SNOW day! - Rant -

Ok - so the kids get a snow day....  what about us adults that have to work for a living (other than the teachers/school workers)?!

It is almost as if you don't show up for work you are labeled as undedicated!  Yikes - we had 6 inches this AM as I was driving in and we are supposed to get 1-2 inches per hour until 2pm.  The roads are miserable.  Hopefully I will even be able to make it home.  They are urging people on the news, "If you don't have to go out, stay home."  blah blah blah, but that is not the way employers see it.

I think that if the public school district in any area is closed for a snow day, then all the businesses in that area should be closed as well.... (except hospital and emergency personnel).  This would make it easier for the road-cleaners to do their jobs too....not to mention making it easier on the parents who have young children off of school.  & make it easier for emergency personnel that NEED to get where they are going to help people in REAL emergencies -  rather than helping people out of a ditch.

Original Post by yogagirl6853:

They are urging people on the news, "If you don't have to go out, stay home."  blah blah blah, but that is not the way employers see it.

If the weather was as bad here as you are describing, my employer would have shut down for the day.  I guess it depends on the business.

However, I have noticed that for "common sense midwesterners", St. Louisans are, well, pansies when it comes to inclimate weather - or at least the superintendent of my particular school district is.  This past Monday at just the forecast of freezing rain, they cancelled school.  When I went to work, right around the time buses would be running, the roads were FINE.  I'm still trying to figure out why they cancelled. Fortunately, we are typically able to handle the logistics of school closures.

Of course, there's no accounting for the IQ of the average driver whenever a single drop or flake of precipation occurs - it seems to drop about 20 points when the freakin' sky clouds up.

If you think St.  Louisans are pansies about weather.. try Texas!

Watch this clip of the Ellen Show with my favorite guest.. 88 yr old Glady Hardy of Austin.. she talks about how they shut the whole city down due to weather.. and it's sooo true!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_V4jWLsTtM

Yes it is that bad.  Here in MI - they are "we can drive thru 2 feet of snow with white-out conditions if we are dedicated enough" types, even with a forecast like this from our weather service:

A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL... KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT... FOOD... AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.

... VERY HEAVY SNOW WILL IMPACT SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN TODAY...

.A STRONG UPPER LEVEL WAVE WILL QUICKLY TRACK THROUGH LOWER MICHIGAN ON TODAY... WITH THE ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW TRACKING THROUGH NORTHERN OHIO. THIS SOUTHERN LOW TRACK WILL LOCK IN THE COLD AIR IN PLACE... SUPPORTING AN ALL SNOW EVENT FOR THE MAJORITY OF SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN. HEAVY SNOW WILL TAPER OFF TO LIGHT SNOW THIS AFTERNOON. SNOWFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR CAN BE EXPECTED THIS MORNING... REDUCING VISIBILITIES TO A QUARTER MILE OR LESS. TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE MAJORITY OF SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN... WITH LOWER AMOUNTS OF 4 TO 6 INCHES EXPECTED TOWARD THE OHIO BORDER... WHERE SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN WILL MIX IN AT TIMES.

I agree with you- I am a teacher, and I have a snow day today.  Which is great for me, but other workplaces should have the same policies.  We had an accident locally caused by ice- with a fatality.  It is a public safety issue.  I think the city officials would appreciate less people on the roads, too, so they can get their job done!  We need to think about what is most important...

snow day?  wtf is that?  i'm 40, i've lived in canada my entire life, i've been in school almost half of it and worked in schools for another decade, and i've never had a day off due to snow.

edit: unless you count skipping school to go skiing.

Well here in MA, Gov. Patrick has declared that non-essential state employees should not report to work, people should only travel in case of emergency, and we're coming out of a 5 day state of emergency in Central MA.  Schools have been closed for a week and aren't reopening until the Jan. 5...

But my boss is calling people who have stayed home and telling them to come to work.  Sure, the air is clear now but in 4 hours we'll be in a white out like the Midwest and no one will be able to get home.  I would like very much to hit her...there's no reason for me to be here waiting for the phone to ring!

