General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAs someone who works in snow removal:
A few things:
- Please stay home when possible
- Please don't tailgate
- Trust me, I saw you a 1/4 mile or more before you saw me; trust that
- Please use off-street parking if at all possible
- Please understand that this amount of snow simply doesn't disappear overnight. While you sleep; we are working on twelve or more hours to complete the job. Clearing your driveway is nowhere near clearing an entire city of a snowfall of this caliber; it may take several DAYS in fact...
Lastly, enjoy the weather...from home! There will be plenty of days following the storm to enjoy the winter wonderland. Let us do our job so that you may safely enjoy your weekend!
GreenPartyVoter
(72,378 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Inkfreak
(1,695 posts)I live on the outskirts of our town. We are a beating, yet our snow removal guys take great care of us. Helpful & friendly. They take care to watch for my 3 snow-loving dogs. And even replace my mailbox which takes a beating regularly. I ALWAYS speak well of them.
Solly Mack
(90,773 posts)and take photos.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)Thanks for what you do, and the insane hours you have to do it during, AND for this post.
cali
(114,904 posts)And I love my plowing guys. I even love the rattle and scraping sounds as it thunders by with it's orange flashing lights. I find it comforting.
eggplant
(3,911 posts)But hey, can't you take an extra few minutes to clear the snowbank in front of my driveway? Just mine, you know. It wouldn't be fair to ask you to do everyone's. That might mean huge delays or something. I'll PM you my address.
Tracer
(2,769 posts)... one minute after I finish shoveling.
I thank you and my aching back thanks you too.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)plowing the drive before the streets are plowed is futile.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I'm doing my part by staying put. (and I have the Downton Abbey Season 3 DVD!! - so I am happily hunkered down!).
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)I work Upstate, however...
NBachers
(17,120 posts)We'd get socked with huge dumps of lake-effect snow every year. Somehow, the snowplow crews kept the streets clean. The only time they needed help was when the National Guard had to come in and dig us out, leaving snow canyons down the streets.
Be safe, and thanks!
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Yeah you guys in your giant orange trucks ARE so reassuring to see...
Thanks so much!
TheOther95Percent
(1,035 posts)It's not snowfall. It's snow dump.
NBachers
(17,120 posts)for the first time in decades. It was like visiting a mythical home kingdom again. The houses were all in the same place; the church was unchanged; the trees; the creek; the Erie Canal and the lift bridge; the cemeteries right there in the town proper. It felt so much like home. I love San Francisco, but I sure miss my home town of Spencerport.
But I also remember those big chunks of gravel-filled slush that freeze to the underside of your car. They fall off in the middle of the road and you have to dodge your way around them as you drive down the snowy streets.
riverwalker
(8,694 posts)Last edited Fri Feb 8, 2013, 08:09 PM - Edit history (2)
I am a nurse, we are not allowed to call in due to weather (when they say on the news "everyone stay home", they never mean nurses). So when I am up at 4 am getting ready, watching the weather, worrying "Oh god, am I going to make it? Did they plow yet?" then I hear the loud liberating rumbling of the plow go past my house. I always bless you.
(here 11 nurses were fired in DC for not driving in during blizzard 3 years ago. Hope Boston will be more lenient this weekend)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/27/AR2010022703793.html
Bluzmann57
(12,336 posts)Used to do some private snow removal until financial considerations (climate change, it doesn't snow here anymore) drove me out of business, so I can relate to what you are saying, at least a little bit. The city, county, and state employees who do this should be thanked on a regular basis. So thank you and keep up the great work.
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)Earth_First
(14,910 posts)It's an enormous undertaking.
Two feet of snow doesn't just get pushed out of the way in a megalopolis like Philly, NYC, Boston, et. al.
This will need to be trucked out and dumped in municipal lots outside of the city.
This will take several days.
irisblue
(32,980 posts)The house you save may be your own. Voice of experience here
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)This is one area that we do not handle in most situations...
ewagner
(18,964 posts)I am a local yokel elected official and the job you guys do is worthy of praise...you're worth every penny we pay you and then some....
I just have one tiny question....do you guys really wait at the end of the block until I'm finished blowing out my driveway so you can plow me back in again?
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)lol
Just kidding.
rox63
(9,464 posts)Thanks, plow-people!!!
handmade34
(22,756 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)NoPasaran
(17,291 posts)Doffs his borrowed cap in salute to you guys!
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)rather than watching it all from Florida. Yes, I do mean that as a NY transplant who lived through the blizzard of 78. I actually have nice memories from that. Florida people cannot understand that.
Have been trying all day to calm my kids in NY. You WILL get through this.
rdharma
(6,057 posts).......... not clearing my cul-de-sac within four hours!!!!!!
Just kidding, friend!
You guys are the modern day "cavalry to the rescue"!
Stay safe, stay warm,.......... and don't knock over my mailbox, if you can help it!
FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)such a sincere welcome. People down there couldn't believe their luck, and they came outside with cups of coffee and sandwiches. We fear it spoiled you plow guys...we only ever gave you... complaints.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)..straight from the public servant's mouth Yeah! We have our own snow removal truck & driver! Really, you be safe as you dig the world out. We'll be thinking of you when we're snug as a bug in our beds at night and hear you going up and down the streets.
calimary
(81,322 posts)That's gotta be rough work.
Mopar151
(9,989 posts)2naSalit
(86,647 posts)And a lot of fun, that particular unit has a work crew cab on it, the machines I use on occasion only have a passenger seat on the other side of the console. Those winged plow blades make the world go 'round in these parts... you can pick up a snowmobile and set it off to the side like it was just a chunk of congealed snow. These machines are what it takes to plow my road (which resembles the one in the video), see them often. They are also what ski resorts use to groom the ski trails, very agile and nimble.
Earth_First, have a safe set of shifts out there, it's a serious public service you provide and we who need you thank you!
midnight
(26,624 posts)AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)hahaha, just kidding. I know its freaking hard work you do.. keep up the great work!
I remember the snowplows in upstate NY doing that but worse of all..we would shovel out the drive way and a snowplow would come along and drive the snow into a wall blocking the drive way from the road. We would yell, and shake our fists! hahah.. such memories..
I am so glad to be back in California, you just don't know!
proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)Snow plow driver finally gets out of his truck and goes back to the lady's car and asks her why she's following him. She says her husband told her that she should follow the snow plow driver because it was safer. So he says "Well okay, as soon as I finish this parking lot, I'm going across the street to plow the grocery store lot."