The Blizzard of December 2010

I don’t know who our acting governor is in New Jersey, with both the governor and lieutenant governor out of the state. But he deserves a medal for declaring a state of emergency.

Most businesses don’t care how much snow is on the ground – I measured 26 inches where I live and just finished de-snowing my car, which resembled the Matterhorn – they expect business to go on as usual. They don’t care how treacherous the roads are, how much snow their employees have to shovel before they can move their cars, or whether the plows have been able to remove two feet or better of snows from New Jersey’s miles and miles of highway; the show must go on.

When I called our office snow number at 5:30 and 6 a.m., it was business as usual. My start time is 7:15 a.m. No way was this going to happen. They hadn’t plowed my section of the apartment parking lot yet. As of this moment, I’m still blocked in, due to logistics and a busy day for our snow plow contractor.

If this office is open, we’re expected to call our supervisor to let her know. Only she lives far away in another part of the Northeast, in another state. I tried e-mailing her and calling her cell number, with no success. Finally, I called her home phone number (in desperation only). She said she thought eventually they would either delay the office opening or maybe even close it altogether.

Fortunately, I’d had the foresight to bring my laptop home with me last week, before the Christmas holiday. They delayed the opening, but had I not gotten her permission to work from home, I would have already been there, once I got myself shoveled out. I’d risen early, knowing how long it would take. The snow was even deeper than I expected.

Finally, they came to their senses. Due to the state of emergency declared by the acting governor, the office was officially closed. Our office never closes. We’ve always wondered what it would take to get them to close it.

Not quite an act of God, but close – an act of the acting governor. God bless him, whoever he is and whatever party he represents!