Would You Stay Or Would You Go?

[Foeofthelance]

So the situation, for those of you currently not living in the North East US and thus buried under several inches of snow:

We are currently getting snowed on out here in New York. To the point where that when my sister and I were shoveling we could not get ahead of the storm. We would clear an area, turn our backs on it for the next spot, and have to reclear the area five minutes later because it had picked up another half inch of fluffy white powder in the mean time.

My brother, meanwhile, is at work. He works at a small free standing kiosk in a mall. He depends on public transportation to get home. (Which has long since stopped running.) As of right now, my mother and my other sister are on a bit of a rescue mission to try and get him back, despite the fact the roads are not being plowed consistently, because the mall will not allow him to spend the night there in the kiosk's storage room. The reason he is still there is because the mall refused to close early, since the two big anchor stores were still open. The two big anchor stores were still open because they cannot close early for extreme weather without direct orders from their own corporate masters. However, the store that does run the kiosk my brother works for did close early due to the weather. I know this because I am the one that made the decision to close early. (The stores are in two different shopping centers, and the one I work at has personal discretion in matters such as this.) If my brother had chosen to close early, we would have faced a $500 dollar fine for violating mall operating hour policies.

So I pose the question: If you were he, would you have stayed till closing, or said the hell with it and paid the fine to get home safely?

[arguskos]

Personally? Stayed and later fought the snow. Why? Cause I can't spare the cash. :smallsigh:

As for your brother's situation, I do hope he gets back home safely. Good luck to him.

[CynicalAvocado]

paying a fine > possibly getting in a crash

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Man, these last few years have SUCKED. The US gets all the snow, and us in Toronto are left skint!

[arguskos]

Man, these last few years have SUCKED. The US gets all the snow, and us in Toronto are left skint!
Time to move to the US then. :smalltongue:

[mootoall]

Well, as a fellow New Yorker whose mother happened to be in pretty much the same situation, I have this to say-

The snow started at around 10-ish, and it was fairly light from then until around noon. That's when I would have made the decision to either call in sick or to go in. If I had decided to go in, I would've stuck it out throughout operating hours, mostly for the paycheck. Frankly, the difference in road quality between 5 p.m. and 3 p.m., assuming those were the possible quitting times, would not have been great enough to warrant leaving early.

[Salbazier]

Was it possible to find anyplace nearby to spend the night? I've always been advised to put health and safety issue as first priority (because everything go to naught if you sick/hospitalized/dead). That said, different economy, but $500 have a lot more value here than in the US. I honestly can't see myself resort to such option easily.

[Kjata]

Hell, I would have WALKED home at closing for $500. That's more than I made this month. Or, provided the walk is very long, found a motel close by.

[Kislath]

I would have stayed, and then sued the crap out of the mall for the usual stuff. ( reckless endangerment, willfull and wanton blahblagblah, anguish and suffering, cost of the rescue, malicious whatever my bloodsucking lawyer could dream up, etc... )

[Salbazier]

How dangerous it is to drive home in snowstorm? How about walking? (as you can guess from my location I have next to zero knowledge about such stuff)

[KenderWizard]

That's a terrible choice! The mall shouldn't be allowed to fine people for avoiding dangerous situations. The big stores should be allowed to close if their managers think it's necessary.

[Danne]

Ugh, I hate it when corporations do stupid things that put people in such dangerous positions. I would not have paid a $500 fine -- it's just too much money. But driving in snow can be very dangerous, especially if your car isn't outfitted properly. Hope he gets home safely!

[Form]

That's a nasty position the mall is putting your brother in. :smallmad:

Ideally I'd make some deal with the mall management to either let me close early or let me stay during the night, but it doesn't sound like that's possible. 500 dollars is a lot of money, though, even if you could afford the fine. Considering the amount of money involved, I'd see if I could arrange staying the night at a place nearby and maybe even book a hotel room for the night if one's nearby and if that's possible.

[thubby]

i'd leave, then lie about it. even assuming they do find out (which they probably wouldn't), it's not like he'd get in trouble with his boss :smallwink:

i would also contact your local work-safety people

[Foeofthelance]

Was it possible to find anyplace nearby to spend the night? I've always been advised to put health and safety issue as first priority (because everything go to naught if you sick/hospitalized/dead). That said, different economy, but $500 have a lot more value here than in the US. I honestly can't see myself resort to such option easily.

Hmmm, Indonesia, huh? Best comparison I can make, and its not a perfect one, is getting stranded by a really bad monsoon. Poor to no visibility, very low temperatures with a wind chill factor that makes it worse. Snow banks up to my hips, and I'm 6'3". They were still trying to rescue people who had been stranded in New York City, and that's a major urban zone. The area he works in is an entirely commercial district; the nearest residences are a Trump Plaza and a college's faculty apartments.

Walking also really wasn't an option, since he would have had to walked about 4-6 miles on the highway, near cars that had little to no traction.

[Salbazier]

Ouch. That was really bad. Hope he is allright.

I agree with kenderwizard and others above. The mall should made exception. I mean something that warrant a rescue operation is definitely an emergency and emergency situation warrant exception for almost everything.

[Moff Chumley]

Well, it depends. If you stay, will the trouble be about twice that as if you go? Darling, you gotta let us know.

:thog:

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Well, it depends. If you stay, will the trouble be about twice that as if you go? Darling, you gotta let us know.

:thog:

Someone enjoys that song. :smallamused:

's all good. Made ME smile, at least. :smallbiggrin: