Blizzard? STAY HOME!

Living in the midwest, I am used to long winters, ice storms, below zero cold and snow drifts, but one thing I cannot get used to are the idiotic people who live around here.

Here is a tip for those of you who have frozen brains this time of year - if there is a blizzard, a winter storm warning, an ice advisory or otherwise foreboding forecast and you don't have a matter of life or death to be out in it - STAY HOME.

Just stay home, have a cup of cocoa and chill out on the sofa. Make the effort to snowblow the driveway and shovel a path to the yard for the dog but don't go out in the public domain and don't drive.

I worked retail for a number of years and I'd practically kill myself to get to work in horrendous weather - why? Because braindead people still managed to go to the stupid mall when they should have gone or stayed home and I was still required to get to work.

The mall here will not close unless the highway closes. The highway. It takes an act of utter destruction for a HIGHWAY to actually close. Landslides, earthquakes, flash floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorist attacks - mall is still open!

I will recount a couple stories for you about the mall and the weather.

Our local mall used to have a little competition from a smaller mall on the other side of town and these two malls would wait for the other mall to close so they'd effectively play 'chicken' - waiting out the other to see who would close down first.

Here is the thing - if the mall is open for business and you are late opening or don't oepn, you face fines in the thousands, so employees are strongly encouraged to get their gates up on time.

One year when I worked in a mall cookie store/bakery I was there with my manager and we had a particularly horrendous forecast looming - 12 inches of snow, freezing rain, ice, bitter cold... basically the worst blizzard you can imagine.

It had already started when the minions had made their way in to work that morning and a number of merchants met in center court to discuss if the mall would close or not. Schools had shut down due to the frigid temps so we all waited. Word came down from the manager of the mall - who, by the way was at HOME in his nice toasty bed,
that the mall would remain open.

So, a few hours later when it's really bad outside, the mall manager decides that maybe he should close the place. So, there we all were... a couple hundred people having to go outside, scrape feet of snow from the cars and try to get home safely.

Another time I was working at a card shop and school was closed that day and a number of businesses had told their employees to stay home. One lady came into my store and was all excited because she had the day off because of the weather.

Let's back up and think about that. YOU do not have to go to work today because the weather is so bad outside that your employer said don't come in?

Um... and you're at the mall? If YOU weren't at the mall maybe WE could get sent home. If there are no customers then maybe the mall manager would close the place down so the rest of us don't have to risk our lives getting here or getting home.

Don't force other people to risk their lives to wait on you at places you don't need to be. Stay away from the retail places and the restuarants.. let those people go home and be safe.

Stay warm everyone.