. Baby, take the one dollar. Take the one dollar. I don't want it. And I was like, you shouldn't, this is not something to be proud of. Because to your point, she was gasped.

lighted the entire way to be charged three months as a nurse. That is crazy work. No, it's crazy. But you know what? It's not even safe. Like I felt bad for her. I feel like she didn't really know what was going on. But it wasn't her fault. You know what you know. It's not her fault. But the thing is, I think again, like as a new grad, a lot of us struggle with like, oh, I have to prove myself. Oh, I have to make sure that my team loves me. But you got to remember, it's not about your team. It's about yourself. Thank you. And the patient. It's about the

patient. Thank you. It is. At work, and I've come to realize, I hate to be the one to say it, but we are just a number. They need a body on the floor. Baby, you're just a breathing machine. No, they just need somebody with a pulse.

Thank you. It really is. And especially I came to terms with that. Thank you. As a float nurse. Perfect example. We need a body. We need a nurse. Grab Natalie. Because it's a float nurse. You just need a body. You really do. Right. Like they don't even care what you know or what you don't know. As long as you're able to walk, they will take you. Oh, put a pair of scrubs on. I tell Vinny all the time, if he's free, put a pair of scrubs on. They'll probably take him. They just need somebody there. Yeah.

It's fine. The thing is, he's probably going to spend too much time because he's too sweet in one patient's room.

He'll sit with them. He'll talk with them. I was like, oh, Vinny. Oh, Vinny. It's too funny. So that was a little bit of my background. So I was a COVID nurse for a year, cardiac med surge. I got burnt out. I honestly felt like I wanted to quit nursing. That's something that I came to terms with very early. I'm like, there is no way that this is nursing. Like, this is crazy. So I ended up switching to ortho, which is where my sister worked as a tech. So I was an orthopedic nurse for a year as well.

I loved ortho. My back was killing me as an ortho nurse because you're lifting these patients. I mean, look at the size of me. Some of these patients are 300 pounds. And they're like, can you boost me in the bed? And people don't understand that 300 pounds is not just about the shape of it. Sometimes there are men who are 650.

And they're muscular. And they're muscular. And you have no idea when one of their legs are not working, you have to be the freaking like... You are the leg. You are the leg. You are the leg. And I've had... I mean, I have so many stories, but I've had multiple patients. They just... They're fresh out of knee surgery, knee replacement, hip replacement. And they want to go to the bathroom and they're determined on walking. Oh, baby. You want to get them up. For sure. Because you want them to walk.

But I'm like, all right, bear with me, Betty Sue. Like, we got to make it to the bathroom. And then they buckle their legs. And then you're the fourth leg that they don't even have. I'm like, this is crazy. So my back was killing me with ortho. So I was an ortho nurse for a year. And then I ended up going to a surgery center, actually with Vinny's mom. She's the director of nursing. She's a nurse, too. He can't get away from nurses. That's like Vinny's feet. He's a sweetheart. He was raised by a nurse. It says a lot. When you're raised by a nurse, you end up like Vinny.

Oh, my gosh. So I went with his mom to the surgery center. It was very far from my house, though. The commute was about an hour, a little bit longer. So I tried it. I was so set on it. I'm like, you know what? This is my out of the hospital. Like, let's try outpatient. For sure, for sure. And then I ended up...

I couldn't last with the commute. It was the hardest thing for me. The commute, like after a long shift, please just put me in a parking lot. Let me sleep in there. I'll wake up for my next shift. Oh my God. Exactly. So I couldn't last with the commute. I tried to go back to that first hospital where I was cardiac med surge, ortho, but I couldn't get back in because everyone wanted to work on that ortho floor. It looks like a hotel, that floor.

Oh, period. Like, listen, if they have a bathroom more than one that is not destroyed by every single nurses, put me in there. More than one? I think they had about six on that floor. No, it's huge. I'll go to Jersey. Yep. I'll work on that orthopedic.

Go to that floor. If you can get hired, perfect. So I had so much regret leaving because I'm like, damn, I lost that position. They had great staffing, great weekends. Like it was great. So I went to a different facility where I went back to ortho. Same thing. It was the same concept. And then I switched to float. So now I'm a float nurse.

So I've jumped around. I've been a nurse three years. And that's good. We should normalize like, oh, you should be in one floor for like five, 10, 20, baby. Like if you can leave after a year because you're done with it, go for another type. If you hate your job.

go work somewhere else. Right. Don't be the one person to sit there complaining at the nurse's station or wherever you work, at the cash register, behind the coffee bar, wherever the hell you work. Don't be that one person to sit there. And share that negative. Right. Don't bring the negativity because you know what?

