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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Workmates and snow!

183 replies

ACSlater · 20/01/2015 18:44

It isn't even snowing here yet but people are already saying they can't come in tomorrow because they need to stay at home to look after their 32 year old! Drives me up the wall!!!

AIBU to think they should have a contingency plan?!!!

OP posts:
Hulababy · 20/01/2015 22:00

Snow policy at the private sector business I know have a 3-4 mile cut off - if within 3-4 miles they are expected to walk in, unless they have mobility issues preventing them. If over 4 miles it is deemed too far away to justify the walk. This seems fair enough and some allowances are made as to the type of journey to be made. People who don't go in, don't get paid or can take it as a holiday.

I work in a school. My school has only closed once - and that was on the advise of the police and was due to severe ice.

I suspect DD's school will close if heavy snow as many children are bused in - if the buses can't get there and back, school closes.

Schools are not different to other businesses but there are times when they are advised to close. One of these is if there are not enough teaching staff who can get in - ime many teaching staff live a long way from their schools as they don't like to live within catchment for various reasons.

Sometimes the local police or authority give out recommendations - often dependent on local conditions. Ice is usually the big cause of this.

IME most teachers and TAs do attempt to get to work whenever they can. They certainly do at the school I work at.

Hulababy · 20/01/2015 22:05

And yes, schools DID close in the 70s and 80s - infact often more frequently due to having inefficient boilers always breaking whenever it was cold, let alone snow.

And no, in most authorities now teachers are NOT expected to go to their nearest schools to offer assistance. This changed a good while ago and was down to safeguarding issues.

goodasitgets · 20/01/2015 22:09

I can't not go in due to snow. I can ring in but they would send mountain rescue/4 wheel drive to pick me up and take me back

ghostyslovesheep · 20/01/2015 22:11

winter tyres ARE mandatory in some EU countries ...

the ones that get SHED LOADS OF SNOW such as Sweden, Germany and Austria

I lived in Bavaria - we had snow October to April ...a bit different to one or two days a year

It would be laughable to insist on snow tyres through out the UK

very few days our lost through snow - it's not work getting your knockers in a knot about - just enjoy it

Minisoksmakehardwork · 20/01/2015 22:15

Dh and I used to work with a bloke who one day phoned in at shift start and said he was snowed in, couldn't get to work. It didn't go down well as his housemate, whose shift started a little earlier, had got in on time. He was told in no uncertain terms to make his way in and he'd simply lose the time rather than being disciplined. I think he finally turned up at lunch time.

WhereHas1999DissappearedToo · 20/01/2015 22:31

YABU. I have a 25km commute over a state highway which goes quite high and then there's there a big windy bit. It normally closes after about an inch of snow due to snow and (black) ice which can cause many car accidents, last year their was car, bus and truck crash which caused a major traffic jam and their wasn't even that much snow.

But I'm trying to get in as soon as it opens, I might 10mins late if highway is open but it's better to be safe than sorry.

knackered69 · 20/01/2015 22:39

Is it meant to snow tonight then? Oh arse...

tilliebob · 20/01/2015 22:41

When my rural wee Scottish village gets snow, it gets 2 foot of snow!! Roads in and out of the place quickly become blocked.

No point me walking to my village school, it wouldn't be opened/have any other staff/any first aider/catering/or pupils to a large degree since they'd be on farms and along single track roads.

We had over a week of schools being closed in Winter 2010 - I think we were closed for 7 consecutive days wish it would happen again GrinGrin

VodkaKnockers · 20/01/2015 23:24

I work for a high street bank and if I cannot get into our regional office, I'm expected to head the nearest branch of my bank to work.

TheCunnyFunt · 20/01/2015 23:41

Just saw this on Facebook, made me laugh :o It's true though, every other country has snow and deals with it, they go about their lives like every other day. We get snow and everything goes to shit!

Workmates and snow!
Bluetone · 20/01/2015 23:47

Schools were closed here 3 days last week. Actual proper snow, 3 foot approx. Teachers and pupils unable to get in, happens every year. That's with snow tyres! Ski wear is every day wear here in winter.

Primafacie · 20/01/2015 23:49

I would never ever expect a pregnant woman to walk in the snow. Not worth the risk.

