SC vs. snow

[pyxee]

I was calling in to work one time...four hours before my shift (which is outlined in the employee manual). The manager asked me if I could just call back and see if I feel better by then. WTF!!! Do you know how a call-in works buddy?

Why do most call-ins turn in to a debate? Is it just me or where I work?
One time I heard a co-worker in the background say that I was faking. So I came in...puked on the floor and in front of customers...looked at that co-worker and said "oh I guess I'm FAKING." I hoped they had to clean it up.

Yep, every single time. I think that they are even supposed to ask that. I had one place though that really took the cake. My husband is not the brightest sometimes and has a history of injuring himself in weird ways..... This particular time he managed to stab himself in his upper arm I was sharpening the knife or something I really don't know. I got a call from him toward the end of my shift that I need to meet him at the hospital. He ended up with 4 or 5 stitches it wasn't too serious but his arm was pretty much useless for a few days. So I go to work the next day because we managed to get a friend stay with him and the kids, but I knew that he would not be able to handle things the next day, since he was not able to even lift a cup with that arm by the time I left for work.
So I tell my manager that I won't be in tomorrow since he will not be capable of watching the kids. She says no problem just be sure to call tomorrow and confirm it. The next day comes and I call eight hours before I am supposed to be in, she now says I have to come in, because there is no one in the entire company that can fill for me and if I have a problem call the office. So I called the office, and talk to the owner's son. He begs me to figure something out for about ten minutes, before realizing that I am not going to budge, the asks "well how many kids to you have.... um maybe you...." I cut him off real quick and just said look I am not going in today, and that is it. He just sort of stammered " well if you don't make it in we will put it down as a quit..." I just hung up and never even went back there.
I had known that the had let some clerks bring their kids in, but I never though the owners would ask me to, just amazing.

[Marnier]

Try this on for size. I work for a transportation company......schools included.....

A 25-30 minute trip that I normally drive was done by another driver because my students were released from school early.

Well this 25-30 MINUTE drive turned into 9 HOURS. This poor woman, she's so sweet, (and semi senile) had to sit in the car for that long. Most of my company ended up working a 17+ hour day yesterday.

Me, I finished before the snow even started, I had a doc appointment and told them earlier that I couldn't work. That worked out well for me.

[smileyeagle1021]

We're somewhat lucky in Utah, that most people here have handled snow before and have no problems with it. My worst drive though was when I lived up in Logan (as much as I complain about Logan it was still one of the best years of my life). I had to come down to Riverdale (just outside of Ogden, normally an hour drive) to get some warranty work done on my laptop. It started lightly snowing on my way down but I wasn't concerned, I had handled much worse. I dropped off my laptop went to the Wendy's across the street (I remember their onions weren't as good as normal that day... kinda creepy I know) and during the about 20 minutes I was in the restaurant it went from lightly snowing to a near white-out. It took me nearly 6 hours to get back... yeah it sucked.

[Tex]

I called into work because I had gotten some carbon monoxide poisoning that night, and my family had to move out of our house in the middle of the night, and get to my grandparents. I was throwing up a decent amount, and when I figured it was late enough, I called work to tell them what happened. Their response? "Are you sure you can't come in?" You are talking to the one person who NEVER calls in, and my mom practically has to force me to call in whenever I do get sick. If it wasn't a big deal, I would have just shown up. Bah.

WHAT THE FARK IS THAT BULLSHYT? You have Carbon Monoxide poisoning, a VERY SERIOUS ILLNESS (something that can kill you in a matter of hours) unless treated very quickly, and they still expected you in? That would be the last straw for me: I would've needed the police to drag me out in handcufs, b/c that stupid S.O.B. would be in a coma by the time I got done w/ him.

Tex

[ArenaBoy]

I always found that for calling in when they say are you sure, simply say well if you want to risk being reported for health code violations or having a customer complain about being puked on then yeah sure I'll come in.

For snow, I was stuck in Traverse City for a few days, friends and I went up to there for a vacation. I got a call from work, they asked me if I was able to do snow crew, I laughed and said "I'm in Traverse City, it would take 10 hours at this rate for me to get here!"

[Imogene]

Every retail job I have ever worked, when you would call in, it would always be a debate.