Somebody in that room probably loves their job and the negativity is just hitting them in the face. Like you're really affecting other people because you hate what you're doing. Again, if you hate like a unit that you're working at or like a place where you're working at the environment, just leave. Like there's so many opportunities in nursing. So many inpatient, outpatient, doctor's office. And now like, what is it? The...

Plastic surgery is so popular now. I know, right? Everyone's doing that. Oh, my God. There's so many ecstatic nurses in here. So many. Oh, and LA, I'm sure. They're doing IV hydration, but they... But isn't that crazy? I know, right? Like, I need to do that. But the issue with that in Jersey is that they don't pay the same amount as the hospital. So it's time to move to LA, girl. I know. I just need to come here and just do IVs and leave. Vinny, we need one of your Lamborghinis. Yes.

He would open a shop here, I'm sure. Oh, my God. He would be popping in here. But you know what? I don't think I would ever live here, believe it or not. I'll come back. For sure. I'll come back 100%. It's hard. It's hard to live in LA. It is. LA is not for everyone. I'm also here just because I want to experience it and also because I want to be able to work per diem here. The per diem dream. I want to be a per diem.

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Per diem, princess. That's the ultimate goal for me. So when Vinny's ready to hire me as the unit clerk there at his shop, I'm living the per diem dream. Oh my God. And we're close to it. I'm already part-time, Vinny. We need to just switch to per diem. Come on, Vinny. We got to work a bit. The per diem princess. We got to work a bit harder, Vinny. Yeah, and I'll just shimmy in the shop, make a couple TikToks, and then we'll be good. Period. That's it. Period. And since you're talking about TikTok now, actually, it's like, how did this...

Whole social media just like pop off. I started it as a joke during COVID. I heard about TikTok. I'm like, what is this silly little app? Like, why are we dancing around on an app? You see all the big stars on there. Well, now there's stars, but like you see Charlie D'Amelio and Addison Rae and all those people that like popped off on TikTok. I'm like, you know what? Let me get the app. Let's try it out. And at first I always just made videos with sounds because I,

Isn't it so crazy hearing your own voice? Oh, for sure. Hate it. Oh my God, I hate my own voice. I sound annoying. Like I literally sound like a pigeon. Like I can't, I can't make videos talking. So I started out making nursing videos and then I turned into making videos about me talking about my day. So that's really where my TikTok took off. And I still have followers to this day who comment like,

Like, I've been here since you've been posting your lunch break videos. So that's where it stemmed from. I used to post videos on my, I have to clarify, unpaid lunch break. Unpaid, right? Unpaid, for sure. Unpaid. I'd open the lunchbox, talk about my day. Nothing violated. Obviously, you can't violate HIPAA or say anything. But what happened is that people pinpointed the wall behind me. Like, what kind of nonsense is that? They're like, oh my God, I've seen that wall before. She works here.

So what happened is that somebody reported me to the facility that I worked at at the time. Jesus. And they actually tried to fire me for my social media. And at that time, I had maybe like 10,000 followers. Right. That's a lot for...

A smaller hospital. They're like, oh my God, this girl's famous. She's got 10,000 followers. She's talking on her social media about being a nurse. So they took me out of work for a week. And I can talk about this. I mean, I've always been able to talk about it. I did nothing wrong. For sure. They took me out of work for a week because I was a disturbance to the workplace.

Okay. Whatever. I don't even talk at work. This hospital. So they took me out of work. I was a disturbance to the workplace. Then they took me back in for a meeting for consideration of rehires. Crazy to even say. So they were like, you know what? You can come back. And then at that point, actually, it worked out because that's when I got that opportunity at the surgery center. I'm like, you know what? This is my way out. Like, I feel this is bad beef at this facility. I'm leaving. For sure. Mind you, I had 10,000 followers at that point.

Like I said, that's a lot to the average person. For sure. But those videos that I made on the lunch break took off. So I went from 10,000 followers to 70,000 in one month. Oh, my God. That's a lot. That's a lot of people. And honestly, it never clicks in my head. Like how many people? That's 60,000 people following you. I'm like, whew.

You know, this is kind of crazy. That's it. I started then making more videos of me talking, talking about being a nurse, talking about that experience of being careful what you're posting on social media, being careful what's in the background. What's on your badge? What are you wearing? Don't show the logo of where you work. Not that I ever did, but just raising awareness. For sure, for sure. And then I hit the 100,000 mark and I'm like, okay, this is fun. Okay, wow. Let's keep it rolling. And then quickly from...

