I applied for a position with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital on their vascular access team and was invited to a phone screening that was very nothing out of the ordinary and received an invitation to meet with the manger of the department. I accepted the invitation and was excited to hear more about the position. The interview was at 7am because this was “best for the team” and was conveyed as not really optional, but that was fine, I was able to make it work. The interview started to go downhill when the manager told me he’d first like me to meet with some of the existing team members who were coming off their shift; I was a little put off by this because I was not told I’d be meeting with them first and foremost and didn’t feel like I was able to adequately prepare for the meeting. I agreed to meet with them nonetheless and was shown to the manager’s office and left there until three individuals came to speak with me. I barely got introduced to them before they became clearly uninterested and appeared to have already made up their mind that I wasn’t going to be getting any kind of approval from them. The next thirty minutes consisted of them asking incredibly condescending questions about my background and having my experience being dismissed as inadequate. The three individuals made no attempt to ask me questions relevant to the position but rather took it upon themselves to behave as if they were disgusted with my actual existence (I wish this was hyperbole). I have never seen such condescension and contempt directed at a nurse from another nurse, let alone three, until I interviewed with the VAT. The manager was slightly better, if not still appearing uninterested, but I did not feel like anything I could say to him was going to outweigh the harsh and inappropriate judgement I had received from the nurses on his team. It’s been a dream of mine to be apart of the VAT at CCH and the trio I unfortunately had the displeasure of interviewing with absolutely crushed that dream because they determined my work history as a nurse was not good enough compared to the pedestal they judged me from. I am proud of the work I’ve done and honestly feel like I dodged a very toxic work environment.