Have you ever taken a day off from work, due to bad road conditions?

Well, I was lucky in that I worked for a school district. They close at the first sign of bad weather, even if the roads in town were relatively clear. It was the country kids they worried about.

I remember in 1980 or so there was a horrendous snowstorm in Wichita. Everyone got the day off. Problem was….it was payday. Back then you had to physically pick up your check. You can imagine the fun we had with hundreds of other Boeing employees who made it to the building to get their check before they took the day off due to inclement weather. It really was fun. :) Of course, I was only 20. Floods were fun to me then, too. :)

As I am getting older,I really pay attention to road conditions in the winter,and if all hell is breaking loose I will take the day off,90% of the time the roads are in a lot better shape the next day.

Back in the old days when I lived up North, there was more than one occasion when we’d have a blizzard that came through during the night and the next morning the smart thing to do was what the city, state and others recommended – stay home. Down here, years later, if the roads are that bad, the whole county shuts down…..all the highways are closed, no one in their right mind goes anywhere. They’ve even been known to close things down when we get a heavy rain and some of the roads are closed due to flash flooding. When we get an ice storm come through – which happens occasionally – the major highways even shut down and there will be 18-wheelers (and even a few cars) backed up for over 20 miles – you can imagine what its like the next day when the ice melts and they open the highways!

I’ve never owned a car, so bad weather has never been an impediment to reaching work (public transit is excellent in my city). Ironically, on some occasions I’ve had employers shut down due to bad weather, so that the drivers didn’t have to go out in it. Thanks for the day off, drivers!

If it’s really bad, I will stay home but I try not to if others will be impacted by my absence.

Yes. I wouldn’t risk my life for work or school and you shouldn’t either!

@tups I agree but a lot of companies and Boss’s don’t share that same idea.

The day after hurricane Andrew I didn’t go to work, but I didn’t even think work would be open. I didn’t call in because of road conditions, I just didn’t go period. I was shocked to find out our store was open. Otherwise, I have always gone, rain, sleet, snow, wind, etc.

I didn’t go to work the day after hurricane Andrew either. My boss was really pissed. Did not like my excuse, not one bit!

@Dutchess_III Were you in Florida?

Yes, due to a shitload of snow, England grinds to a pathetic halt at the first sign of the stuff.

I went to work in San Francisco after the Loma Prieta earthquake, because the rapid transit system was working despite the collapse of a section of the Bay Bridge.

I worked from home, though, during the recent transit strike, because the traffic was too heavy.

@JLeslie um, well…no….no.

I’ve always commuted 40+ miles each way, and I’ve always made it into work unless instructed by my superiors to stay home. I work in health care, and although I offer an ancillary service, I recognize that it inconveniences a whole bunch of people if I don’t go to work.

Since becoming a RN, I have not missed due to weather conditions. I know what it’s like to be the nurse whose relief doesn’t show and and I know what it’s like to have to stay at work. We have 4-wheel drive on our vehicles and I leave with plenty of time that I can get to the hospital, even if it means driving really slowly to get there. Now we live within 10 minutes of the hospital, so I don’t have to leave quite as early, even in bad weather.

@Dutchess_III I figured. LOL.

Yeah. Took off after 9/11 too. Things DO affect us here in Kansas too, you know!

I would imagine being an RN it would be really important for you to be available for all the people who hurt themselves in the storm.

I really think most people can get to work, but hey….it’s a nice excuse if you’re allowed to use it.

I left work early on 9/11/01 because I had a son in school and my mother was in-flight from visiting relatives in Europe and due to arrive in Newark Airport in the late afternoon – so I had to try to find out where they diverted her flight and how we’d get her home. I looked at those towers every morning on my way in to work, and I watched the smoke blow due south along the Jersey Shore as I rode home that perfectly clear Tuesday morning – there were no other cars on the 5-lane highway. One of my son’s classmates nearly lost his mother in the towers – she was one of the few injured.

I still went in to work the next day, and most patients still kept their appointments.

^^^Wow.

I don’t drive but there have been a couple of times when the local buses weren’t running so I had no choice but to stay home. Once, I walked all the way (about 4 miles).

When the roads are bad I stay home. I have gone to work in light snow or when there were bad floods on the highway, and had a 3 hour ride to work (normally one hour tops) so it wasn’t worth it, to me. Same with the ride home – it’s nuts having a 3 hour ride home. It’s more worth it to leave work as soon as it starts snowing and not have to deal with the stress, the traffic, the slow ride.

