More Snow Dummies, and a few kewls

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Okay, seriously -

If it snows where you live, you should be cleaning off your darn car before you start driving it anywhere. Especially when it's illegal in the state you live it to NOT DO SO. Yes, it is illegal in Massachusetts to not fully clean off your car. That means you can't just sweep off your windows and leave nearly half a foot of snow on the roof/hood/ass end of your car.

Yet people will only clean off their windows, drive to our parking lot, then clean off the rest of the snow in our parking lot. Double douche points to the people who sweep it off onto the sidewalk that we just shoveled.

In case you're curious, no, we don't get plowed out for free. The owner (my awesome boss) either needs to hand out money to someone else, or do it himself. He does it himself. It's so damn rude to sweep off your snow on our parking lot that the owner has to then plow out or one of us has to then shovel out in order to be within the law of having a clear and safe sidewalk/lot.

So the first couple of people who did this, the boss wasn't there yet... then he came to plow out the lot... and someone decided to do this right in front of them.

I don't know what he was saying to the guy, but I can guess it went something like this;

Boss: Hey. Do you want to plow out my parking lot?
Guy: Huh? What do you mean?
Boss: I have to pay, or plow out my lot myself, and here you are, sweeping off a chunk of snow off your car that should've been cleaned off in your drive way. So instead of inconveniencing yourself, you decided to inconvenience me!
Guy: Well I'm going to buy GAS. I'm paying you!
Boss: Great, you're buying the one item I sell that I get the lowest profit on. Thanks for the couple of cents.
Guy: Well fine I'll go somewhere else.
Boss: Thank you! Bye!

Because that's how it went the last time!

Also, cool people:

Two different guys, at two different times, as they came in, noticed we had a shovel sitting next to the door and our walk was a little snowed over because it was snowing hard and constantly. Without being asked, they grabbed the shovel and shoveled off our walk for us. THANK YOU TWO AWESOME GUYS!

Also thank you to the brave ass truck drivers for coming in through the horrid weather to deliver to us gas and our soda deliveries. You guys are also awesome.

[sms001]

Guy: Well fine I'll go somewhere else.
Boss: Thank you! Bye!

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnndddddddddddddd THAT gets you a "Spine of the Year" nomination!

Was just chit-chatting about 'full removal' with someone today. I don't know or care what the law is in Wisconsin 'cause, you know, you just f'in' DO IT. Top to bottom, front to back. Safer for me, safer for that schmuck tailgating me, etc. Without fail I see people every storm with the 5 x 10 inch view hole directly in front of their face. I wanna follow and mark where they live and then come back midsummer and spray paint all their windows except for that spot.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I will admit I don't always get every last flake of snow off my car, but I do do more than just make sure the windows are clear.

Last snowstorm, I drove to work with a considerable amount of snow still on my car. It was bonded to the car by ice. Removing it would've meant taking off the paint too.

[Comechatcha]

At least that snow's not likely to fly off into the windshield of another car, which I suspect that law is concerned about.

[Mikkel]

Without fail I see people every storm with the 5 x 10 inch view hole directly in front of their face.

In the traffic radio in Copenhagen they call that a "burka car" :-P.

[sms001]

In the traffic radio in Copenhagen they call that a "burka car".

Perfect! Thanks, I'll be using that.

@Irv - yeah, up here the last good one was sleet/snow/sleet which made a hard shell sandwich on everything and it didn't all come off for sure.

[vikingchyk]

Without fail I see people every storm with the 5 x 10 inch view hole directly in front of their face.

I call that an igloo on wheels

(term stolen from a friend over 25 years ago, so I think the statute of limitations is over on the theft )

[PepperElf]

Back when I lived in NY... I don't know if it was the law or not to clean off all the snow. I just thought it was DUMB that the people in Buffalo would only clean off the windows cos... they were pretty much just carting a foot of snow around on the roof which pretty much means they're spending more gas to get where they're going.

