Colorado Blizzard, Anyone?

[April]

My husband drives a semi. Every day, he drives into a teeny little town north of Denver, drops a trailer, picks up a trailer. Drives back, runs his route and goes home. Except for today. When he has been stuck on E-470 for 5 hours now. I-25 is closed both directions, so even if he gets off E-470 he has no where to go. Told him that he better call his boss now and have him make hotel reservations now. Husband heard on the radio that it is snowing about an inch an hour with high winds. He has a 4 ft snow drift in front of his truck.

Down here, it's snowy and windy, and I guess in some areas, it is really nasty, but here it just looks a little slushy. Going to be a scary ride home though, if it's as bad as people are saying.

I HATE snow.

edit:
He finally made it to a hotel. But their power is out and there is a line for rooms. Fingers crossed!

mod edit: Merged two Colorado Blizzard threads

[Ceir]

Ah, our lovely land of bipolar weather. 70 yesterday, 14" of snow today, 50 tomorrow...

[Food Lady]

We're getting it here, too. I suppose the Easter Bunny can't shed his winter coat yet.

[WishfulSpirit]

Blizard Blues

A few stories from the other side of the Front Desk.

People wanted the shuttle van take them to the mall (how, dear Guest, do you suggest we get it out of the parking lot? Plus it's for freaking HOSPITAL runs).

Whining over the satellite TV being out (we're getting 3 inches of snow an hour, if we brush the dish off it's going to be covered again in 10 minutes). I understand the frustration but there's nothing we can do. Most people were annoyed but understanding, though. The only really sucky person was all "I'm here with 4 kids i have to have TV!" Umm...people figured out how to entertain their kids without television for thousands of years, I'm sure you can do it too.

One lady standing there with a smartphone in her hand demanding we look up information for local businesses for her. Line? What line? Also it's our fault her son's SCHOOL laptop is blocking Netflix. And that he has strep. Not her fault for travelling with a sick kid, nope, not at all. Oh and thanks, lady, for shoving his germy laptop at me so I can try to get it to work. Ewwww. Where's the Purell? (Edit, she was exhausted and hadn't eaten since 7am that morning...ok she gets a pass for being grumpy).

No, Dear Guest, it isn't my fault the cab companies have 30 minute hold times. Have you looked out the window? Use Uber. Stop whining about "I have to sign up for thaaaaaat." Sorry but Uber is about the only way you're getting anywhere today. The cab companies don't have 4WD vehicles. Many Uber drivers do.

The phone would.not.stop.ringing. I get that, lots of people trying to get a room because the airport shut down, so lots of calls is not sucky in itself (stressful but not sucky). The response to the fact that the roads to the airport were closed for part of the day got interesting, though. We'd tell callers that nobody could get to or from the airport, they'd say "but my parents are stuck there" and pause as if that changed everything and we could magically go pick them up.

No, 50th person on the phone to ask me this, we DO NOT have an airport shuttle. The hotel is 45 minutes from the airport on GOOD roads. We do not, and have never, provided transportation to and from DIA. Also, see previous point about the ROAD BEING CLOSED.

I may have used the phrase "Hulk Smash Phone" at some point.

Also some good stuff:

Most people were understanding about the TV issues. We posted signs about what newscasts stream their broadcasts, and offered to help look up flight info for anyone who needed it. Most guests found ways to entertain themselves. The internet was still working, but I saw folks in the lobby enjoying a good book by the fire. My coworker reported that on the evening shift, an impromptu poker tournament popped up in the lobby (think they were betting candy). Maybe this was the start of some friendships that wouldn't have happened if TV had been keeping everyone in their own little cells.

Bossman was a calming presence on a crazy day. I was getting frustrated with my dyscalcula and the non-stop suite shop purchases. He reminded me that lots of successful people have learning / info processing issues. While having a week-old infant at home and presumably working on not much sleep. I love my boss.

Sales manager took me out to dinner after my shift. The snow stopped and one of the nearby restaurants was open. Dinner was nummy. Especially because my 6:30am shift stretched from a completion time of 2:30 to 4:30pm and I'd had a bagel and a lemonade that day.