I think that was in January of this year that I hit 100,000. And now I have two, I don't know the exact number, 220,000 followers. That's 120,000 followers in six months. That's a lot. That's a lot.

And you know what? It never clicks in my head. Like I was at MetLife for Morgan Wallen. Love him. I love Morgan Wallen. Last night. Last night. He led the Blaker talk. Oh, perfect. Period. No, love him. I was there at MetLife and I'm looking around and that seats like 80,000 people. I'm like, I sold this out multiple times. Period. Like imagine you. Yes, queen. You're in the millions. Like how does that feel though to know that millions of people are watching you? Overwhelming.

For you, like you're my inspiration. Like I'm working my way. Oh, stop it. Oh my God. Stop it. I'm going to start crying. No, you're my inspiration because you have millions. You don't hit millions overnight. Do you know how much work goes into the social media? Oh, a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot of work. I mean, like it's, again, it's a lot of consistency. It's a lot of like...

Using your creative side of your personality and bringing your authentic self and making sure that people relate to not just a part of your life, but through your whole entirety. Oh, everything. They have to relate to your personality. That's it. Me being a nurse and then my life outside of a nurse. And then you have to be careful what you're saying too. You mean one wrong word and they're like, she's canceled. That's it. The cancel culture is crazy to me.

The cancel culture is crazy. And like us being healthcare workers who have licenses is even crazier to think. Oh, it's crazy. It's because like hospitals and like co-workers and everyone is just out there to get us. And people don't understand. It's like, oh, they just want to get out of healthcare. Who doesn't want to get out? Who doesn't want to get out of healthcare? People don't.

people are so miserable for no reason. So miserable. But I love the comments. Some of them are so funny. I'm like, you don't understand. Like your comments boosting my video. So my, my social media, boy,

With what I just said, so I'm in like the, whatever, 200,000 follower range. But when I hit 100,000, that's when I took on a management team for my account, which made a world of difference. I mean, I get questions a lot about that topic too. Having a management team, once you reach a certain amount of followers, is so nice. Beneficial. It's very beneficial because they answer all the emails. I don't have time for all of that.

And I know that sounds crazy. Why don't you have time if you only work two days? But when you're creating the content and trying to think of the next idea and stuff, like I don't have time for all the emails and stuff. So I have a nice management team. I've actually never met them in person. They live in New York based out of New York. There's a couple of them. It's a management agency. For sure. So they manage my account on my behalf. They get all like the brand deals and stuff. So that's like where my social media is at now, which is so exciting. Okay.

Oh my God. I'm so happy for you. And I'm so happy that things are like taking off the way you, you know, you want it. And again, like you put so much work into it and I think like you deserve every single. Thank you. Love and opportunity that's coming your way. Thank you so much. And I just saw that you have like merch. I do. I do. And you know what Vinny? Oh, he's not in here. Vinny has one for you. I brought one. Stop it. Yes. The black one that I just came out with the, you only work three days. That is.

I'll wear that right now. I will. I have it. I should have brought it in here. But I love the merch line. I do. And I never wanted to do merch. Like if you would have told me a year ago that I was coming out with merch, I'd be like, why are we like, don't like, don't do that. But I just, it was something that I spontaneously did. And somebody that Vinny knows produces t-shirts and stuff. I'm like, all right, let's go through him. And just imagine like people wearing your merch. It's just like, yeah.

No, it's crazy. I'm waiting for the day that I get to see someone in public or at work wearing it because people do. Absolutely. Absolutely. Every time I go to work now, though, somebody's like, are you that nurse from TikTok? How do you feel about that? You know, at first I was like, it's nice. I was like, oh, wow, they recognize me. Now when I hear it sometimes, it's like, yeah, yeah.

Sometimes I say no as a joke. I'm like, no, you must be thinking of someone else. They're like, well, you look like this girl I follow. I'm like, oh, maybe we look alike. And I try to play it out as in, but then they were just staring at me and then they look at my badge and they're like,

No, it's you. I'm like, yeah, it is me. I get super embarrassed when people recognize me. Yeah, me too. The funny thing is they get super nervous when they come up to me and they're like, hey, John, we follow you. And they're shaking. I was like, girl, I should be more embarrassed because I'm the one making crazy shit on the internet. No, no, no. Stop on posting. I'm like, I'm embarrassed. Don't watch. We are heading to the hot seat part of this podcast.

