The Saga of an Engineer on a Snow Day
Bonnie and the kids were supposed to go to her parents’ house for the first half of this week so the kids could see the dentist there. But due to the storm, they ended up staying home.
This morning I wake up and go look outside. No plow has been down our street. I go outside and the snow is a couple inches above my ankles, the car completely covered. I go inside and check the web site. Status: Open (Employees are asked not to arrive until just before 7:00 to allow time for snow removal).
Now, you may know, my company starts work at 7:00. So the company’s big concession to the storm is to ask us to merely be here on time instead of early.
Now, at this point it’s 5:30 am. Still time for them to change their minds - the HR guy who makes the decisions probably hasn’t had time to check out the site yet. I go and take a shower, get dressed in jeans and T-shirt (‘cause I’m not shoveling out the car in my work clothes), and check the web site again. Status: Open (Employees are asked not to arrive until just before 7:00 to allow time for snow removal).
OK. Ordinarily I leave home at 6:10 to get to work by 7:00. It’s 5:50. Still time.
I go outside to dig out the car. Probably 6 inches of snow sitting on top of it, but I get it all cleared off. Still no plow has been down my street. So I start the car and try backing out into the street to see if the car can actually move through this stuff (and secretly hoping it won’t). Unfortunately, the car seems to move just fine.
So I head back inside to change into my work clothes (and, I admit, dawdle around a lot). Then I check the web site. Status: Open (Employees are asked not to arrive until just before 7:00 to allow time for snow removal).
Make lunch. Check website again. Status: Open (Employees are asked not to arrive until just before 7:00 to allow time for snow removal).
By now it’s 6:40. I’d be late even without the snow, and I finally accept that they’re not going to change their minds. I load myself into the car and start driving.
It actually wasn’t that bad for most of the drive. Until I hit I-195, when it starts to snow again. Heavily. But nontetheless I’m doing OK for about 2/3rds of the highway drive. Tootling along with the flow of traffic (which is to say, about 15 mph below the posted speed limit), what little traffic there is anyway. Guess most people had more sense than me. But anyway, suddenly ahead of me appears a semi going much slower than said traffic flow. I start to brake, but of course it quickly becomes clear that I’m not going to be able to slow down fast enough. So I change lanes…
…and spin out. Fortunately into an empty median. Even more fortunately, I come to rest about twenty feet shy of the black dog that had apparently gotten loose from its owner (who was chasing it) and also happened to be on the median.
After a few minutes a very nice man with a pickup stops alongside me and offers to pull me out. I was of course very grateful for the assist, despite the fact that he was going the opposite direction (and therefore pulled out onto the side of the highway going away from work instead of toward).
So now I’m heading the wrong way, and believe me it was tempting to just keep heading home. But I persevered and got off at the next exit (where there were emergency vehicles extracting a truck that had slid off the shoulder) and turned around.
The rest of the trip went without incident, and I arrived at work an hour-and-a-half late to discover almost no one in the parking lot. Once again, guess a lot of other people had a lot more sense than I.
But here I am at work, regardless. They owe me free pizza.
Oh, and my boss isn't even in today to witness my dedication. What a waste! :P
This morning I wake up and go look outside. No plow has been down our street. I go outside and the snow is a couple inches above my ankles, the car completely covered. I go inside and check the web site. Status: Open (Employees are asked not to arrive until just before 7:00 to allow time for snow removal).
Now, you may know, my company starts work at 7:00. So the company’s big concession to the storm is to ask us to merely be here on time instead of early.
Now, at this point it’s 5:30 am. Still time for them to change their minds - the HR guy who makes the decisions probably hasn’t had time to check out the site yet. I go and take a shower, get dressed in jeans and T-shirt (‘cause I’m not shoveling out the car in my work clothes), and check the web site again. Status: Open (Employees are asked not to arrive until just before 7:00 to allow time for snow removal).
OK. Ordinarily I leave home at 6:10 to get to work by 7:00. It’s 5:50. Still time.
I go outside to dig out the car. Probably 6 inches of snow sitting on top of it, but I get it all cleared off. Still no plow has been down my street. So I start the car and try backing out into the street to see if the car can actually move through this stuff (and secretly hoping it won’t). Unfortunately, the car seems to move just fine.
So I head back inside to change into my work clothes (and, I admit, dawdle around a lot). Then I check the web site. Status: Open (Employees are asked not to arrive until just before 7:00 to allow time for snow removal).
Make lunch. Check website again. Status: Open (Employees are asked not to arrive until just before 7:00 to allow time for snow removal).
By now it’s 6:40. I’d be late even without the snow, and I finally accept that they’re not going to change their minds. I load myself into the car and start driving.
It actually wasn’t that bad for most of the drive. Until I hit I-195, when it starts to snow again. Heavily. But nontetheless I’m doing OK for about 2/3rds of the highway drive. Tootling along with the flow of traffic (which is to say, about 15 mph below the posted speed limit), what little traffic there is anyway. Guess most people had more sense than me. But anyway, suddenly ahead of me appears a semi going much slower than said traffic flow. I start to brake, but of course it quickly becomes clear that I’m not going to be able to slow down fast enough. So I change lanes…
…and spin out. Fortunately into an empty median. Even more fortunately, I come to rest about twenty feet shy of the black dog that had apparently gotten loose from its owner (who was chasing it) and also happened to be on the median.
After a few minutes a very nice man with a pickup stops alongside me and offers to pull me out. I was of course very grateful for the assist, despite the fact that he was going the opposite direction (and therefore pulled out onto the side of the highway going away from work instead of toward).
So now I’m heading the wrong way, and believe me it was tempting to just keep heading home. But I persevered and got off at the next exit (where there were emergency vehicles extracting a truck that had slid off the shoulder) and turned around.
The rest of the trip went without incident, and I arrived at work an hour-and-a-half late to discover almost no one in the parking lot. Once again, guess a lot of other people had a lot more sense than I.
But here I am at work, regardless. They owe me free pizza.
Oh, and my boss isn't even in today to witness my dedication. What a waste! :P