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  • Storm Survival

    Monday night a crippling blizzard took aim at my local area. One by one my employees began calling out because they couldn't see their driveway let alone their cars. All thirteen of my employees called out except for one who refused to leave me alone in the store where I would surely be until the storm past and the travel ban was lifted. For the next 36 hours my hourly associate and I ran the store--together--as a team.

    I have to commend him, thank him, and give him an extreme amount of credit for helping me keep my store open, ringing sales, and pumping fuel. I am certain that without him and his contributions....I would have collapsed from sheer exhaustion before noon time on Tuesday. We tag teamed shoveling, stocking, food prep, coffee making, floor mopping, bathroom cleaning, cigarette counting, register ringing, fronting/facing, and every other aspect of store operations. We even took turns sleeping in the backroom on an air mattress that I brought from home.

    There is no doubt that everyone in my area will have a story to tell about this storm--in total, we got 38 inches of snow, had sustained winds of 30mph with gusts up to 65mph. Years from now when people tell their story of where they were when the blizzard of 2015 hit, my tale will include the 36 hours that my employee and I worked together when no one else dared to travel the highways and byways of central Massachusetts. So, Javier--as you sleep off the toll that 36 hours of work took on your mind and body...THANK YOU!! I owe you beyond what words can express.

  • #2
    Goddammit dude, where's that +1 button? I knew we left it around here somewhere
    "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
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    • #3
      Amazing story and you are a couple of amazing people!! But what I wonder is ..... if there was 36 inches of snow AND a travel ban, who the heck was out on the roads and needed you guys to be open???????? SMH

      Aside from that, you two deserve many many accolades from corporate ... not that you'll get them ;-) you just deserve them. Well done, my friends, well done :-D

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      • #4
        Plow trucks need fuel. Plow truck drivers need food, a clean bathroom, and some one to talk so they don't go nuts. State police, local police, doctors, nurses, emergency shelter workers, mental health workers, social service workers, Red Cross and Salvation Army disaster response teams, state emergency management workers, corrections officers, and other employees that meet extremely specific criteria all needed us to be open.

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        • #5
          36 hours?!? And I thought 16 was long when I had to do it last year. You two had better get paid for every single hour (and maybe 'employee of the year' would be appropriate).

          My store is considered an 'emergency food provider'. We're supposed to stay open unless there's a physical danger to/problem in the store (not sure if we're the only store that has to, apparently that was mandated by the state after the blizzard of 1978). According to the cops that stopped in, there were a couple idiots that thought the driving ban didn't apply to them.
          Last edited by Dreamstalker; 01-29-2015, 12:51 PM.
          "I am quite confident that I do exist."
          "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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          • #6
            Quoth Dreamstalker View Post
            My store is considered an 'emergency food provider'. We're supposed to stay open unless there's a physical danger to/problem in the store (not sure if we're the only store that has to, apparently that was mandated by the state after the blizzard of 1978). According to the cops that stopped in, there were a couple idiots that thought the driving ban didn't apply to them.
            My store is the same way and for the same reason...there were lots of lessons learned from the blizzard of 1978. During this storm, the state police had a hard time finding fuel. My station and three others were the only ones still able to pump fuel. Since they sent all their cruisers in the area to us, we gave them free coffee. The story that amazed me the most was the trooper that picked up two fools he found walking on the side of the road during the worst of the snowfall and winds. Their car went off the road and they were trying to get to someone who could help. The trooper left them at an emergency shelter after giving each one of them a $500 ticket for violating the travel ban.

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