The Redneck Sand Truck

[blas]

The property management company I rent from is one of the biggest in the area and owns several apartments and other buildings, but that still doesn't stop them from squeezing the pennies until Abe Lincoln poops.

It's been almost a week since the "Big Christmas Storm" hit, and since most of it was rain and sleet (with a bit of snow intervals), it's no surprise that parking lots were turned into ice rinks. Most parking lots have been properly taken care of, even though there was a holiday, people shouldn't have to risk getting hurt and suing places, ya know? Plus, it's been 4 days since Christmas.

The parking lot was SO bad Thursday/Friday/Saturday that at times I was grabbing the side mirror on my car hoping and praying it wouldn't bust off as I needed it to support me from falling. It was so bad that I had to take the smallest of baby steps just to get to my car. It was so bad that I had to drive to the dumpster to take out the garbage TODAY.

That doesn't mean squat! The maintenance crew just showed up, minutes ago.

There was a pickup truck, one guy driving it. Another guy, standing straight up in the BACK OF THE TRUCK. The back of the truck is filled with sand.

The truck goes up and down and around the parking lot, and the guy in the back of the truck shovels up sand and tosses it onto the parking lot, only getting the main spots and barely getting any out since he's tossing it sideways.

Unfreakingbelivable. Unsafe, yes. Cheap, yes.

[Midorikawa]

Whoa...and I thought mine was bad. Last year I had a 6" thick slab of ice under my car since they only plowed the main areas. Took 2 hours to get my car out one night before work. Took an hour and 3 people to get it back in: my room mate, me and a good samaritan UPS truck driver. If I had money back then I'd have paid the wonderful guy. I complained and since I hurt my back doing it, threatened to sue the management company.

Since then they've been better, but they hate me...wonder why. :-D

Midorikawa: Making waves at his condo park since 2008.

[Mnemjian]

Sand?? Were they just hoping that the sand had a high enough sodium content to melt the ice or something? Geez. I don't see how letting somebody break their leg and sue is much cheaper...

[Geek King]

Sand?? Were they just hoping that the sand had a high enough sodium content to melt the ice or something? Geez. I don't see how letting somebody break their leg and sue is much cheaper...

Throwing sand on ice will give you traction on it. Useful if its too cold for salt to work. Throwing it on snow is mostly useless, though.

[drunkenwildmage]

Sand?? Were they just hoping that the sand had a high enough sodium content to melt the ice or something? Geez. I don't see how letting somebody break their leg and sue is much cheaper...

It doesn't melt the snow/ice it just gives traction.. allot of rural places will use it instead of salt because it's cheaper. They also use ash allot of times for the same reason...My wife has some family members that work on Township/County Road Departments in rural central Illinois, and use allot of sand and ash on the secondary country roads, leaving salt just for the main highways.

[PepperElf]

thing is... if you slip and get injured wouldn't they be liable for doing such a crappy job?

[blas]

You would think that with such a large elderly population where I live, they'd be less cheap and half-assed with their snow removal and parking lot cleaning.

[Kogarashi]

Last week our complex sent out the warning to move our cars for a two-hour block one morning so they could come in and plow. Any cars left in the lot at start-time would be towed for the duration of plowing, so they could (supposedly) clear the whole lot. I planned a big morning of errands to overlap the plowing time so my car would be out of the way and I wouldn't have to worry about where I was going to park it in a town with no parking.

Sure enough, when I got outside to start my errands, there was the tow truck sizing up the cars that were still parked in the lot. The big backhoe loader they use to clear our lot was also just pulling in, ready to start where the cars were already gone. I left for errands.

I came back four hours later to find the backhoe loader still working, and a heap of snow around an obviously unmoved car right in front of my own building. That spot never did get plowed, leaving a half-foot of snow right where my daughter needed to walk to get to the sidewalk. ::grumble:: Not as bad as not salting an ice rink lot, but still quite the annoyance when it's contradictory to what you'd been told. Especially when every other inch of the lot was meticulously cleared.

[blas]

Oh I feel for you on that crap.