And this hot seat podcast part is when I am going to ask you all the questions. Some of the questions that people raise. And you said you got thousands of questions for me. Yeah, girl. That's kind of scary. I am going to randomly just pick this because a thousand questions. We're going to need a whole week to film. I mean, that would be like hours long. I know. I always tell people to DM me though. But the problem is that I don't look through the DMs. I do sometimes. It's hard. There's a lot. A lot.

Now, this is your question. What was one of the worst experiences as a nurse but taught you a big lesson? Probably my first year as a nurse. The body bagging of the 40 patients, 40 plus patients. Yeah.

I mean, it taught me a lot about life and to not take life for granted because you never know when your last day is. I mean, I body bagged patients as young as 18 and as old as 102. So it taught me just to enjoy life. It really put the concept of life into perspective. For sure. And that you really have to live every day. Stop worrying about the little stuff. We are literally on a floating rock. You need to stop worrying.

Period. Worrying about the little stuff. Because at the end of the day, we all end up in a plastic body bag with a tag around our toe. Thank you. Like, that's my biggest lesson that I've learned so far in my life. And I love that. I love that. I love that for you. Next. Oh! The question is getting a bit far. What do you do when you work with lots of backstabbing bitches? You know what? Believe it or not.

I do still. But when I was brand new, that unit I worked on, I was bullied to the core. Not by everyone. There were a lot of nice nurses there that were always friendly. Some of them I'm still friends with on Facebook. We're still close. Not really close, but acquaintances. But that first year, they were...

backstabbing backstabbing bitches all of them the manager was the worst one oh my god having a manager who like talks about and yaps about other crazy no it was terrible i mean silly stuff they'd all hang out outside of work and the one person that wasn't invited was natalie and then they'd all come in with pictures but like for what because i don't know i feel like i was so quiet at work and like really kept to myself and then my last day there it was also another nurse's last day there i'll never forget i have a video on my phone to show you later and like

They got her all these decorations and this beautiful cake and stuff. And it said like, good luck. And then it said her name on the cake.

But like it was my last day too. But the only name that they put on everything was hers. That's fucked up. No, it was honestly like – That's fucked up. That's bullying in nursing. I was in the ER the other day. This is a quick story. And a nice new nurse, she looked like a travel nurse only because she didn't have like the same badge on that we had, walks up to the nurse's station and she says, can you show me where the fridge is so I can put my lunch in it? And the nurse sitting there was like in the break room. She's like, well, where's the break room? She's like –

where the break room is like don't be a bitch answer her question she's coming up to you because she doesn't know where it is that's why she's asking you I stood up so fast from the nurse's station and I was like come with me it's back this way

I looked at this other nurse. I said it so quickly. And I was like, Natalie, bite your tongue. I said it too fast. I looked at her. I said, are you always a bitch? Because I went to high school with her too. And she was a bitch then. She's still a bitch now. Damn, bitch. No. You clocked her team. No, because I've had enough with the bullying and nursing. Like, you were mean then and you're still mean now. Period. As you should. Thank you for standing up for her. Always. Oh, my gosh. Shit. Where do you see yourself with nursing in five to ten years?

I feel like it's hard to say. I do have my MSN, Master's in Nursing. I teach in the lab at a college. Oh, you're teaching too? Yes. I love teaching. I do. So I don't do clinicals though because those are like set days a week. It just doesn't work with my schedule. It's hard. It's hard. So I teach in the lab, hands-on stuff. I do like using the MSN. So I think at some point I want to be 100% using MSN and not at the bedside.

But it's kind of hard to tell because I want to see where social media gets me. But I still want to be a nurse. For sure. So I need to figure that out. So I don't really have a solid answer for that. I like that. No, no, that's a solid answer that you don't know what's going to be in five to ten years. But you're just working through the present. Oh, my God. Absolutely. I'm just working through the time being now. Thank you. And then the best thing about the MSN is that I have the degree. Nobody could take it from me. Period. So I can use it when I'm ready.

Thank you. And I'm not ready yet. What is something you would have wanted to know at the beginning of nursing school? At the beginning of nursing school? It doesn't matter what your grade is on the test. Just pass the test. Period, ma'am. A pass is a pass. Who cares? Like I said, I got that 70. The pass at grade was a 74. I got the 74. And look how far I am now as a nurse. Who cares what your grade is on the test? Period. Who cares? If you pass with a 75...

That's great. Good for you, girly. You did it. No, you did it. That's the best part. You studied. So I wish I could tell myself that. But I honestly, through nursing school, when I was barely passing, I'm like, at least I'm passing. At least I did my studying. No, I'm doing it. I did my studying. Oh, my gosh. This, how she managed to be so beautiful. Oh, my God. That's...

