I'm a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) in a skilled nursing facility. I have done it before, but it was decades ago, and a lot of things have changed since then, so I feel kind of like a fish out of water sometimes. After my accident, I thought I could never do the work again, but I've recovered enough that it's challenging sometimes, but I can. My job started last July. I work overnight shift, since evening shift didn't work out very well for me.

A couple of nights ago I did a hybrid, meaning that some of my assigned residents were long term care, and some were transitional care. I had to report to nurses at both stations. But since starting overnight shifts, I've been so far doing transitional only. I didn't know the staff on the long term wing. I had concerns about a couple of long term residents, so I needed to talk to the long term nurse. I didn't know who that was, and at that moment, nobody happened to be in the particular places where a nurse would be sitting or standing.

So I asked.

"I'm the nurse," one woman answered, so I started telling her my concerns. She even told me to move closer to her, and repeat myself. After I said everything, and she started telling me what to do about it, another co-worker pointed to a nearby man and bailed me out. "He's the nurse. She's just f--ing with you." And, that turned out to be the case. Fortunately, the actual nurse had heard everything, so I didn't have to go through it all again. (Wonder why he didn't speak up when I started reporting to her instead of him?)

Maybe it's harmless; maybe it's bullying. I legitimately can't spot the difference, and PTSD is the reason.

There is a little more to it. Overnight shift ends with getting some residents out of bed. I'm inexperienced with transfers, and that same "not-really-the-nurse" coworker had volunteered that she would help if I'd get those residents started. I did. I had them changed and partially dressed, but not completely. Both are rather large ladies (just a statement of fact, not implying anything bad about them), and both have their mobility and cognitive issues. One of them, by medical orders, requires two people to transfer her. After gettting them part of the way dressed, I left to get help to continue. But of course I'm not going to walk away from them with their beds still flat and high in the air, so I lowered their beds and raised their heads. When "not-really-the-nurse" walked in, she immediately started to lecture me. "You can't get them dressed with their beds this way. You have to raise their beds, or you'll kill your back." As she spoke, she was raising one of the beds while looking at me like I don't know a dog from a doorknob. She wouldn't shut up long enough for me to tell her I did raise the beds; I just lowered them again before leaving the room, because how negligent would it have been otherwise?

I ask because I honestly don't know. Am I being bullied by this co-worker? Or is "just messing with me" a friendly thing?