Every October, we get a nasty-gram taped to our doors, it's just a copy of one page of the lease, regarding plowing and moving our vehicles to the street.

It says that the morning after a snowfall of more than 2 inches, we MUST have our cars moved by 9 am, because that's when the plow will come. If we don't move, they will either plow you in or tow you.

Bullshit on the first part. The plow comes when it feels like....and that means everyone has to leave their car on the street all day until it comes (like I do so I don't have to worry) or just think that it won't show, and then have to scramble to move it when the plow shows up.

The first big snowstorm we got, I stayed at my parents for 2 days and figured it'd be plowed when I got home Thursday. Nope. In fact, only a small trail to get in and out had been made....some people's cars were still buried from Tuesday!

Naturally, the plow came around 11....and the maintenance douche showed up with him...parked the van right in the middle of the lot, and proceeded to go around pounding on people's doors to tell them to move.

I was out for a smoke and he went to this one apartment (they know whose car is whose) and he banged on that door and just banged and banged and banged, it started to sound like the cops were there. He just would not stop banging on that door until he hurt his hand, because he finally moved on to the next one...and proceeded to pound on that one. God forbid someone takes 2 minutes to get to the door!

I love how we get threatening letters on our doors, and they don't even go through with what they threaten us with!

Oh, and before this new plow guy, the last guy had to be 130 years old. He would come and plow even in March or April when the snow would be melting WHILE he was plowing. And that guy would take over 2 hours to plow a small parking lot.

[Shalom]

I came back four hours later to find the backhoe loader still working, and a heap of snow around an obviously unmoved car right in front of my own building. That spot never did get plowed, leaving a half-foot of snow right where my daughter needed to walk to get to the sidewalk. ::grumble:: Not as bad as not salting an ice rink lot, but still quite the annoyance when it's contradictory to what you'd been told. Especially when every other inch of the lot was meticulously cleared.

I think burying the car would have been a bigger LART for the owner of the vehicle than simply towing it out to the street.

(LART == Luser Attitude Re-adjustment Tool. Traditionally a 2x4 but can be anything which which attitude is adjusted; in this case, a backhoe. Luser is spelled that way on purpose; it's a (computer) user who is a loser, which is what the sysadmin and tech-support types call their SC's.)

[Ironclad Alibi]

Last week our complex sent out the warning to move our cars for a two-hour block one morning so they could come in and plow.

This does not seem to make a whole lot of sense. How can you move your car if it is surrounded by a lot of snow?

[Kogarashi]

I never have figured that one out. I guess it's a case of "Move it now when the snow is only a foot deep, or try to move it later when you've got a three-foot plow pile behind your car."

Unfortunately, the heap around the one car, while deep enough to get my toddler's legs thoroughly cold, was not enough for a proper LART lesson. Nevermind that it seemed to be the one car in the whole lot that the tow truck didn't bother with.

I guess it's still a bit better than last year when they didn't even try to have us move and did actually leave us with drifts to drive over to get out. Yay for 4WD and kitty litter.

[Flying Grype]

If you've ever put stone or coal eyes on a snowman, you might have noticed that they sink into its head because the sun warms them more than it warms/melts the snow itself directly. Sand on ice does the same thing -- the sand warms up and melts into the snow a bit, creating a gritty surface. My dad has a steep slippery hill for a driveway and usually uses a combination of sand and ash, because salt isn't good for the plant life and the lake.

[Ironclad Alibi]

And yet it is the piles of snow covered with black dirt that stay there long after after everything else has melted.

[mattm04]

At my school we have on campus parking for Seniors near the Dorms and off campus parking for Seniors who didn't get on on campus pass and Juniors and sophomores. If it is a big storm they have everyone move to to the off campus lot, a short walk. They plow the on campus parking then allow you to go to the off campus lot and dig out you car form the show and the plow and move ti back to on campus. On weekends, if needed they have everyone move on campus so they can plow the off campus lot.

It pays to have a truck or SUV after they bury your car with several feet of snow. Much easier then spending a hour digging out.