[Mr Hero]

The stars and planets aligned in my favor earlier this week and boss asked if I could work Saturday instead of today. I still had to deal with a crappy bike ride home, but at 6 in the morning, there was less than an inch on the sidewalk. Still had to be careful though.

Once home, it was amazing! I don't watch a lot of TV, so that wasn't an issue. Played a lot of video games while bundled up though.

I've gotta go back in on Thursday night, but I hope the roads are clear enough that I can at least take a bus.

[April]

He told me last night, after he made it to the hotel, that a SCHOOL BUS side swiped him, took off two of his side mirrors and drove off! He did get the license plate numbers though, so that's a plus

[WishfulSpirit]

Today I got bitched out that the parking lot was slick (no shirt shirlock) and that we needed to "scoop it out" right now. Bossman called our plow company but you can't "scoop out" black ice. All we can really do is put down de-icer.

BTW, I freaking KNOW the parking lot is an ice rink. I spent 45 minutes slipping around trying to scrape off the shuttle van this morning, predawn. So stop whining about ice that exists in full sun, where you can freaking SEE IT.

[April]

My husband was stranded on the outskirts of Denver last night and stayed in a Best Western? I think that his company regularly uses. He is going to write letter to their management because they were so helpful. One of the front desk clerks let him use her personal cell phone charger until he was able to get everything situated with work and he could walk to the nearest 7/11. Another tried to give him as many hygiene products as possible so he wouldn't have to buy all new stuff.

Now, they do see him fairly often, as he stayed there when he did his weeks training, and he (and I sometimes) stay there for various work events and company parties, but they really went above and beyond. It probably helps that we are always nice to employees.

[WishfulSpirit]

We try to do that too. We gave out breakfast food to stranded travelers when no restaurants were open, gave out toiletries (not that we don't do that anyway), and I let a guest use my gloves because I didn't need them and she didn't have any while trying to shovel out her car. If it was up to me we'd put cots in the conference room to help more people who couldn't get a hotel, but I don't think management would go for it. Liability and all that. If he does write the letter, try to have him mention the helpful people by name. Often they get a small bonus for that.

[Shyla]

What a mess. Snow does crazy things to people.

[Mr Hero]

I checked in a couple.

SC (To other person) Brr! It's cold outside! (To me) Do you have any rooms with a balcony?
Me: No we do not. Why would you want a room with a balcony?

[wolfie]

SC (To other person) Brr! It's cold outside! (To me) Do you have any rooms with a balcony?
Me: No we do not. Why would you want a room with a balcony?

They probably wanted it so that they could smoke on the balcony rather than having to go through the lobby to outside when they wanted to smoke.

[WishfulSpirit]

Had that too Mr. Hero. In the middle of a literal blizzard I have someone wanting a balcony room. Smelled like tobacco. Yeah, no. I know it won't make any difference that I already told him smoking on balconies isn't allowed (Denver Clean Air Act). So there isn't one available for him even if one does open up.

[April]

Had that too Mr. Hero. In the middle of a literal blizzard I have someone wanting a balcony room. Smelled like tobacco. Yeah, no. I know it won't make any difference that I already told him smoking on balconies isn't allowed (Denver Clean Air Act). So there isn't one available for him even if one does open up.

I really hadn't heard of the no smoking on balconies thing. Last time that I stayed in a hotel in Longmont, (about 6 months ago?) when the desk clerk saw me walking through the lobby with my cigarettes, he said I could smoke on the balcony, as long as I shut the sliding door.

[Slave to the Phone]

Here in the land of "We don't need more stinking sunlight" the balcony rooms do have signs that smoking isn't allowed on the balconies. I ignored the sign because the clerk who checked me in told me to just keep the door closed and not toss my butts all over the place.

He actually gave me that room because I asked to be close to the elevator because I was going to be going outside to smoke on a regular basis. It was probably the most undesirable room at the hotel, right next to the elevator with part of the building in front of the balcony so all that could be seen was a big brick wall. I thought it was great and asked for it again when I went back the next week.