Tough love or what were they thinking ???

wally · #1 12/20/12, 09:53 AM

As most of you know we had a winter storm hit last night and today. Wife decides she must go to work. I tell her dont call me when you get stuck. She comes back in after going to her car and says the drifts have her car stuck in the garage. The 4 foot drifts meant nothing to you as you stepped thru them..Mean while neighbor calls me and says she stuck and could I come get her.. nope I dont get the tractor out till after day light and she can walk back to her house. After daylight start digging out DW car, snow blowing back in faster than I can clear..I think best wait tiill wind lays down. Then I break out the F350 to take the ladies to work, on the way I pass a dozen people who are stuck with their 2 wheel drive cars, 2 are stuck trying to get to their breakfast sandwhich..Yes the F350 could have pulled them out in about 2 seconds and then they could get stuck 1 block down the road...No one got killed today hopefully they realize how stupid they really are.

mnn2501 · #2 12/20/12, 10:25 AM

Some people must get to work or risk losing their jobs. I was in that situation once and I drove to work (when I lived in west central WI) after 40+ inches of snow fell, driving a Pontiac Grand Am. This was the Halloween Blizzard of 1991
I had a shovel with me - and used it twice and I also had 2 - 40 or 50 LB bags of salt in the trunk and used some of that.
I also had: warm clothes, bottled water and some energy bars. (and I was much younger than I am now)

beccachow · #3 12/20/12, 10:31 AM

Yup, my job doesn't allow me to call in for snow days. Ever. If we KNOW something huge is coming we can always report to the fire station and sleep there, but I'd rather stay at home until I need to be there. I have a 4wd that has saved my bacon over and over again while others were stuck in the snow banks. Yet another reason I can't give up my gas guzzling SUV.

Like mnn, I keep a shovel, broom, blanket and cat litter in my vehicle for just in case.

FunnyRiverFarm · #4 12/20/12, 11:10 AM

Especially in the case of healthcare workers--we have to get to work to relieve the previous shift who absolutely cannot leave until someone is there to take over. My aunt, also a nurse, was stuck at work in a hospital for almost 3 days strait because a blizzard. Nurses had to take turns going to the break room for short naps so they could continue to provide care to their patients....they were all exhausted but HAD to keep working until roads were clear and workers could finally get there to relieve them. That is why we try to get to work when we know we shouldn't be out and about.

wyld thang · #5 12/20/12, 02:09 PM

yeah, thank god for SUV's. the year we had 4 feet of snow my MIL died and we had to get out to go to Cali. I shoveled the driveway(100 feet), which was WET snow with a couple inch thick layers of ice. Thankfully the neighbor guy would keep the road plowed with his baby bulldozer when it got to 10"(yes we gave him cash for diesel and thank you) We drove out over fallen trees and downed power lines(which had been laying there for three days already)--locals had already sawn up the logs into rounds and kicked them off the road(didn't mess with the branches). Made it to the funeral. (A catholic son does NOT miss his mother's funeral, even if he ain't catholic anymore).

I know what it's like to have to be at work or you lose your job.

And I know some off roaders who take pride in doing it with 2 wheels...

**Terri** · #6 12/20/12, 02:51 PM

I worked health care for some years.

I got MAD at one guy in the tire store: I told him that I knew nothing about tires but I needed snow tires. So, he picked me out some but they were not snow tires: I know this because I said that they looked the same as the other tires on display.

He replied that they were NOT! snow tires but that they were all that I needed because I would not be driving until the streets were plowed! HeLOO, in what universe? I made them take the tires off and put snow tires on!

I have driven through deep snow, blizzards, flooded streets, ice, and hail. I always managed to get to work, because the night shift could not leave until I did!

I no longer work, and it is my great pleasure to stay HOME when the weather is bad!!!!!!!!!!

