Where I'm from, weather can be a bit of a hassle. Snow and ice are not great to drive in, and we in our area tend to compound the difficulty by clearing the bare minimum viewing hole in the windshield before heading down the highway half-blind and steering into the snow cloud left by the guy in front of you who didn’t bother to clear off his roof.
Seriously, though: if you're careful, attentive, and drive slow enough to handle your vehicle properly, you will be fine. It will just take you longer to get anywhere. Obviously. One day took me just over three hours to get to work. No joke. That was not a good day. But I made it. I'm that person who will always be at the office, no matter the weather. I am also one of the people who lives the furthest from the office. If I can make it in, so can you.
But, hey, self-awareness is important. I can appreciate I’m that kind of person, and you may not be. You may be a different kind of person. You may be the kind of person who is inclined to see weather as a gift God gave you to take a free day off work.
However…IF you are that kind of a person, at least be good at being that person.
I think fondly back to a snow storm that dropped just shy of six inches in a night with a bit of ice underneath. I left the house early to ensure I would arrive at the office on time. Took me longer than usual, but another feature of the area I live in is that the roads clearing crews are top notch, so it really wasn't a bad drive. I settled in at my desk and started with the first task of the day: going through voicemails.
[Sidenote: Oh, voicemails. I'll make a note to discuss those another time. They can be...something else.]
Anyway, I was sipping my hot chocolate and listening to voicemails when I came across one that was left just after nine the previous night. The gentleman in question was calling off for the following day's work "due to the weather" and he "didn't want to drive in it because it's dangerous."
Alright. Sure. It was definitely snowing something fierce at 9pm the previous night. I'll give the guy that. However, let me point out a couple of things:
It had ceased snowing earlier that morning before I even walked my dog at 5:20am. No more snow. It was done.
All major roads had been plowed by the time I left my house at 5:45am. Plowed and sanded/salted.
This one is the kicker: The guy worked second shift. Not only did he work second shift, but his shift didn't start until 3:30pm.
In essence, the guy called off at 9pm the previous night for his 3:30pm shift the following day.
By noon the roads were mostly dry.
By the time I left the office at 4pm, the roads were 100% dry.
As I said: If you are that guy, fine. I can accept that. But at least be good at being that guy. Make me work for it.
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