Why You Had to Show Up at Work in the Snowstorm

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My boss called this morning and told me that our not-for-profit business is closed for the day. Three hours later he called and told me to "stick around" because he may decide to open it afterall. The roads are icy. Should I say "no" if he calls again? I had already made other plans.

Janet of CT 11:55AM February 11, 2013

my boyfriend is a retail worker and I'm a school teacher he complains about how many days teachers have off .he's in retail and no matter what he has to go to work. he says we are raising a generation of wussies because school gets called off too much what do you think ? I wish you would stop whining. he says when he was in school back in the day they put chains on the school bus wheels and kids made it to school I told him there more lawsuits more liability issuesso what's wrong with our generation now he says. I explained to him there are more parents willing to sue and liability is an issue now a days .PS he's not even a parent

kendra of NH 9:11AM February 08, 2013

If you take a look out the window and aren't sure whether you can make it in to work safely or not, then common sense says stay home. This may alter with several factors, such as the area upon which you live and the type of vehicle you drive. Only YOU know if conditions are deemed appropriate to drive in to your scheduled shift, not your employer.
My employer, which is in the retail business, is far more concerned about losing sales via closing down early during a snow storm than the safety of their own employees. Snow storms usually get worse as the day lingers on anyway, so you always have to factor in how conditions will be at the end of your shift as you prepare the drive for home.

Jeff George of NJ 6:26PM August 26, 2011

I lived in the Northeast part of PA, so I know snowstorms. The difference between driving in PA and TX, where I now live, is that there is not enough plows, sand trucks, etc to clear the roads. So driving in an ice or snow storm is not the same as back in PA. My employer never closes and this is the first time in my 5 yrs. that the company said on their weather hotline that if you could not make it in, it will be excused whether you have time or not. Now the unfair part is they will take my sick and personal time to use for that snow day, and it is excused the same as the person who has no days. So if I got sick the following week, with no sick time, it would be unexcused. Even if I have vacation time, I cannot use that because I have to give 48 hrs notice to use vacation time! Why we can't work from home on occasions like this is beyond me. They would rather me get into an accident and either have no vehicle or be injured and be off for a week or so than give me that one snow day. Corporate companies are just too greedy! And they do not care anything about their employees, just about the almighty dollar.

Angie of TX 10:04PM February 08, 2011

Ok so I am the owner of a Preschool. All the children that live in the neighborhood Will attend school if is designated that the Public Schools are open. We are open as well. So I have this teachers assistant that tells me she will not drive in the snow. So sometimes she shows up because someone drives her or she gets car service and complains about the $$$ she spent or as she did the other day, she called me at 6:30am to tell me again she was not coming in. Hence she said she could not get out of her driveway. I asked if her husband was going to work since he was a big guy in an Engineering firm. She said no he stayed home too. I asked if anyone decided to put some salt on the ice as I did? She said no they could not do that either. She called car service she said but it would take them 3 hours to get to her She said she could not call the night before to have a car there because she said the car service would not do this. She said for her safety she could not get in. But everyone else showed up!! What about the safety of my 2.5 - 4 year olds? I asked. Who was going to watch them since I cwent down the line of calling up Subs and everyone was busy. So now we are minus a Teacher but thats OK and she was home nice and safe but.... if something happened to one of the children it would be on me because I was short on my staff. With this business you need to have a dedication to your school besides that this is your OBLIGATION to be at your job. She was told this at the date of hire and agreed to it all. So I want her to give me a Guarantee that if the weather is bad again she WILL BE THERE or I cannot use her anymore and I will dispute her unemployment benefits that she does not deserve. Who do these people think they are?

Maria Long of NY 9:02PM February 03, 2011

All it will take is ONE lawsuit taken up by a widow of an employee killed or maimed while attempting to negotiate hazardous roads because they were required to drive into work during hazardous weather.....
A $multi-million$ lawsuit would be enough for other companies to reconsider their position on REQUIRING employees to show up while threatening them with their jobs. Unfortunate as it is.
depending on the company, one lawsuit can be enough to close down a company for good!
With laptops, broadband speeds and VPN....The only reason an employee really needs to go into work is because employers are so afraid of employees taking advantage of the situation and goofing off.

Someone of PA 11:12AM January 19, 2011

I work in an assisted living facility and we are REQUIRED to show up for work no matter what. It is an incredibly inflexible job, just a few months ago we had a pretty bad snow storm that made the highways a disaster and it started only about an hour or two before i had to be at work at 6 am, my car barely made it there and I will confidently admit it was one of the scariest driving experiences of my life. The problem is these resident's have no one to care for them and rely on the aides for pretty much everything, even our safety procedures for biological outbreak mandates that we must be there and risk infection (the flu currently spread in our facility with about 1/4 of the residents showing symptoms.) In terms of scheduling it is one of the most horrible jobs I have ever had.

anonymous of MI 4:01AM March 27, 2010

I was manager of 2 tax offices when we got an ice storm that crippled our area for over 3 weeks. 1 office was 10 miles from my home and the other was almost 30 miles in the other direction in a very small town. It took 45 minutes to get to the one just 10 miles away when my "boss" called and said that the other office HAD to be opened ASAP. She lived just about 2 minutes from our main office and followed a snow-plow to work. After going, MYSELF, to get another person to work in the office I opened, it took 2 1/2 HOURS to get to the other office. When I got to the small town, everything was shut down except the street/highway department, police, hospital, and a gas station that the owner lived behind. When I told my boss the situation, she told me that "people MIGHT come in"!!!!!!! The ONLY vehicles out were the snow-plows!!! Even the police were using their personal 4-wheel drive trucks!!! She got mad when I left early (after 4 hours with no customers or phone calls!!!). I even had to call the street department so I could follow a snow-plow just to get out of town!!! All I got out of it was her trying to stop my season's bonus because 1 of my offices weren't open at least 5 days every week! (She didn't make it to work several days because of the weather either!!!!)

Taxlady of MO 1:38AM March 17, 2010

i would sue my employer as an entity and my boss as an individual if i lost property (my vehicle) or potential income (injury preventing working in the future) in half a heartbeat. remember kids, you are nothing but a number to "them".

Lisa Justice of WV 12:21AM March 17, 2010

When it's a snow storm out and I am supposed to go to work, I call out. My boss never sounds happy about it but if I get in an accident on the way to work then not only will I still not be there that day but maybe more if I'm injured and without a car I wouldn't be able to get there at all. So she sucks it up and lets me take it off because she knows that it will be better to have me there the rest of the time than risk losing me. It's good to have that kind of security and if I didn't than I should find a new job that suits my needs a little better.

Karrie of MA 3:59PM March 16, 2010