My family would joke that you could tell who wasn't native to Buffalo (like us) by whether or not the hood had been cleaned of snow.


I personally scrape it all off cos ... well first of all the gas issue, but also, just as importantly, that snow is gonna fly once i start moving. So... after spending 10 minutes cleaning off my windows do I really want to have the snow from the nose of the car flying up onto the windshield? or the snow on the roof falling onto the back window?

For that reason, not only do I have a regular snow scraper, I also have an extending snow scraper that can reach all the way across the hood of the car.

although these days i don't need it much since i'm now in KY

[Seshat]

Well, between you, you pretty much answered what I was going to ask; which is 'why does it matter so much?'.

So thank you.

[Cia]

A couple of winters ago there was about a foot of snow on my Jeep. I swiped it off my windshield, hood and windows but didn't touch much of the stuff on top except where it touched the doors. Guess what happened when I had to make a quick stop because of an idiot pulling out in front of me. I had a mini avalanche and everything went white. My daughter thought it was hilarious!

[Jetfire]

A couple of winters ago there was about a foot of snow on my Jeep. I swiped it off my windshield, hood and windows but didn't touch much of the stuff on top except where it touched the doors. Guess what happened when I had to make a quick stop because of an idiot pulling out in front of me. I had a mini avalanche and everything went white. My daughter thought it was hilarious!

Cool. And expected. I might do that sort of thing if I was in a controlled place like my driveway or an empty-ish parking lot. It'd probably be a bit easier to clear the snow off the top at least.

Otherwise though, I'm always careful about clearing the car or truck of as much snow and ice as I can get before I leave. And if I do have to leave some on, I'll check to make sure nothing's getting lose when I stop, and clear further if needed.

[VenomX]

I b*tch about this all the time. Half our lot will be clean because one of us is clearing it. Where do the morons park and clean off their cars? In the part of the lot we just cleared.

I have been known to tell them they can now leave and not to bother going into the store. And I WILL call them on being an ignorant a**hole.

[wolfie]

Last snowstorm, I drove to work with a considerable amount of snow still on my car. It was bonded to the car by ice. Removing it would've meant taking off the paint too.

At least that snow's not likely to fly off into the windshield of another car, which I suspect that law is concerned about.

But due to the cold weather, were you running the heater? If so, the bottom layer would MELT, releasing the iceberg's bond to your car, and it would let loose at some point.

My family would joke that you could tell who wasn't native to Buffalo (like us) by whether or not the hood had been cleaned of snow.

WTF? People clean off the windows, but leave snow on the hood. First thing that will happen is that the snow from the hood will blow off and cover their windshield.

As for the "must clear snow off the roof" laws, I don't know of any trucker who carries a ladder that can reach the top of a trailer, and under OHSA it's illegal to work that high off the ground without fall-stop gear (trailer doesn't have anchor points for it). Due to HOS, you have to stop overnight at a rest area or truck stop, and that's when it snows. Since by law you have to clear the snow, and you're also not permitted to do so, does that mean you have to stay there until the snow melts away (possibly a couple months)? Of course, MA has the solution to the problem - make sure the service plazas on the Pike don't have parking spaces for trucks.

[dog_mu]

Talking about snow sliding off the roof, that happened to my mother. She cleared her windows, but not the roof. After she had driven a few blocks, she stopped at a light. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the snow moving forward and turned on her wipers. The wipers kept the snow from covering her windshield and blocking her vision. Now she always clears the roof if its covered.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

WTF? People clean off the windows, but leave snow on the hood. First thing that will happen is that the snow from the hood will blow off and cover their windshield.

Oh no, it happens all the time. During this particular snow storm, a guy in a pick-up truck (that was way high off the ground with HUGE tires, it looks ridiculous) parked in front of the window.

The only snow he had cleaned off the hood was just enough to make it so the driver side window was clear. (So basically, he swept off a couple inches on his side so he could see, while leaving everything else on, including enough on the other side to inhibit his view out of that half of the window.)

Yarp. People be dumb.