Snow Woes.
The weathermen were calling for three to six inches to hit us yesterday. We ended up getting 11-12 here in Columbia. A few of the POs at work yesterday offered to stay until 5:00 to keep the office open, and everyone else was allowed to leave if they wanted to. I left at 10:30, after I got all my work done for the day. I made it almost all the way home (I'll tell you that story in a minute), but had to walk the last half mile or so home, so I called in this morning and said, "nope, not going to make it" and they were fine with that. Anyone with a heart would be fine with that.
Unfortunately, I've seen several of my friends from the call center where I worked in Jefferson City complaining the last two days about having to try and make it to work, just to be sent home early if they aren't needed (or having to stay until 6:00 at night for their full shift), or live in fear of not having a job to go back to. One woman was sent home yesterday and it took her three hours to go less than thirty miles. Another girl fucked up her car in the parking lot of work because the snow came down so quickly there was no time to really soften the blow. All of these people are feeling pressured into risking their lives to get to work because they need their jobs. I think that's completely fucked up. I can see not closing, because these services are needed (although really, who needs to call in and know about their food stamps or temporary assistance when they can't even get to the store to use them [the whole state of Missouri has been declared in a state of emergency]?). I haven't worked there for seven months and I still hate that place.
My trip home...ah. I got to work at 8:30 and the snow/freezing rain mixture was just starting. My boss told me around 9:00 or 9:30 that an officer offered to cover the phones if I wanted to leave early. I finished up my work and left at 10:30 and there was already four inches of snow on my car. And ice. I didn't think there was that much, but I turned on my car and my windshield wipers, and the whole arm of my driver's side wiper broke off. I work 10 minutes from home, but without a windshield wiper and the roads being so bad already, it took me forever, and I was not sure I'd even make it, to be completely honest. But I made it to my road by the grace of God, and then the snow on my road hadn't been packed down at all by vehicles, so my car would not go. There's a church on the corner of the outer road and my road, and I was able to somehow maneuver it right at the entrance of the church, and I had to park it and walk home. In blizzard like conditions. Took me another fifteen minutes, but I somehow got home in less than an hour.
My mom left work at 11:05 and lives 20 minutes from work. There was an overturned tractor trailer on the high way, though, and she spent the next 4 or so hours stuck in the exact same spot on the highway. She was finally able to pick up my dad (who was stuck at work) and make it home around 4:30. Another friend left work at Michael's at 10:30 and got stuck in the snow and was stuck until well into the evening.
But I'm home and safe now. My brother came out today and helped me get my car unstuck and back home. It only took us an ice scraper, half a bottle of deicer, a couple of blankets, and a cut of sheet rock to do it. There was one neighbor out with a snow blower and I started walking up the street to ask him if he had a snow shovel we could borrow for a minute (that would have saved so much time and trouble) and he saw me coming and went inside. And then another man was out snow shoveling his own driveway, and he kept stopping to watch us, leaning against his snow shovel. >___< Fucking neighbors. And of all the people who drove by, the only one who offered to help was the neighbor who lives above me. He's also the one that paid someone to shovel our parking lot, since the landlord doesn't do it. We had ice a couple months ago and the whole parking lot was a sheet of ice. She never does anything. Which, if I or someone falls and gets hurt, that could be a lawsuit. Like, seriously.
Argh. Anyway. Snow woes, but snow day #2. =D
Unfortunately, I've seen several of my friends from the call center where I worked in Jefferson City complaining the last two days about having to try and make it to work, just to be sent home early if they aren't needed (or having to stay until 6:00 at night for their full shift), or live in fear of not having a job to go back to. One woman was sent home yesterday and it took her three hours to go less than thirty miles. Another girl fucked up her car in the parking lot of work because the snow came down so quickly there was no time to really soften the blow. All of these people are feeling pressured into risking their lives to get to work because they need their jobs. I think that's completely fucked up. I can see not closing, because these services are needed (although really, who needs to call in and know about their food stamps or temporary assistance when they can't even get to the store to use them [the whole state of Missouri has been declared in a state of emergency]?). I haven't worked there for seven months and I still hate that place.
My trip home...ah. I got to work at 8:30 and the snow/freezing rain mixture was just starting. My boss told me around 9:00 or 9:30 that an officer offered to cover the phones if I wanted to leave early. I finished up my work and left at 10:30 and there was already four inches of snow on my car. And ice. I didn't think there was that much, but I turned on my car and my windshield wipers, and the whole arm of my driver's side wiper broke off. I work 10 minutes from home, but without a windshield wiper and the roads being so bad already, it took me forever, and I was not sure I'd even make it, to be completely honest. But I made it to my road by the grace of God, and then the snow on my road hadn't been packed down at all by vehicles, so my car would not go. There's a church on the corner of the outer road and my road, and I was able to somehow maneuver it right at the entrance of the church, and I had to park it and walk home. In blizzard like conditions. Took me another fifteen minutes, but I somehow got home in less than an hour.
My mom left work at 11:05 and lives 20 minutes from work. There was an overturned tractor trailer on the high way, though, and she spent the next 4 or so hours stuck in the exact same spot on the highway. She was finally able to pick up my dad (who was stuck at work) and make it home around 4:30. Another friend left work at Michael's at 10:30 and got stuck in the snow and was stuck until well into the evening.
But I'm home and safe now. My brother came out today and helped me get my car unstuck and back home. It only took us an ice scraper, half a bottle of deicer, a couple of blankets, and a cut of sheet rock to do it. There was one neighbor out with a snow blower and I started walking up the street to ask him if he had a snow shovel we could borrow for a minute (that would have saved so much time and trouble) and he saw me coming and went inside. And then another man was out snow shoveling his own driveway, and he kept stopping to watch us, leaning against his snow shovel. >___< Fucking neighbors. And of all the people who drove by, the only one who offered to help was the neighbor who lives above me. He's also the one that paid someone to shovel our parking lot, since the landlord doesn't do it. We had ice a couple months ago and the whole parking lot was a sheet of ice. She never does anything. Which, if I or someone falls and gets hurt, that could be a lawsuit. Like, seriously.
Argh. Anyway. Snow woes, but snow day #2. =D