I’ve been helping my mom out all week because she has a broken foot. Driving her around, helping with groceries and the house. I am also F and 28. We were at the local hospital ER and the situation was a mess. When we got there, there were zero wheelchairs available in the ER, so my mom had to use her crutches. She was absolutely exhausted and struggling.
The triage nurse herself was the one who sent me to go find a wheelchair. I started to head out, but I was confused about where to go, so I came back to get further clarification. A paramedic standing there told me she didn't think there were any left in the main entrance, but the triage nurse told me, “She doesn’t know what she’s saying. She doesn't work here. I’m the one who works here and knows.”
The paramedic made a bit of a face, but she offered to walk me up anyway since I’d never been to that part of the building, the main entrance (or this hospital in general before). We get to the wheelchair stack and I grab one from the exact same pile the paramedic did. Hers was clean. mine looked a little damp, but I’d been at a different hospital last week where they wipe everything down before putting it back, so I assumed it was just wet from disinfectant.
When I get back to the ER, this triage nurse starts giving me a moral lecture? She starts saying i am "inconsiderate and need to be more considerate of other" and "taking care of old people," and "be better" and acting like my mom (who is only in her 50s!) was some senile patient I was neglecting.
I never raised my voice, and I never swore. I just calmly said, "Please stop scolding me." That apparently made it worse, because then she started scolding me about the fact that I told her to stop scolding me. She kept going on and on about how I, again, "need to do better" and "help the elderly." I had to say, "Please, just stop," several times before she finally quit.
My mom was just super stressed and said I shouldn't have bothered saying anything (which is funny cause my mom can be very much the same, lol) but I truly don’t think I did anything wrong. I was just trying to help my mom in a confusing situation and didn't think I deserved to be lectured like a child. I'm also not a healthcare worker or taking care of the elderly in my day to day interactions, so I dunno felt like I was getting a lecture from a co-worker almost.
AITA for sticking up for myself?