A Hurricane Of Hypocrisy

Where I live in Minnesota, between September and May, a major blizzard every other week is just part of life. Most, if not all of the hotels here have a policy of bad weather not being an excuse to not come to work. They offer us free rooms during bad weather if we think we won’t be able to make the drive to our shifts from home.

One weekend, I was scheduled for a shift at the hotel. A surprise blizzard hit the night before. I hadn’t stayed at the hotel because no one knew the blizzard was coming — plus my boyfriend works nights and someone had to be at home with the dog, anyway.

My car is pretty decent in the snow (somehow), so I wasn’t worried. The only problem was that no one had plowed our weird back-alley driveway at all, and my car and the alley were both completely snowed in. The snow was thigh-deep, and I tried for a literal hour to dig my car out and try to make it out of the alley, but I kept getting stuck, and random neighbors had to keep popping out to help push my car out of snow ruts.

Eventually, I gave up and called the hotel.

Me: “Look, I’m really sorry, but I can’t make it in. My car is completely snowed in and I tried for an hour to get my car out, to no avail.”

Front Desk Girl: “That’s okay. I totally understand.”

Me: “I already texted [Other Housekeeper], and she said she could cover for me.”

Front Desk Girl: “Okay, no problem. Hope you can get your car out eventually! Have a good one.”

I felt bad, but what else could I do, really?

The next day, I got an angry text from the hotel general manager.

General Manager: “We do not accept bad weather as an excuse to call off from your shift. You’re supposed to stay at the hotel if you think you can’t make it.”

Me: “I know, and I’m sorry. But I didn’t know ahead of time that the blizzard was coming, or that my car and our back alley would be so snowed in that I wouldn’t be able to get out.”

General Manager: “Then you should have taken a [Ride-Sharing Service].”

This hadn’t even occurred to me because I’d never used a ride-sharing service in my life. I wouldn’t have even known how, to be honest.

Me: “Okay, I’m sorry. I hadn’t thought of that. But I did get the shift covered before it was supposed to start, at least.”

General Manager: “Just remember in the future that bad weather is a part of our life, so it’s not an excuse to not come to work.”

I was a little peeved, but I shrugged it off.

Then, a few weeks later, we got another blizzard. I did make it to work this time. However, I checked our hotel communication app and saw a post from [General Manager].

General Manager: “Good morning! I will not be in today because I can’t make it out of my driveway from the snow. Have a good day, everyone!”

It took everything inside me not to post a snarky reply, throwing her own words to me right back at her. I’m just glad I no longer work there.