Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Que Fuerte

This morning was, by far, the most ridiculous morning of the year. (Que fuerte, loosely translated, means "that's ridiculous", or "how ridiculous". It's one of my favorite Spanish phrases. I used it a lot in Spain. Spain is kind of ridiculous, in a wonderful way.) I digress.
I knew I had to open the coffee shop at 5:30 am. I also knew we were in for a blizzard. I set my alarm for 4:30am to have adequate time to prepare and get myself through the snowy streets. Ha.

4:30am - wake up to obnoxious ringtone. Look out the window. I see nothing but white. My street has not yet been plowed, but I can see the cross street is plowed.
4:32am - I wonder if I should really go to work. I wonder if my boss even wants me to risk my life to go to work.
4:40am - I check my email. My final is cancelled 'cause my prof doesn't want to put us in a dangerous situation like driving to campus at 1pm. Again I wonder about my decision to go to work.
5:00am, my street is plowed, pushing even more snow toward the end of my driveway. My little black Ford Focus looks kinda sad and covered in snow. I venture outside.
5:05-5:12 I brush snow off my car. We're talking more than a foot, and it's blowing everywhere. I'm starting to question my decision to try this.
5:15 - I try to just back my car through the snow. I make it ten feet down the driveway and get stuck. My car will not go forward or backward.
5:20 - I call my friend Paul who is scheduled to work at 6am with me. We discuss the ridiculousness of the situation and wonder to eachother if we should go to work. Paul has his roommates' 4wheel drive and is convinced we can make it. He offers to pick me up in 20 minutes and we can open together. I gladly agree and start to shovel my driveway while I wait. 16 inches of snow takes a long time to move.
5:30ish Paul shows up and I leave the driveway in its sorry state and wade through drifts up to my thighs to get to the street. We plow through drifts in this amazing 4wd that could take on blizzards in the arctic. It was amazing. We get to Mugby. It hasn't been plowed at all. There's no way we're going into the parking lot, and we wonder who would drive through an unplowed parking lot in this mess to get a cup of coffee.
5:46 - I feel bad for waking my boss but I call her at home and ask her what to do. While she calls the snowplow company, Paul and I go pick up the bakery order since we have 4wd and some time.
Bakery run consists of wading through more 16inch snow, dropping off one box at the other store, and coming back to Mugby, which still is not plowed. Plow service isn't answering the phone. Paul and I find the whole situation halerious and ridiculous. Evenually we park across the street at the hospital and trudge through the snow and streets, carrying boxes of fresh baked scones, and unlock Mugby. We figure we deserve a scone or two.
By this time my boss has looked outside and recognized our heroic efforts. I'm still wondering if heroic is a synonym for delusional.
Customers in pickup trucks start coming slowly, apparently giving no concern to the drifts they plow through. I think they're ridiculous. They think we are equally ridiculous for being open, and give us good sympathy tips.
It's 7:30 before our drive-through or parking lot is plowed. Bored with the lack of customers, we find refrigerator magnets and make stupid sentences all morning. Ashley comes to replace Paul and there is still nothing to do. We drink coffee. I work til 12 and get another co-worker, Ben, to drive me home in his pickup.
I decide I should either:
a) move south ASAP - oh wait, I decided that a long time ago
b) buy a vehicle with 4 wheel drive
c) not leave the house for about 3 days

It took both roommates and a wonderful friend to shovel the driveway and get my car unstuck from all the snow I packed under it. I'm looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow.

3 comments:

  1. You, my dear, are one of the most entertaining bloggers I know. When you make it big, I will note that I read your very first post.

    ps: i heartily second the move south idea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm jealous of your 16 inches of snow. We got a measly like 5 instead of the 10 we were supposed to get. Maybe we'll go down to Winona to ski.

    But I also was entertained by your story. =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Come on down! There's a mountain at the end of my driveway up to my shoulders.

    ReplyDelete