Community Chat

[Annabellethecat66]

I closed up the iPad and thought about the people ( mostly females...often single moms) who are waitresses.

When the weather is bad either people don’t go out in it, or they close down the restaurant.

That means people who work in these places, don’t get paid.

If you wonder why I always think ( or mention) about single moms and how so much affects them, it’s because from the time I was 12 or 13 I lived with my sister.  She was the divorced mom of 4.

She always worked 2 jobs.  I remember how so many things, through no fault of ours, affected our lives adversely....

I still can’t imahine how we survived.  There was no government help...we were on our own....

I think it’s for sure we did it with a lot of help from GOD.😀

[pitdakota]

As a nurse that worked for years in the hospital, I had to get to work no matter the weather.  One year when we were slammed with snow & ice to the point that nothing was moving, they sent the National Guard out to pick me up and bring me into the hospital.  Spent several days & nights in the hospital working during that storm.  The catch was at the time, the National Guard would get you in...but they don't come pick you up and take you home.

When I moved into teaching, if the weather was really bad the university cancelled classes.  Have to say, that was really nice compared to all the years working in the hospital.  

[CrazyKittyLvr2]

@Annabellethecat66  With regard to restaurants and bad weather, I worked in a restaurant from 1984 to 1993.  We never closed once for bad weather. You would be surprised how many people came in during truly bad storms. I had to laugh when everyone came telling me how bad or even treacherous the roads were.  But yet, there they were.

it was like the video store being swamped during a power outage. People brought flashlights to select their movies. We had to hand write receipts, no computer due to no power.  Of course, they weren't going to watch a darn thing until the juice came back on.  Made no sense to me.

I think anyone who has worked with the public could write a book and no one would believe half of what we saw.

[Harpa]

This is review week for final exams. Our college is usually the first to close for inclement weather. We're on a 2-hour delay, but I suspect that to change.

Nevertheless, I cancelled my class today because I will not drive the Mustang in any amount of snow! My SIL needs the 4-wheel drive, otherwise, I would have taken that.

I tell my students no problem if they don't feel confident driving in bad weather when we are open. When we are closed due to weather, we have on-line class! Not today, though, when things are winding down.

Last year students were trapped at the college overnight because they didn't shut down in time.

[AuntG]

In the early years, they were not flexible at all. After about 10 years, they gave us personal hours to use but still frowned on people missing work because of the weather. After an employee was killed three miles from work because she feared getting in trouble, they stopped saying anything to those who called in. Co-workers might make snide comments, but usually they ended up calling in too at some point.

[FrostyBabe1]

I had a company issued laptop because I traveled a lot, so I could work at home if needed, but that option was only available to salaried employees and was widely discouraged. As a boss, I tried to be flexible about late arrivals but unfortunately I had one employee who made the choice to commute from 25 miles away and would use any flake of snow or gust of wind as an excuse to either arrive late or leave early, so I had to take a bit of a harder position. Unless the company was entirely shut down at our location, we expected people to arrive on time, work all day, or take vacation time if they weren’t coming in. 

[dex]

During my employment years in Canada we went to work no matter what the snow level was.Schools rarely closed.I remember walking miles in deep snow because I couldn’t get my car out.Once I walked about four miles to the highway and was picked up by a police car and driven to work.

[Carmie]

When I worked for a health insurance company, we were expected to be there...period.

if you called off the day of the storm, you were penalized.  You could ask to take off beforehand when bad weather was expected and take PTO, but if the whole company was shutdown,and you were schedulenigto be there, you did not get your PTO day back.

Many times the state shut the roads down and no one was allowed to be on the roads.  The company made us come in, and they were fined for it.  After that, the company was closed if the roads were and there was a state of emergency.  We did get paid for it.

Often, people came in late because of the roads.  Our offices opened at 8 A.M. and the switchboard had to be up and running on time.  The company got big fines if the switchboard wasn't opened at 8 A.M. and we got caught.

Often, when I showed up, I would be ushered to the switchboard operators seat before my coat was even off to open it up and take available calls.  What a mess.  I lost a lot of calls.  That wasn't my job and I wasn't so good at it.

Our huge parking lot was never cleared from snow and ice very well.  I fell on my knees pretty much all winter long.  I am paying for it now.

I am not a fan of winter and bad weather.  I can't wait for spring!

[drizzellla]

When I worked for an Engineering firm, they expected you to show up AND on time. I lived about 25 miles away, so I had to start out early. One time there were at least 8 inches of snow and the plows hadn't done any of the roads that I took. Was scary because I had no idea where the road surface began and ended. I finally got to work. They laughed at me and told me to go home - there was no power.

They had called me to tell me not to come into work exactly 2 minutes before I arrived.

Also, if it started snowing while you were at work you were expected to stay until 5:00. No matter what.

Of course now that I no longer work there, the attitude has changed. They are more reasonable.

[NicksmomESQ]

  DH works from home now & only goes into the office for important meetings.So I don't have to worry about him.My son has to go in to work today.But if the weather starts to turn bad he promised me he would grab his laptop & finish his work from home.Luckily, he has a very understanding boss.

  I remember years ago when I worked.I would take the LIRR into the city in terrible weather.Sometimes signals would freeze & I would get stuck on the train for hours!! It was cold & miserable.

   I remember one time in the middle of a blizzard my train pulled into my home station 90 minutes late. DH was waiting there to drive me home. What would normally be a 10 minute drive took DH 2 hours!! The road was a sheet of treacherous ice.Visability was nearly zero!! DH was basically driving blindly. I was terrified.

   I hate winter because I spend so much time worrying about my loved ones making it home in one piece!!