Try and think about it from her perspective, and apply a little common sense. I see from your handle that you’re from Virginia. At a guess, I’d say Northern Virginia, home of the people who panic and crash into one another by the time the fourth flake falls. Regardless, unless you’re in the mountains of southwest Virginia, you live in a place where the average person has no idea whatsoever how to drive in the snow.
You’re willing to drive through the snow to work out. That’s commendable, but it shouldn’t strike you as all that surprising that you’re more committed to your workout than she is to her (probably minimum wage) job. Not being on time or closing early when it’s fine outside is inexcusable, but I find it pretty hard to fault the girl for closing up early rather than even slightly increase her chances of getting into an accident with another moron who doesn’t know how to drive in the snow. I make significantly more than minimum wage, but any day the schools are closed in my county and the country where I work, I telecommute. Why? It’s not worth the risk of being rear-ended or sideswiped by some moron in an SUV driving too fast for the conditions. On those days I do occasionally go to the gym after calling ahead to make sure they’ll be open because I’m committed to my workouts.
Regardless, in Virginia if you know snow is coming, your best bet is generally to take care of whatever needs taking care of before the first flake falls. If you hit the gym at 1, there would have been no problem whatsoever. Odds are, places will close early because the people working there want to get home without incident. I really can’t blame them. When the hurricane hit, I worked a half day and went home when the sky started getting dark. When I go to work through morning snow, I leave when the first flake falls in the afternoon–not so much because I can’t drive in the snow as because I know others can’t, and it’s not worth it to me to stay later.
Chris,
I live in Richmond and got to the gym 30 minutes before they regulary close at 3pm. It had been snowing very lightly for about 20 minutes and the roads weren’t bad at all since the snow was like a powder and was just blowing across the roads.
I feel that she was looking for a way to get out of there simply because she wanted to plop her ass down in front of the TV, watch a movie, and throw some groceries down her neck. Closing 15 minutes early made no sense at all. She would not have been any worse off than closing at 3pm.
No matter if you are working for minimum wage or six figures a year people need to have some work ethic.
Oh, and BTW the owner came in the next day at 10am when the roads were bad and stayed open all day. That’s what I call commendable.
Muslhead-
That’s what I call the difference between owning the place and working there for minimum wage. I’ve driven in Richmond in the winter, and people down there are no better at driving in the snow than they are up here in Arlington. If it’s me, I close as early as I reasonably can unless I own the place because driving conditions do become marginally less safe with every minute that snow continues to fall. It’s not like staying an extra fifteen minutes would guarantee that you will get in an accident, but leaving fifteen minutes early does make it marginally less likely. Sure, there’s probably some laziness tied in there, but I’d give her the benefit of the doubt if you’ve never noticed her closing early in good weather. As I’ve said before, I’m dedicated to my job, and I frequently put in 10+ hour days, but I leave with the first afternoon flake unless I’m absolutely essential that day. That’s not so much lack of work ethic as unwillingness to be rear-ended or sideswiped. And my previous point about assuming places will close early and taking care of essential business before the snow hits still stands.
Well I for one love snow!
These ice piles blew in off the water and run for about a mile along the shore by my house.
