Mental Health Thread #4 -- Fall/Winter
- Thread Starter Betty3
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Betty3
Well-Known Member
LOL ferretrick.
Elle, it sounds like you are saying you were at work at your regular time & didn't know you had until 10:00am - bummer.
Elle, it sounds like you are saying you were at work at your regular time & didn't know you had until 10:00am - bummer.
lda01
New Member
This is my first day back in the office since last Thurs. afternoon. Darn ice storm sure scrambled my schedule for the week. Had no power for one day, but was luckier than some folks. The roads were mostly dry this morning except for bridges, overpasses and elevated roadways which still had several inches of "chunky style" ice on them. Being one of the early birds in the office I rolled out our new salt cart and stated spreading salt on all the walk ways. If one of my employees posts a video of me "break-dancing" on the frozen sidewalk they're gonna be in a heap of trouble.
Betty3
Well-Known Member
It is way too early for this very cold weather & snow/sleet/ice some of us are already getting! 
Yesterday I lucked out and it was a genuine snow day. It was one of those perfect snow days where there I actually found out about it pretty early, it snowed like crazy in the morning but stopped by around lunchtime. We got less snow than expected so the roads were not too bad and I was even able to run a few errands in the afternoon. I spent the day relaxing and baking.
Sounds like fun, Elle! I don't think we've ever had a snow day. We don't get all that much snow here to start with and even if we did have a really heavy snowfall, I only live a couple of miles from the office and our road is a major one that is one of the first to be plowed (and we drive an SUV) so I would definitely be expected to be here. They might cut me some slack for being a little bit late, but I'd still have to show up. A couple of my co-workers live literally across the street from the office so there would at least be three of us who would make it in even if it snowed several feet!
There are benefits to working in education. Snow days is one. Dating someone who also works in education (different employer) and lives only 15 minutes away makes it even better. After 2009 *shudder* I cringe when snow is in the forecast. Multiple blizzards did me in. When you literally can't get out the back door of the house because there is 5 feet of snow piled up, it is not so much fun.
Betty3
Well-Known Member
I always worked for the same employer & we never had a snow day (not a school though - ins. co.). I never missed a day because of snow either. I can remember when I first started working & took the bus to work. I had to wait in freezing cold for the bus which would be late due to road conditions but it always came. We had to wear dresses or skirts/blouses to work then. (just the women 
) I would wear slacks under my dress or skirt & take them off when I got to work. I had to walk several blocks to work after getting off the bus also. Fun times.
) I would wear slacks under my dress or skirt & take them off when I got to work. I had to walk several blocks to work after getting off the bus also. Fun times.Our schools very rarely even get a snow day. I remember just one when my kids were little. It snowed like crazy over a weekend, and on Sunday I opened my front door to a snowdrift about four feet up that side of the house. On Monday the schools were closed, but the kids had a dentist appointment so I bundled them up and put them on a sled and with one hand I cut a path on the sidewalk with a shovel and with the other hand I pulled the kids behind me on the sled the mile or so to the dentist's office! Back then it was an adventure. Now, it would be either a) a colossal pain in my behind, or b) out of the question.
When that huge snow started to melt, some streets were sheer ice from the packed snow on them. My mom lived up the hill from us, and we decided to walk to her house. About halfway up the hill, I realized that we were stuck; it was too slippery to keep on our feet either going up or coming down. Luckily, it was a rarely-used side street, so the three of us got down on our hands and knees and crawled the rest of the way up. Must have been quite the sight, a young woman with two little boys in their snowsuits crawling up the hill on all fours!
When that huge snow started to melt, some streets were sheer ice from the packed snow on them. My mom lived up the hill from us, and we decided to walk to her house. About halfway up the hill, I realized that we were stuck; it was too slippery to keep on our feet either going up or coming down. Luckily, it was a rarely-used side street, so the three of us got down on our hands and knees and crawled the rest of the way up. Must have been quite the sight, a young woman with two little boys in their snowsuits crawling up the hill on all fours!
Betty3
Well-Known Member
When I went to school, we never got a snow day & we had some pretty darn deep snows. It was just expected that the teachers & students got there.
Betty3
Well-Known Member
Sometimes now when snow is predicted for the next day, they call off school the evening before & it never comes or very little. Oh well, I guess they are being on the safe side. Of course, I know students who didn't have TVs when I was in high school & we didn't have a phone until after I was out of school & working.