:o

Yes, in Canada all pregnant women just stay indoors for nine months. Fact.

Primafacie · 20/01/2015 23:51

X-post with cunnyfunt!

Bluetone · 20/01/2015 23:51

Meant to snow that no matter how hard they try they literally can't get in..There are snow gates on a lot of the roads which close in extreme weather

Bluetone · 20/01/2015 23:52

Say

Pipbin · 20/01/2015 23:53

Sorry Bluetone but that cannot be true. EVERY other country in the world is always up to their nipples in snow but carries on without even thinking twice. Yet here if someone in London says that they have seen a snowflake there is fighting and fucking in the streets, all the schools close and everyone stays in their houses. FACT.

Cooki3Monst3r · 21/01/2015 00:03

We've got an unused sledge sitting in the garage. If it doesn't snow this winter, my kids are going to be seriously pissed off.

Blueberrybaby · 21/01/2015 00:10

Yes I agree Primefacie. I lived in Canada for a while and was pregnant over the winter(baby born in the spring). I took public transport to work, which involved two buses and the subway, and a little walk either end. I got a decent pair of snow boots (more wellies really) and took it slowly. If I'd have taken a snow day every time it snowed I'd probably have faced disciplinary action!

Caterina99 · 21/01/2015 00:20

I'm in chicago. Obviously we can get quite a bit of snow on occasion.

My in laws always ring up asking if we are going to work and in a tizzy about us driving in the "dangerous" conditions and we always tell them that it's not like the UK, we have snow ploughs here!

Yea we have the infrastructure here to cope, because it happens quite often. It still causes problems though. It's simply not worth it in the UK to invest for the few days of snow each year!

Primafacie · 21/01/2015 00:31

Exactly blueberry! Coming from Canada, When pregnant with DD (in London) I got utterly baffled at my boss' suggestion that I 'ought to get back home immediately' because there was 2 inches of snow at 9am. The notion that I could have called off just on account of being pregnant never entered my mind (I wish it had!).

I understand the difficulty about driving in the snow without snow tyres, but I take issue with the idea that a pregnant woman can't walk in the snow. To me that sounds silly and borderline sexist.

wobblyweebles · 21/01/2015 00:36

I live in a state that gets around 9-20 feet of snow each winter.

Guess what? When we get a heavy dump of snow our schools close. It happens regularly enough that they build 5 snow days into the calendar each year.

That's despite almost everyone having snow tyres and 4WDs, and the state spending an absolute fortune on snowploughs.

Primafacie · 21/01/2015 00:47

Wobbly, I still think women are expected to know are to WALK where you live. Even if they are pregnant. No?

blackheartsgirl · 21/01/2015 01:09

When i used to work for a well known supermarket a few years ago, my manager who lived 40 miles away used to go mad if people that lived four or five miles away couldnt get in until we pointed out to her that we lived up a mountain on steep hills with roads that hadnt been gritted or cleared and were covered with 2 foot of snow and abandoned cars. It took 3 hours to walk to town which was pointless for a 4 hour shift. Plus the schools were closed.

Her trip consisted of six inches of snow and flat clear roads..

fwiw i did go out in the snow when pregnant but I stayed clear of ice, i fell badly when pregnant once in ice and ended up in hospital.

wobblyweebles · 21/01/2015 02:00

As walking in the US mostly involves walking along a cleared, salted path from the car park to the building I imagine most pregnant women manage. I haven't noticed many of them hiking icy trails while I've been dogwalking...

nooka · 21/01/2015 03:36

I'm in Canada. We had our first snow day in 40 years in the new year when 18 inches of snow fell in a couple of hours in the early morning and then it went on snowing all day. No one could quite believe that the schools closed but the city just hadn't got on top of road clearance and the buses couldn't run.

We usually have snow on the ground between December and March and everyone (except idiots) has winter tires although it's not compulsory except on mountain roads in the winter because it very rarely snows on the coast (more like the UK, wet and windy). The cost of winter tires isn't so much the tires themselves (two sets of tires wear out twice as slowly as one), but of changing the tires over twice a year. Our winter tires are partly for cold though, and if it's over 5C they don't perform nearly as well.

They make a huge difference to the grip.