Laura Zone 5 · #7 12/20/12, 03:18 PM

Worked at a hotel that demanded we show up and work.....12-14 hour shifts, and didn't have a place for us to stay or shower. We could stay in the break room and sleep, but we had to bring fresh clothes to start our next shift.
They said "the stranded travelers" demanded excellent service, no matter what.

arabian knight · #8 12/20/12, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wally

As most of you know we had a winter storm hit last night and today. Wife decides she must go to work. I tell her dont call me when you get stuck. She comes back in after going to her car and says the drifts have her car stuck in the garage. The 4 foot drifts meant nothing to you as you stepped thru them..Mean while neighbor calls me and says she stuck and could I come get her.. nope I dont get the tractor out till after day light and she can walk back to her house. After daylight start digging out DW car, snow blowing back in faster than I can clear..I think best wait tiill wind lays down. Then I break out the F350 to take the ladies to work, on the way I pass a dozen people who are stuck with their 2 wheel drive cars, 2 are stuck trying to get to their breakfast sandwhich..Yes the F350 could have pulled them out in about 2 seconds and then they could get stuck 1 block down the road...No one got killed today hopefully they realize how stupid they really are.

Yes I made sure that as winter approached I had plenty of (EMTO) Employee Time Off stored up. We would get a certain amount of time each week the longer you worked the more time you would get towards EMTO.
Plus if you worked on a Holliday You would get Triple Pay. Get paid for working 12 hours at a 24 hour rate , And then you could also "Bank) 8 hours into your EMTO account. COOL.
And we could use it at any time for anything without any notice either.
So if it was a day like we are having in WI with pretty high winds and 12 inches of new fallen snow i would just "call in" and say I am taking the day off and will be using EMTO.
Course Many at work made dern sure that during football time Packers, rule.
Come 11AM it was a steady line of people walking their way to the sign out sheet to use EMTO to go home an Watch The Packers~!
Pretty nice to work for a large company that uses a system like that.
I moved from AZ, just to work at that company when it built a new plant in WI.

Marshloft · #9 12/20/12, 06:44 PM

Found this out by accident.
Had 2, 40 lb bags of powdered concrete in the back of my pickup years ago, 2wd. Got stuck on ice trying to get up a hill, broke open a corner of the bag and sprinkled it in front and behind the tires,,, instant traction. Unstuck in nothing flat.

arabian knight · #10 12/20/12, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshloft

Found this out by accident.
Had 2, 40 lb bags of powdered concrete in the back of my pickup years ago, 2wd. Got stuck on ice trying to get up a hill, broke open a corner of the bag and sprinkled it in front and behind the tires,,, instant traction. Unstuck in nothing flat.

What I use is AG Lime (Barn Lime) much cheaper and won't hurt the surrounding grasses etc.

Haven · #11 12/20/12, 07:21 PM

I drive a Hummer and I also walk to work and back. Hell would have to freeze over before a snow storm made me miss work or get snowed in

I always notice around here, it's the macho guys flying past everyone in a snowstorm that I pass 1 mile down the road off in a ditch. I guess the women don't make it out of the driveway to get that far

Harry Chickpea · #12 12/20/12, 07:44 PM

Here is a radical concept... an employer DEMANDS that you get to work no matter what, even when situations develop too fast for you to react and are those situations are inherently dangerous?

It is THEIR responsibility to provide safe transportation.

Sorry for the bluntness, but having lived in Vermont through ice storms and Florida through hurricanes, I can guarantee you exactly what I would have told an employer that threatened me with my job in such situations. "George, are you DEMANDING that I come in? Because I am recording this call. If you demand it and I am killed or injured, I have told my wife to sue the pants off you, and if you fire me because I won't come in, an ad in the local paper only costs $200 for me to tell every customer what your attitude is." I've never had an employer force under such situations, and - as an employer- I never required it. Florida actually had police advisories where, if a hurricane was coming, employers were told NOT to demand travel during the hurricane.

I say it to companies all the time - "YOUR lack of foresight is NOT my problem." For 99% of them there is something called "loss of business insurance" It makes MORE sense for most companies NOT to open in severe weather. They actually make MORE money that way.

Annsni · #13 12/20/12, 07:51 PM

When I worked at the hospital, they would send out a few of the guys in big trucks to pick up vital personnel. I worked in community relations/public relations/resource development so it was no biggie if I missed work for a day.

I'd not work in a job where it was mandatory for me to make it in regardless of weather - unless I was a vital healthcare worker or rescue worker and either I had rugged transportation or they picked me up.

