Illinois State Common Sense

I just successfully renewed my Permanent Employee Registration Card (PERC) with the state of Illinois. I have no disciplinary issues that get in the way.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation requires that anyone with a Permanent Employee Registration Card (PERC) be honest and truthful about their professional practices. One should answer truthfully that one is not delinquent on child support payments or defaulted on state education loans. Does this mean that one's license gets renewed if one truthfully says they are delinquent on child support or defaulted on state education loans. One might think so.

It makes common sense that if someone with a PERC was dishonest and stated on their application that they did not default on a state school loan or were not delinquent on their child support payments, they would be disciplined for dishonesty in some other way besides refusing to renew their PERC so they could go back to work earning the money necessary to continue paying off their school loan or catching up on delinquent child support payments, right?

Apparently not. Not only does the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation refuse renewal on PERCs for being dishonest, but the department refuses applicants the cards necessary to actually earn the money to make right that which was wrong, and on top of that, the refusal of PERCs cuts revenue to the state of Illinois by $45 per applicant. This compounds the economic loss in terms of tax revenues generated down the line.

While I was at the website I browsed around at some of the articles and found an interesting report on recent disciplinary actions against card carrying members.

http://www.idfpr.com/Forms/DISCPLN/1202_dis.pdf

Is it not ironic

At a hospital I'm a security officer charged with ensuring the safety and security of patients, employees, visitors and their property; but I earn only minimum wage, have no health insurance coverage and can barely afford to pay for treating only the symptoms of my ailments out-of-pocket.

Isn't it ironic that someone in my position is charged with the safety of health-care professionals?

Direct hostile communication in the workplace.

I work at a hospital as a security officer. I work for an outside company contracted by the hospital and I am not directly under the authority of the hospital's hierarchy.

A maintenance employee who is directly under the authority of the hospital's hierarchy is apparently under the misguided impression that the security officers are parking lot attendants. On one occasion the maintenance employee complained to a security officer about other employees who parked in the Emergency Department patient parking lot. On August 5, 2011 at 6:15 A.M. the maintenance person directly confronted a security officer who was parked in a space designated for a Senior, close to the entrance to the Emergency Department. The security officer is a Senior, and as a security officer is required to be close to his vehicle for emergency purposes.

The correct action when one sees another employee or contractor violating rules is to write a detailed report of the incident and submit it to your supervisor or the administration safety officer. It is for management to decide the course of action that follows the report.

The purpose for this procedure is to avoid creating a hostile work environment. This procedure is part of regular training for employees at this hospital. The maintenance employee receives this training, indicated by his continued employment at the hospital, therefore, the actions of the maintenance employee are symptomatic of more important personal issues that create frustration that must be vented opportunistically.

Opportunistic aggravation, delusional vindication and self-fulfilled validation: Creating the reason for the way you feel after the feeling.

When someone seeks to create an outlet for frustration, or seeks to create a situation where one feels vindication or validation for the way one feels, by attempting to aggravate another person into action, this person has unresolved feelings of anger or frustration. This emotional state is a chemical imbalance in the brain that is incorrectly attributed to outside causes.

That is why the terms "glass is half-full" and "glass is half-empty" is commonly accepted for describing certain types of personality. Some people remain either optimistic or pessimistic in different situations precisely because their brain chemistry hasn't changed with outside events.

The chemical imbalance is mostly genetic, but frequently the result of consuming substances like alcohol or other drugs.

An employee who receives regular annual training on the subject of workplace cooperation and communication, yet cannot constrain behavior to within the recommended parameters, will eventually become a safety risk to fellow employees and must seek treatment or be removed from the environment.