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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

When do you stop trying to get to work?

85 replies

Skarossinkplunger · 28/02/2018 06:41

I live in a rural area and the snow is really bad here this morning. Most of the schools in the county were closed yesterday and it looks like it will be the same today.

I work in a school in a city 30 miles away, which obviously fares better in snow and will most likely be open today.

Yesterday’s commute which normally
takes an hour was 2.5 hours of steering wheel gripping hell, which included getting stuck in a blizzard on a motorway and a 180 spin on the road out of estate.

I’m now looking out of the window and thinking I have to do it all again. When do
I just say ‘I can’t get in’?

OP posts:
Nemesia · 28/02/2018 06:43

I wouldn't be risking my life to get to work. Phone in now and offer to work from home.

priority9 · 28/02/2018 06:44

Nemesia it's a little hard to work from home if you work in a school...

AwkwardSquad · 28/02/2018 06:44

Yup, don’t risk it. Send them a photo of your road!

ny20005 · 28/02/2018 06:45

Phone in - not worth risking life & limb to get to work

gowernotthegower · 28/02/2018 06:45

For me, if I feel unsafe. You will miss more work if you have an accident than you will because you have a ‘snow day’. The fact the schools local to you are closed is an indicator.
You will always get people who think you should try regardless, but if you write your car off or are injured, is it really worth it?
If it’s a nuisance, go. If the risk outweighs the benefit, don’t.

OliviaStabler · 28/02/2018 06:45

Maybe check the road conditions online and see what the local Police advice is. That will tell you if it is worth giving it a go.

ragged · 28/02/2018 06:46

I have snow tyres on car & wouldn't want to try today. Even with snow tyres conditions were pretty slippy yesterday & are a lot worse today.

CanIBuffalo · 28/02/2018 06:47

Don't do it. Your school is closed. If you teach, do the marking/planing etc that you brought home yesterday and if you're support staff did they not give you stuff to do?

brewsandbooks · 28/02/2018 06:47

Personally I wouldn't risk it, I'm not sure how it is by you but it's minus 10 here and the snow has pretty much turned into an ice rink, I'm sure with you being far away and rural, your work will be understanding

KochabRising · 28/02/2018 06:47

Don’t travel if there’s a significant risk to safety.

And for everyone -WINTER TYRES! You cannot drive safely on snow with summer tyres. That’s why they’re a legal requirement in most of Europe. If you live anywhere rural, on high ground etc that has regular ice and snow, please get winter tyres!

Nemesia · 28/02/2018 06:48

Not really priority, you can still work on development and marking and planning or set work for cover through Google classrooms etc.

CanIBuffalo · 28/02/2018 06:49

Sorry just read that it is likely to be open.
You won't be the only member of staff not able to get in.

IpreferFrieda · 28/02/2018 06:50

No way would I be risking my life for teaching. If you were s surgeon maybe yes as your absence would impact on people but with the greatest respect a teacher or TA for a few days not so much.

OnionKnight · 28/02/2018 06:52

My wire walks in a day nursery and they are insisting that she walks over three miles to get in, it's still snowing and it's pretty bad.

Funnily enough the owner and some other seniors refuse to walk in Hmm

Pluckedpencil · 28/02/2018 06:53

Here in Italy it is minus 10 and everyone is obliged to have snow tyres and carry snow chains. Even so, the ice is perilous and you can't account for other people, especially in UK where loads of idiots regularly drive with their usual tyres and act surprised when they skid about like Bambi. You are already at the point where you shouldn't go in if you are skidding like that. You'll kick yourself even if you just have a little accident. Dh walked to work today but his commute is only half an hour on foot.

londonrach · 28/02/2018 06:54

One of my colleagues walked 6 hours to get to clinic as she didnt want the patients to turn up and have no one there. Now our nhs manager says get to the closest clinic to you if you can. Its being sensible.

NewYearNewMe18 · 28/02/2018 06:58

Phone in now and offer to work from home.

Do elaborate on that, seeing as the OP works in a school.

Brokenbiscuit · 28/02/2018 07:00

I would not want my child's teachers to risk their own personal safety in order to get to school. If that means that the school has to close because not enough teachers can get in, then so be it. And if the school is able to stay open with the staff who can get in to work, then they will just have to get by with supply teachers for those lessons where the teachers can't make it.

It isn't ideal if you can't get in, but it isn't the end of the world either. Don't take the risk.

greenlanes · 28/02/2018 07:05

Actually I am in the same situation as OP. I am support staff and worked from home yesterday but like OP our school was open and the expectation was clear that they could get in why couldnt I? Some of the villages are impassable my way - nearly all my local schools are closed again today. So I wont be going in. I do have photos but am expecting a bit of a backlash.

I dont have winter tyres - we really do not get enough bad weather like this to justify them. Perhaps further north or scotland there might be more of a regular need.

Original poster
Skarossinkplunger · 28/02/2018 07:07

Hi. Thanks for all the replies. I’m not a teacher I’m a school based Social Worker.
I’m going to see if I can off the estate and what the main roads are like if I can. But I definitely won’t be putting myself through what I did yesterday.

I just feel bad because obviously a lot of staff live in the city the school is in and I think they probably think I’m being over dramatic.

OP posts:
perpetuallybewildered · 28/02/2018 07:12

Phone in now and offer to work from home.

What % of employed people in the UK have this option? Retail workers, Health workers, carers, drivers, vetinary workers, car salespeople, factory workers, engineers, carpenters, cleaners, just a few examples of those who can’t just airily say ‘Oh I’ll just work from home today’. Many of these people also are unlikely to be paid for days they can’t get to work. FFS.

ragged · 28/02/2018 07:14

What scared me yesterday was not being able to see the lane boundaries on the dual carriageway. The way was literally a sheet of white from fields all the way up to the dual C. barrier. No distinction for lanes or barriers (no other vehicles to follow, either, not that I'm sure following someone was a great idea). I could only figure out where car was from hitting cats eyes (could just about see them to follow them as lane boundary). I've never been so nervous driving as I was then, wondering if I would veer accidentally off the carriageway completely.

IllustriouslyIllogical · 28/02/2018 07:17

especially in UK where loads of idiots regularly drive with their usual tyres

Not really relevant - we have a couple of days of snow for most of the UK - by the time you've gone to the garage & got your winter tyres fitted it's time to take them off again.

Same with snowchains - good for an emergency, but we quite simply don't get the weather where we need to have them on all the time - they'd rip the roads up worse than they are.

As for the OP - based on your drive yesterday, I'd be saying "no, I tried - not doing that again".

Coulddowithanap · 28/02/2018 07:17

Maybe check the weather forecast and leave an hour or 2 later than usual.. wish I had done that yesterday as after the sun came up and usual school run /work traffic died down the roads were clear of ice.

ClaryFray · 28/02/2018 07:20

Phone in. Our work yesterday made the choice to not require us in this morning.