I've been in to work even though I've been starting to get sick the past two days. I have an intensely powerful immune system, though, so I don't usually get the common stuff that just gets passed around, I only get the life-or-death syndromes.
First day I did that, I was there before the store opened. The SM slid open the doors for me, and asked me how I was. "I'm a bit sick, truthfully."
"Well, thanks for coming in anyway."
*blink, blink* Let's just hope I'm not contagious yet, or there will be NO ONE here the next few weeks.

[karl hungus]

The rest of Canada laughs at us in Vancouver. Three inches of snow and everything grinds to a halt.

While yer at it, go ahead and laugh at Louisville, Ky. This whole town starts panicing when snow is even predicted, and when the first flake fall, there's 3 newsteams out live reporting on it.
Which, oddly enough, brings me to my own SC snow tale.

Probably, oh 8 or 9 years ago, I was working at a record store about a 20 min. drive from my house, waaaayyyyy across town. In the oh-look-how-trendy-and-rich section out in the county. It was a small store in a shopping center that had a 24 hour Krogers and your usual assortment of other shops. We were way up at the other end so once it got past 8 business would drop majorly, maybe 3 or 4 people an hour. It was a week night and there were 2 of us working. Me, who lived that looong drive away, and my co-worker who live about twice as far. I forget what month it was, maybe January. Anyway, the news is all about this severe winter storm moving in with lots of snow accumulation. Now, at that time I drove an old '86 Nova, and my fellow employee drove something compact, so we're both watching the updates and watching it start to snow outside. After about an hour it's much heavier and accumulating fast. Now, on weeknights we would close at 10:00, but tonight its snowing like crazy. There's no traffic at all in the lot except up a Krogers, but even then, not much. The manager calls, asks how slow we are. We're like, well we've had 2 people in about 1 1/2 hours and he tells us to wait a half hour then close and get home since there 's a weather advisory out, and nobody in they're right mind will be out in that weather. So it's about around 8:00 and we're lockin' up. It's snowed a few inches already and getting heavier and there's hardly any tire tracks in the lot, it's a ghost town. We're getting everything ready to leave and all of the sudden there's this guy knocking on the door. I go to the door where we have a temp. sign saying we're closing early and why, and he's acting all mad. I point to the sign and tell him we're closed early due to weather conditions. He's like "but it's 8:30!!"
So I'm telling him "the manager wants us to close early so we can get home before the roads get too bad".
"But you're supposed to close at 10" he barks.
"Yeeeees, we do normally, but you know, winter storm advisory, possible 8 inches of snow. We're closing early tonight."
SC "F*** that, I want to get a CD"
Me: "Well we're closed. Early. So we can get home safely."
SC "I don't care."
Me "Welllllll, sorry. Bye"
SC "F**** you" and walks away alll huffy..................................... and gets in his big 4 wheel drive SUV and drives off.
Yeah, I love the public.

[Dave1982]

I'm guessing you're too young to remember the blizzard of '78.

AARRGG......sorry, that is a pet peeve of mine. For the record, I was not alive during the Blizzard of 78 (as per my name here, I was born in 82), but I am certainly aware of the significance of it. That event was hardly normal. Yet, whenever people around here hear the word "snow" they think "BLIZZARD OF 78!" No, morons, just a plain vanilla snowstorm which you should all be used to by now. It's like hearing "rain" and thinking "Hurricane Andrew" or "Hurricane Katrina" (not to make light of either of those events), which is just stupid. Trust me, though meteorology is hardly an exact science, we would KNOW if another Blizzard of 78 were on the way, just like we'd know if a hurricane was coming.

I've heard about the Blizzard of '78....it was 30 years ago.


This is now, we've haven't had that much snow in awhile. We get less than two inches...and if you can't survive that blizzard, then I think Darwin has a few choice words for you.

EXACTLY! I agree 100%. If you can not handle snow, then you have no business living in an area that gets snowfall, especially New England, the Lakes Region, or [fill in any other area that gets LOTS of snow]. Move to a tropical area and stop making things worse for the people who CAN handle it.

[protege]

I was only 2 in '78, so I don't remember much about the blizzard...other than playing in the snow. I do though, remember my mother having to use a sled to get me at nursery school then. We had a VW station wagon then, and my father hadn't put the snow tires on yet Even with the engine at the back, it still took her awhile to get home, and come back with the sled. Other than that, very little was moving that day.

The blizzards I remember, were the 1990-91 versions. These literally shut us off from the world. 3-feet-plus closed our street for a week, and many of the main roads were dangerous. It was like a bomb hit--nothing was moving. No buses, no cars, nothing.