I have fired a couple guys for not coming in because of bad road conditions.

Two young guys went up to Lake Tahoe to ski, Sunday a storm system came in and closed the pass. They called Monday, said the road was closed, and I excused them and said “see you tomorrow.”

I followed the road conditions, and knew the pass was open at 10 a.m. until another storm came in at 5 p.m. and the pass closed again. The guys called again in the morning, Tuesday morning. Seems they’d gone to ski the fresh powder on Monday but then were stuck again on the other side of the pass. I told them they absolutely needed to be at work the next day.

Tuesday was a repeat of Monday: they skied while the pass was open, then the pass closed again when they tried to drive home. Wednesday morning I told them to enjoy the skiing because they were no longer employed because of unexcused absences.

Ah @zenvelo. The story they would tell would be completely different. This is why we have to take every sob story (in this case, the one your ex-employees might tell) with a grain of salt.

I went to work on 9/11, although I was late. My sister had called me very upset when the first plane hit, she lives in downtown NYC, then the second plane hit when I was talking to her, so I immediately hung up to make sure my mom was not working in a government building (she worked for the FDA near DC) that day, and then when I tried to call my sister back I couldn’t get through. The day was surreal and awful and depressing. But, I went to work.

Really bad shape? Really? maybe I have a different take on that since I come from new England where 6 inches if “just a dusting” and moved to Seattle where 6 snowflakes is enough to close down the entire metroplex.

The last time I drove in NH, it was after a major ice storm so the roads were still covered in ice, which in turn was covered with a couple of inches of fresh powder as it was a white-out (visibility of under 25 feet), I hadn’t slept in three days, and I was driving a car with 4 bald tires. Given how bad the road conditions, the car condition, and my own condition were, I drove slowly; only about 40–45 MPH.

I have heard of many who have curled up at home in the bomb shelter for far less, and that has lowered my opinion of many drivers on the road.

Relevant

Nope. Schools and businesses might close down but bad roads are the name of the game.

I work in a place now that is a 24 facility we are expected to be there.

Driving in bad conditions is kind of a challenge and can be scary but also feels good to do. We’ve had a lot of bad roads lately between snow which we got dumped on betwixt the warming and such days, sleet, warming and freezing.

Following plows or driving on unplowed roads in the snow on top of ice roads varying in conditions due to how far snow and graveling got before they had to start over on the highest priority roads.

It does get old today I took a break and stayed in today. Though i was mingling along with the plows from a late night out last night.

That is one of the best things.. people driving around is lessened at least after our rush hours.

Maybe I should have stated ,that I drive transport trucks,and my job is to drive to a town 300 miles north of us with an empty 2 trailer unit 5.5 hour drive when the road are good,then load the truck with a payload that weighs 38,000kgs and drive 300 miles back to where I started from 6 hour drive if the roads are good,been doing this run for just over 6 years,and have seen roughly 20 fatal accidents and countless other ones due to icy roads,so when the roads are truly crap I’m taking the damn day off,because tomorrow the highway crews will have the road in a lot better condition.

No. I have had a day off because of bad weather but my workplace closed so it wasn’t my decision. I remember one year the snow was really bad but I still made it in to work when about 90% of my colleagues called in to say they wouldn’t be coming in. I was pissed off for a while that I had to work and they all got a day off until my workplace said that, as they didn’t consider the roads to be bad enough for people to take a day off work, anyone that hadn’t turned up would have to take a days unpaid leave. I was pleased I’d made it in after hearing that!

I used to go to work, come hell or high water. The company I worked for would give lip service to people staying home ‘alive for another day’, but reward those who came to work handsomely.

Two things broke me of it.
One day I started for work in a snowstorm. I live on a busy and important 2 lane highway. I made it less than ½ mile and back, and I was gone over an hour.
That same winter, they closed the plant I worked at (1,000 employees) due to winter weather and turned the employees who had made it to work BACK! So they risked their life for work twice in one trip.

Screw that.

I drive a plow in the winter, so the worse the roads are, the more likely I’m out in it. Due to where I live, I’m with @jerv on this too; 6 inches isn’t considered bad road conditions here (the average snowfall here is 93.6 inches).

Thank you @amujinx

To me, if you can’t get there, you can’t get there. If I go out in my car and crash it, and then have no car, how would I get to work then? If for some reason, my day off had to be unpaid, then so be it.

If I don’t go to work,I don’t get paid for that day.