(& of course no computers/internet)
Good thing school was never called off - would have been a little hard to inform people until they got there - since people did get there, we always had school.
(& of course no computers/internet)
Good thing school was never called off - would have been a little hard to inform people until they got there - since people did get there, we always had school.
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Having worked for a school system, let me tell you it is lose/lose no matter what they do. Call it the night before and parents gripe like crazy if it isn't a blizzard at 6 AM. Wait until morning and parents gripe they don't have time to make daycare arrangements or woke the kids unnecessarily. If so much as a flake or flurry falls and school isn't called off, parents gripe that we endangered the lives of their children and took an unnecessary risk, after all, it could have been worse. Call it because there is actually snow/ice and parents gripe that they are stuck home with their kids and we are too soft. Even more fun, my system had a blend of both urban and very rural. While the flat as a pancake city streets might be passable, the barely paved roads through the mountains were another story. Heck, I lived in a town and most of the roads were not what you would call "winter friendly". Ask Cathie. Inevitably, every snow day, there would be letters to the editor and phone calls out the wahzoo from parents who live across the street from the school, in town, wondering why it is we had to close for a couple of inches. Why, junior made it to the school playground to sled that very afternoon. Meanwhile, the higher elevations not only got twice the amount of snow but didn't see a plow for 3 days. About the only time we didn't get unending complaints was after Sandy and Snowmageddon. Of course the fact that almost no one had power and the phone lines were down cut down and there was no mail service cut down on the number of complaints.
lda01
New Member
Growing up in several north-central states snow was no big deal and seldom a cause for shutdowns. I recall missing one day due a blizzard in ND back in HS. They actually had school that day but those of us on rural bus routes were excused since the bus got stuck. However the lack of snow removal equipment and the relative skill level of drivers (on snow & ice) makes even a little bit of bad weather a big deal around here. However, ice storms like we had last week even baffle some of the northern transplants in the office.
cbg
Super Moderator
All I can say, Elle, is that I am so glad you are no longer in that house where if you slipped on the ice at the wrong time you'd end up in the river at the bottom of the hill.
When I was growing up each school district was assigned a number. Our number was 460. Almost inevitably, we'd be listening to the numbers of the closed districts and would hear, "455...456...457...458...459...461...462..." It would have to be Snowmageddon before our district would close.
I was in high school during the year that we stayed on daylight savings time all winter. In PA at that time (and maybe there still is for all I know) there was a law that said if you bussed to the public schools, you had to bus to the private schools as well. Instead of bussing to private schools, my district opted to stop bussing to the public schools beyond 8th grade. There were storms when my mother kept me home from school on bad weather days when the school was open, rather than drive me herself (she was not a very confident driver at that time) or have me walk (which is what I did most days) in the dark on the ice. My younger siblings, since they were still bussed to school were NAWT very happy with still being sent to school when I was staying home.
When I was growing up each school district was assigned a number. Our number was 460. Almost inevitably, we'd be listening to the numbers of the closed districts and would hear, "455...456...457...458...459...461...462..." It would have to be Snowmageddon before our district would close.
I was in high school during the year that we stayed on daylight savings time all winter. In PA at that time (and maybe there still is for all I know) there was a law that said if you bussed to the public schools, you had to bus to the private schools as well. Instead of bussing to private schools, my district opted to stop bussing to the public schools beyond 8th grade. There were storms when my mother kept me home from school on bad weather days when the school was open, rather than drive me herself (she was not a very confident driver at that time) or have me walk (which is what I did most days) in the dark on the ice. My younger siblings, since they were still bussed to school were NAWT very happy with still being sent to school when I was staying home.
Betty3
Well-Known Member
Rain, then freezing rain, then snow for St. Louis today into tomorrow. Ugh. It's not even winter yet!
lda01
New Member
I don't envy you that freezing rain Betty. It looks like we have a one week respite from the nasty stuff, but they say more in on the way. Just in time for Christmas.
Betty3
Well-Known Member
We (coworkers) exchanged cards & some of us also got quite a few from ins. agts. since we would underwrite the applications they sent in. I would thumb tack mine to my office wall to display them. (One side of my office wall had bulletin board type material.)
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