Okay, I'm going to start blushing in a second. It's getting hot in here. Oh, that's so nice. Thank you to whoever said that. I don't know how I'm just here. You're just living your life. I'm living my life. You're doing what's best for you. You are. You're working on your self-care. I focus on self-care a lot. I feel like that's a very good answer to that question. Self-care. No one...

It's time for you to say no to hanging out with people. Know when it's time for you to say, I want to stay in tonight and do a face mask and have hot tea. I'm like a grandma. And last, what is your best advice for maintaining a good work-life balance as a... Switching to part-time.

Damn. That was a quick answer, but that is the answer. Switching to part-time. World of a difference. I mean, my life has changed so much since I've been part-time. And that's the way to balance the work-life balance. For sure. You still make the same amount as you do full-time. I have to be there less, but like you're saying, if I wanted to pick up a shift, I could. But you're not obligated to. And now I have so much time for my social media, which is a lot of my personal life. I love that. So switch to part-time. Oh my God. That's amazing.

You answered that question like an NCLEX question. I am the NCLEX. You are the NCLEX. Although I would fail the NCLEX if I had to retake it probably. Oh my God. And I think lastly now, what is your message for all the people listening right now who's tuning in, your fans, the people who does not know you yet? What is your message to all of them? You have to love what you do. We talked about this in the beginning. You have to love being a nurse. If you don't love being a nurse, you don't like where you work, go somewhere else.

Stop with the negativity in nursing. We need to bring positivity into nursing. That's the biggest thing. I don't always love being a nurse. I love it for the most part, not all the time. But if you have negative thoughts, keep it to yourself because your words affect so many people. When you think nobody's listening, somebody's listening. Oh, for sure. And for sure. And a little clarification in here for people who's listening right now is because you know how like you said, like,

you don't always love nursing because someone literally would contraindicate it. It's like, okay, well, that's a negative thing if you don't love nursing every day. Somebody was going to say that. For sure. But to clarify to you is that us complaining about the situation that happens in the hospital and all the shitty shit that we have to go through is not us hating our profession. It's not even complaining. It's expressing.

Thank you. I'm explaining to you what shit we go through. Listen to me instead of telling me, why do you complain so much? So that's my top comment. Why is she complaining? She's not complaining. She's explaining. Period. You just said it perfectly. She is explaining. Good. I mean...

Amazing. Oh, my God. Thank you so much for being in the I Beg Your Pardon podcast. And I think people will love this episode so much. I'm so excited for them to see it. And I think you have so much wisdom in you. You're not just pretty. Oh, thank you.

A social media creator. You're not just a nurse. You're also full of wisdom and thoughts and experience in your life. And I think like that's so that's so beautiful. Thank you so much. That means the world. And I've met you before this podcast episode. And I can tell you guys and I can guarantee you she's just the same authentic person that you listen to in social media every single time. He's not lying. Now, where can people follow you?

everywhere on TikTok is my main social media we're working on the Instagram the Instagram is an embarrassment compared to the TikTok hey stop we're working on it work on it we are working on it but everything is under my same username Natalie Ray there's two E's in the Natalie and three in the

ray so it's natalie n-a-t-a-l-i-e-e and then ray r-a-e-e-e it'll come up you'll see me just be like there's that bitch there she is and follow her in all social media and she you also have a merch i do so i have the merch but it's through the link in my bio on all my social media so i'm amazing click it you'll see top thing that comes up merch and our favorite guy our favorite green flag or can they find mr vinny vinny you find him through my social media

You'll see him mostly on the Instagram. On TikTok, he's not tagged usually on there, but on Instagram, he's tagged. So you'll find Vinny on there. Vinny Paxton. Yeah. That's our guy. Vinny Paxton. Amazing. Thank you. We're going to be giving it to him.

You know what? Vinny's going to be really famous after this one. I know. He's going to be on a podcast next and I'll be shooed out to another room next. He's like, okay, well, I'm taking a spot too. Period. Period. I love it so much. Thank you again for coming to the podcast. Thank you. I love you so much. You are so amazing. I love you, Nurse John.

Thank you so much, guys, for listening to this episode of the podcast. And again, if you're listening right now, make sure that you follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Leave us a five-star review. Share this episode of Natalie everywhere, anywhere in your social media with your friends, colleagues, family. And make sure that they listen to it. And again, follow Natalie Ray in TikTok, Instagram, and find the links in her bio for her amazing, beautiful merch, which I'm going to be wearing after we record this.

I love you guys so much. I will see you again next week. And again, stay caffeinated, medicated, and hydrated. I love you so much, besties. We will see you again next week. Bye.