Wisconsin here, better part of a foot of snow drifting to above the hip.

Packed hubby off to work loaded with holiday baked evil goodies for his office lunch and fired up the snow dragon for it's first run.

Good times!

When half the region stays home those who are equipped and well versed in the joy of winter driving don't sweat it.

However,

would be nice if companies expecting their force to 'man up' and get to work could manage to have plowed the lot in some fashion and the six figure crowd were mandated to toss their flaccid backsides on the roads also.

But hey the power is still on...... 

Im in southeast Mi also and we got hit hard. there is like 500+ schools closed. My poor mail lady watching her drive down our road was just awful Im sure she is just a ball of nerves along with everyone else that HAS to go out in this!

that sucks, pg!

i never got a lot of snow days as a kid, but i did get them. it was really bad when, as an adult, i worked for a company that didn't believe in snow days no matter how bad the weather was. even if there was 4 feet of snow on the ground, you came in or you got fired. and i was just selling cable! thankfully, i now work for a company that allows you to work from home when you want, so i'm SO looking forward to a good snow day!

work will close if it gets bad enough. however most of the time it doesnt. i hate snow, i really think im living in the wrong state lol

Original Post by yogagirl6853:

I think that if the public school district in any area is closed for a snow day, then all the businesses in that area should be closed as well.... (except hospital and emergency personnel).  This would make it easier for the road-cleaners to do their jobs too....not to mention making it easier on the parents who have young children off of school.  & make it easier for emergency personnel that NEED to get where they are going to help people in REAL emergencies -  rather than helping people out of a ditch.

Would this include closing the grocery stores? The hell with the mother who needs diapers or formula. Oh, and let's close Wal-mart too, and all the retail shops - the hell with Christmas shoppers. And while we're at it, let's close the banks - no one needs money on a snow day, right? snow day - geesh. I've never heard of something more ridculous. Oh, but of course we wouldn't close the grocery stores, those minimum wage workes don't matter to anyone, let's make them work while everyone else stays home (or goes shopping).

Children's schools having snow days is stupid too - guarenteed those kids are out playing in the snow. Where I live there's snow on the ground from late Oct - March - buy winter tires, slow down on the roads and suck it up!

Original Post by sybil878:

Original Post by yogagirl6853:

I think that if the public school district in any area is closed for a snow day, then all the businesses in that area should be closed as well.... (except hospital and emergency personnel).  This would make it easier for the road-cleaners to do their jobs too....not to mention making it easier on the parents who have young children off of school.  & make it easier for emergency personnel that NEED to get where they are going to help people in REAL emergencies -  rather than helping people out of a ditch.

Would this include closing the grocery stores? The hell with the mother who needs diapers or formula. Oh, and let's close Wal-mart too, and all the retail shops - the hell with Christmas shoppers. And while we're at it, let's close the banks - no one needs money on a snow day, right? snow day - geesh. I've never heard of something more ridculous. Oh, but of course we wouldn't close the grocery stores, those minimum wage workes don't matter to anyone, let's make them work while everyone else stays home (or goes shopping).

Children's schools having snow days is stupid too - guarenteed those kids are out playing in the snow. Where I live there's snow on the ground from late Oct - March - buy winter tires, slow down on the roads and suck it up!

 

 Sheesh - hard a**! 

Yes - the grocery stores should close as well.  We knew this storm was coming - everyone could've went out last night for necessary supplies.  The only exception is hospitals & pharmacies getting people EMERGENCY stuff.  Yeah - I don't think people need to shop when people are being URGED to stay home.

It is harder for the plows and the emergency vehicles with full roads.

yogagirl and nativeprincess, I'm in southeast MI too -- it's only supposed to keep snowing all day!  When I moved to Michigan from Kentucky 10 years ago I was so excited because I thought we'd get a bunch of snow days, but from 7th through 12th grade I only had two or three because we are expected to drive through everything!  In my five years at college we haven't had a single one, but luckily in grad school if your professor gets snowed in you get an excuse to stay home.

