Exhausted Nurse Tries to Use a Work Key Fob to Get Into Her House
Published July 10 2023, 3:38 p.m. ET
The medical community has been more stressed than blessed since the COVID-19 pandemic, with seemingly no end sight. And, nurses in particular were hit hard. According to a 2023 Survey of Registered Nurses from AMN Healthcare, "94 percent of respondents agree there's a severe or moderate shortage of nurses in their area, with half of nurses saying the shortage is severe.
The lack of nurses directly contributes to the exhaustion of those remaining. For Cortnee, who goes by @Cortneegirl on TikTok, her tiredness manifested itself in a pretty comical way, all things considering. After a long shift, Cortnee found she wasn't able to get into her home because she was attempting to swipe herself in using the key fob from work. Let's scrub in, for more on this story.
When a tired nurse tries to use a key fob to get into her home, she wasn't feeling "fobulous."
"Tell me you need sleep without telling me you need sleep," asks Cortnee over a TikTok video she uploaded from her own Blink Camera. The nurse was arriving home from a grueling day at work. Actually, it might have been a grueling night. The sky has that sunrise and sunset color palate.
As she trudges up the stairs, you can physically see that each step is like wading through quicksand. Picture that traumatizing seen from The Neverending Story when Areyu's horse Artax sinks into the Swamp of Sadness.
Cortnee takes a deep breath and blows it out through pursed lips while opening up the screen door. After two quick knocks, something that's probably standard practice, Cortnee reaches for the key fob attached to the neck of her scrubs. She holds it against the camera taking stock of all that is going on, then tries the door. It's still locked.
Puzzled, Cortnee tries again and again. Before attempting a fourth entry using the key fob, she says, "Oh ... my God," while finally grabbing the house keys. She mutters one more thing, but it's drowned out by the sound of the doorknob finally turning. Success at last!
In Cortnee's defense, she is helping people for a living.
Shocked by how far and wide her TikTok spread, Cortnee posted another video with some more information about that day. We love her new intro. "Welcome to the s--- show," Cortnee says up top, while explaining that the video very nearly didn't see the light of viral social media day.
Ultimately, Cortnee released this gift into the world because it made her laugh and she thought others might feel the same. Cortnee, we couldn't agree more. "I think that laughter is the best medicine, sometimes," explained the nurse. Well, if a healthcare professional says this it must be true.
To the haters and trolls who accused Cortnee of faking it, she has "no reason" to do that and was merely on autopilot. "I'm not somebody that hunts down views or likes, or anything like that," said Cortnee. Heck yeah, we love a takedown of clout chasers!
In an effort to help those naysayers understand how something like using a key fob at your home could happen, Cortnee takes a brief dive into her life. "I work at an assisted living facility, and I've been there for a good chunk of the seven years I've been nursing. The way you get in and out of the rooms is by scanning in." Basically, this is a muscle memory for Cortnee.
Things take a particularly sweet turn as Cortnee reveals that the elderly have a very special place in her heart. She loves her job and the people she works for, and has climbed the empathy ladder to become a Nursing Director. As management, Cortnee took a page from the book of a previous job and threw it away. "I would never allow my staff to be spread so thin that they were exhausted to the point of not being able to drive," she promised. To achieve this, Cortnee works the long hours and does a fabulous job.