It snowed on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Not a lot. But enough to cause problems. Church was cancelled and everybody was advised to stay home. The news was full of comical (and some not so comical) reports and video of people thinking driving around the hilly Seattle area on ice was a fine Sunday activity. It's times like these that I really wish I had a camera crew following me around for your viewing pleasure because this morning I was the idiot and I really don't think words will serve the tale.
This morning we had a 2 hour delay. I used those two hours to sleep and have a weird dream about showing up to work still in my pajamas and horrifically unshowered and my boss at the book store was the principal and the loonies from the book store were teachers and since it was a snow day hardly any kids showed up and we spent the day playing games and watching movies. As I slept the snow thawed to create a safer driving situation. Wait... no. It didn't.
But time was up so I slid and cursed my way to the car armed with my purse, my keys and a water bottle filled with warm water. I attacked my iced over windshield with the warm water and scraper then sat in my car while it warmed up. Finally, I put the car in reverse, took a deep breath and started to back up. So far so good. My car was now facing up the hill. I took my foot off the brake... and all hell broke loose. I started to slide. I slowly added gas. Not enough. I gassed it some more. Still sliding. I gave it its all. I could see the smoke from my burning rubber in my rearview mirror. I stopped. Put the emergency brake on and started to think about my options.
That's when the nice guy came over to me and said he was going to help. I liked him right away because he didn't ask if I needed help. That was obvious. He just jumped into action. He tried pushing my car at first while I tried gassing it again. That didn't work so he went and got sand and put it in front of and behind all of my tires. That worked for the few feet he had put sand down and then my car wheels spun again. But, it did get me far enough up the hill that I could safely back down the rest of the hill and go out the other way. I was going the wrong way on a one-way street but the guy I almost had a head-on collision with was cool about it.
I slowly made my way down the other side of the hill and to the freeway which was all clear. I almost had another sliding incident on a hill in the neighborhood of the school but with very few tears and only some minor heart convulsions I made it to work safely. I turned on my computer and checked my email. My principal had sent us a message letting us know that we were expected to be at work as close to the regular starting time as possible. Delays didn't apply to us. Well, you know what? They apply to me! If it's safe enough for me then it's safe enough for buses. If a bus can't make it then I'm not going to risk it either. That's the way I roll. Also, I put in nearly ten extra unpaid hours last week alone making sure my students get the services they need. I don't think they want to start playing the time counting game. Also, I'm leaving as soon as the kids are gone. So there.
2 comments:
uh, that sounds horrible. it's amazing how stuff like that happens in places where it doesn't snow much.
good for you!! i feel the exact same way!!they only want us there to babysit the kids whose parents dont want to go to the hassle of finding safer, better arrangements....i mean c'mon where else do you show up and even though they are closed you can go in anyway and demand service!!! nowhere! but teachers dont have rights and no considerations are ever made in our behalf. My principal came into the faculty room the other day and said, "Well, we've called it an inside recess so we need one of you to go and supervise the kids because there just aren't enough lunch aides." UHHH, not my problem. The union has negotiated a DUTY FREE lunch for us because we work pretty damn hard, and I won't do it. I told her as much (but nicer) and she sent a policy that said we could be made to work in an emergency....SNOW IS NOT AN EMERGENCY!! NOT LETTING KIDS GET WET IS NOT AN EMERGENCY. So I have refused and it bugs me that other teachers fall for it, cause guess what? It will snow all winter. So there will be plenty of these so-called emergencies. Again it's not my problem.
Post a Comment