We've got a massive hill to get out of our neighborhood. Two years ago, it was snowing hard and hubby was trying to get to church (work) but when he was halfway up the hill (STRUGGLING to get up it but he got a head start), around the corner comes a police car - sideways. He backed up and came home. Not worth it IMO.

Yvonne's hubby · #14 12/20/12, 11:15 PM

This thread brought up some great memories for me. Way back in the dark ages.... 1977.. february I believe it was, I was living out in the country not far from South Bend In. and there was a LOT of snow that year. (they all called it "lake effect" but it was a lot like any other snow I had ever seen) I never missed a days work, driving a little Datsun 2wd pickup. (thats what nissans were called back then). Anyways, I was coming home one day and found a poor soul stuck in a drift along side the road... the ditch had filled up with snow and this poor guy was in it about to his windshield. He didnt have a chain, nor did I, but he did have a fairly decent rope. I hooked to him and after several attempts nearly had his International all wheel drive truck out of the ditch. The problem was the durn rope kept breaking just about the time we would get going good. Finally a couple fellers come along in their fairly late model chevy truck.. again four wheel drive. I asked if they had a chain I could borrow, which they had, but insisted on pulling the guy out themselves. It took them about 30 seconds to bury themselves in the ditch with the other guy. I then proceeded to borrow their chain, pulled out the first guy, and offered to pull out the macho boys who owned the chain. They werent havin any! They would call a wrecker out from town instead. It was right along in there that I figured out a very important fact about driving.... You can have two wheel drive, you can have four wheel drive.... but if you dont know HOW to drive.....

Its been a lot of years since that winter day in northern Indiana, but I have never forgotten that little Datsun truck, with its mighty 1600 cc motor outperforming those big trucks that belonged to those big boys, with the big egos, and I never did tell them about that 2000 lbs of critter feed I had in the back of it hidden under the camper shell.

seedspreader · #15 12/20/12, 11:44 PM

We live in NWPA. We don't take snow days... I'm serious.

72" snow two years ago... everyone was at work.

Nope, not an exaggeration some of you have seen the pictures.

AR Cattails · #16 12/21/12, 05:07 AM

Back in the late '70s when I lived in Jackson, MS and worked at the Clarion Ledger (the state newspaper), they had to be staffed whether it was bad weather or not. But they were great to put you up in a nice hotel across the street. They even would come and pick you up at your home to bring you to the hotel.

That happened once while I worked there. Even though I lived only about a mile away, I couldn't get to work. So they came and picked me up and put me up in the hotel for about two or three nights. It was really nice and we all had a blast.

Laura Zone 5 · #17 12/21/12, 05:29 AM

Harry, I needed to work to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies....
You're right, but when it comes to 'job or homelessness'.....you figure out how to get to work.

Haven · #18 12/21/12, 06:06 AM

I remember being down south in Charlotte, NC back in the 80s for xmas. One day a tiny light dusting of snow came down and people were pulled off the road scared and landing in ditches. You have to laugh at that if you're from the north.

vicki in NW OH · #19 12/21/12, 06:10 AM

It depends on where you live, the snow moving equipment available, and that particular snow storm. Blizzard of '78 nobody went anywhere. Health personnel were brought in on snowmobiles after the storm was over. It doesn't matter what you drive, one can't drive through 20-foot drifts made of ice and snow. Our county and state plows couldn't even begin moving the drifts after that blizzard. They finally got extremely large end loaders from the quarry to open our road (and others).

There is also a big difference between a plains/midwest blizzard, where you can't see your hand in front of your face, and large snowstorms elsewhere. It's not necessarily the amount of snow, but the visibility, which is zero.

beowoulf90 · #20 12/21/12, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haven

I remember being down south in Charlotte, NC back in the 80s for xmas. One day a tiny light dusting of snow came down and people were pulled off the road scared and landing in ditches. You have to laugh at that if you're from the north.

Yup, When we lived in NC in 78-81, they had 4 inches of snow and the school was closed for a week.. We laughed as we went back and forth to work.

When we lived in El Paso back in 82 the same thing happened as in NC We were out driving around with 6 inches of snow on the ground and were the only ones out and about..