You Can't Keep Stupid At Home

Yesterday was a terrible day weather wise. We alternated between snow, sleet, freezing drizzle, sleet, (which felt like hail beating the hell out of you), back to snow. All of the precipitation that fell upon us hit you from the side as the wind was quite brisk. (Think Forrest Gump as he explained how the rain fell in Vietnam in one scene.)

Naturally it was a work day for me. The mall I work at rarely shuts down for winter weather. Last December when we got nailed with a blizzard that dropped 19 inches of snow on us we had to actually take it upon ourselves to walk out and shut down our store. The mall management refused to shut down until most of the stores closed on their own and walked out, with the threat of being fined by the mall for shutting down without the mall's express permission.

It was laughable when they finally declared that the mall was closing then. The mall was already effectively closed as only five or six stores were actually open when mall management declared the mall was going to close.

While we didn't receive anywhere near the amount of snow yesterday as we did in the December storm, the roads were treacherous. Freezing rain, drizzle, and sleet are more hazardous than snow, as most people know. I also knew there wasn't a chance that the mall would close, or refuse to open for that matter. I wasn't scheduled to be at work until 11:30 am. The storm hit here at about 8:00 am. Knowing the mall wouldn't be closed I grabbed a quick shower and headed out to work. I figured I might as well get to work safely as I knew getting home from work was going to involve much suckage. (And it did.)

I did eat breakfast at the local buffet as it's only a couple of blocks from the mall. I still arrived at work 90 minutes before the mall opened. In the space of 2 hours we had 5 inches of snow on the ground, then the freezing rain, sleet, drizzle hit. It was just plain miserable.

I called the boss and told him to stay home as I was already there. Both he and his wife had to work yesterday and I knew they would have to drag their toddler out to daycare if they both went to work. I figured there was no sense in dragging a little kid out in this weather. Apparently there aren't too many people who think like this though.

We stayed open, naturally. We also did absolutely no business yesterday. Zip and Nada were the words yesterday. Intelligent people stayed off the roads yesterday. Who didn't stay off the roads were teenagers and a few young couples with small children and babies. As I stood at the front of the store I had to step away and back into the store whenever I saw a young couple with a baby stroller walking by. I was incensed at their stupidity for dragging out little babies and toddlers in this weather.

The one time I didn't step away this young couple with a baby in a stroller paused and struck up a conversation with me, as follows:

Young wife: Where is everyone? The mall is really dead today.
Me: Most intelligent people stay home in bad weather.
Young husband: What did you say?
Me: Most intelligent people stay home in this weather.
Young husband: Are you calling us stupid?
Me: Not yet.
Young wife: It's not that bad out, now it's only freezing rain.
Me: The jury's not out any more on your intelligence I see.
Young husband: What does that mean?
Me: What that means is that I just called you stupid.
Young wife: We're adults and can decide for ourselves when to stay home.
Me: You sure can.
Young husband: It's really none of your business and we don't need your opinion.
Me: You two stopped here and asked where is everybody. I told you why the mall is dead today. If you didn't want my opinion you shouldn't have asked for it in the first place. Personally I couldn't care less about you and your wife driving in any type of weather. Your little baby on the other hand has no choice. You're risking the safety of your baby driving in this weather.
Young husband: You're an asshole.
Me: Possibly, but I'm not stupid. Now move along.
Young husband: Fuck you!!
Me: Brilliant comeback, now move along and get to that more important shopping than the safety of your child activity.
Young husband: Asshole.
Me: We've already established that. Bye.

And off they went, in a tiff I might add. And how bad were the roads yesterday? My normal 15 to 20 minute trip home took 47 minutes. (Why yes, I did time it.) The snow plows had down an awesome job in removing the snow so the roads could ice up when the freezing rain, drizzle, sleet hit. Nerve racking drive as any type of braking caused you to slide all over.

Sadly, it's not over with yet as freezing drizzle/rain is still currently falling. The trip to work later this morning isn't going to be any fun either apparently.