Another southeast MI girl here.

Also at work...only because I had to. There are only 4 people here in the entire office!

Original Post by pgeorgian:

snow day?  wtf is that?  i'm 40, i've lived in canada my entire life, i've been in school almost half of it and worked in schools for another decade, and i've never had a day off due to snow.

edit: unless you count skipping school to go skiing.

 Schools were never closed, but sometimes the snow/ice got bad enough that the school buses wouldn't run and the rural kids couldn't come in.  They never bothered taking attendance or teaching us anything new on those days (though my parents would always drive my sister and me in anyway).

Our university president is from Texas, so he closed the university on Saturday due to a bad-ish weather forecast - which doesn't sound like a problem 'till you realise that was a final exams day so the exams got pushed back until Wednesday and a lot of students had already made plans to leave campus by then.  *sigh*  And, of course, they dumped the administrative nightmare that caused on the instructors rather than handling it centrally (completely ignoring the university policy that says these things are to be handled centrally).

Well I have a hour commute and live in texas.... so there is no way I'm leaving the house if snow or ice is on the road.  One time it started snowing while I was at work and I left immediately.... it took me almost four hours to get home, because people were driving about 5 mph!!  People here have no idea how to drive in winter weather.  They just panic and slam on the breaks.

So I just call in and take vacation day during our one or two snow days a year.  But I guess this wouldn't be an option if you're a part-time employee.

Interesting... we rarely have snow days in Utah... sometimes the public schools do, but that's only if more than 6 inches have fallen before 8 in the morning.

On the other hand, the private schools NEVER have snow days.  Not once in my life have I had a snow day, even when the roads were so bad that there were hundreds of accidents (such as Monday). My school just gives a half-hour leeway for students to come in late, then marks them as sluffs.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

snow day? wtf is that? i'm 40, i've lived in canada my entire life, i've been in school almost half of it and worked in schools for another decade, and i've never had a day off due to snow.

edit: unless you count skipping school to go skiing.

The show at work got canceled today, and I look outside thinking its not that bad out...I thought this was Canada lol, but I guess many people won't want to be out driving. I'm pretty sure we'd still have to go to school on a day like today, I think I remember 1 snow day! And I walked to school too, only to find out then it was closed.

Well - I did make it home from work and they let us off early.  I was stuck in the parking lot twice - having to do the backward/forward thing two times.  That is after it was plowed once. 

Getting out to the main road was fun.  Almost got stuck there too.  Out of 4 lanes of highway, 2 were completely impassable and two were not much better.  Only the 2 had any traffic at all.    I don't think it is even the amount of snow more than the amount of snow that fell in such a short period of time.  The plows simply cannot keep up.  I do drive a small SUV, however, it is not 4WD.... and I still got stuck.  I can't imagine even attempting to drive in a small car that is close to the ground.  NO way!

I 'm not saying we should close the whole town for an inch or two of snow.  This is a heavy snowfall - and we don't have dog sleds in this part of town to get us around.

This would have been much better staying home to begin with.  But - it is simply a matter of having been pressured to go in. 

Yes - the bus children would be at risk if they went to school.  Accidents, being stuck in the snow, etc.  The snow plowing will end up taking much longer and may also deter "x-mas shoppers" tomorrow too.  So in the long run - just take care of business and then re-open when it is safer.

First of all, pg doesn't count, I'm guessing she lives in the part of BC that benefits from ocean currents converting snow to rain.

Second, there wasn't a spot of new snow on the ground this morning when I came to work (just what was already there yesterday)....that is no longer the case....I'm not looking forward to the walk to the bus stop later this afternoon, or the trip to and from an xmas party tonight

Third, at least the rest of my family got a snow day (parents are teachers) freeing them up to drive slowly and more safely (~100km) to the airport tonight (through areas that are supposed to get 30cm=12 inches due to lake effect)...and I'm guessing their flight will be delayed...but the website is down so I can't check.

lucky me is flying out tomorrow, hopefully long enough after "snowmageddon" to have an uneventful trip