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the most terrifying experience I've ever had driving on a snowy road...well, actually the second most terrifying, next to the time I was on an icy road and my car started skidding into the oncoming lane right as a large truck was barreling down the other side (I survived--obviously--due to being able to wrest control back at the last moment and get back in my lane).

But getting back to yesterday...it has been snowing almost non-stop in parts of NE Ohio since last Friday. My town has been hit somewhat hard but not nearly as hard as towns NE of us; a longtime friend sent me a picture of his mother's house in Ashtabula, where they've had over 3 feet of snow and you literally can't see the lower half of her two-story house. On top of that, it's been cold the last few days, and the wind has been pretty fierce, making it seem colder.

Dad was supposed to go for his yearly checkup with his cardiologist yesterday morning and was actually debating making the (normally) 25 minute trip to a town much harder hit than we were but they called him just before he'd decided to at least make the attempt and told him they would reschedule. Whew! I got a text yesterday morning from "B" (Big Grandma Energy) saying she didn't want "M" (84 year old firecracker) making the drive into work in the snow and cold so could I come in early and cover most of M's shift? I didn't really want to--I'd already given up my day off earlier in the week to cover for another co-worker who was sick--but a) I didn't want M out in this mess and b) I didn't want B in the store alone, so I went in 2 hours early. The ride there was tense but not terrible; I would've appreciated the driver behind me not being right on my bumper for part of the drive, but eh, whatever. Even though the store is a few towns south of me and doesn't get the lake effect snow, it was still getting quite a bit of snow and then there was that wind and cold.

We had exactly ZERO sales yesterday. Two women braved the elements to make exchanges. One came in to pick up something she ordered on the internet but didn't like it when she saw it in person so she left empty-handed. And one woman came busting in looking for jeans she "needed" for today, but she wasn't happy with any of the pairs we had. Many of the small stores in town closed early due to the weather. Around 3:00, B called our store manager, who was off but who insists on being consulted about everything that happens in the store even if she's not there, and basically begged to be allowed to close the store at 4:00, 3 hours early. This is not without precedent; our sister store at Millcreek Mall in Erie, PA was closed 3 days--from Black Friday through Sunday--because of bad weather, and again, most of the small stores in town had let their people go (or maybe never made them come in in the first place).

SM said no. She said if we were "so scared about driving in the snow and dark" (because the sun sets around 4:45 these days in this part of the world), then she would just come in and work the last couple hours alone. Being the sole employer in a shop is not technically illegal in Ohio (though IMO, it should be), but it's frowned upon by corporate. B told SM no, don't come in, the roads were bad enough that it'd practically be closing time anyways by the time SM arrived. She also told SM, maybe a bit more forcefully than she needed to, that the roads were dangerous, and SM shouldn't risk her life like that.

SM then called B "disrespectful", told her "don't yell at me" and pulled the "don't speak to your boss like that" bit. B asked if she could at least send me home. SM asked to talk to me; I told her yes, the roads were bad, the store was dead and I didn't think we should be there but I wasn't going to leave B alone in the store even if there were no customers. I worry about something happening, maybe an accident or a health crisis.

So that was that. We were staying till closing time, at 7:00...or so I thought. I don't know what changed her mind but SM called back 5 minutes later and said OK, we could go at 6:00. Not as early as we wanted to, and it would still be dark when we left, but it gave us one more hour to get home.

The snow plow had cleared the parking lot shortly before we departed but of course there was now a mound of snow behind my car to drive through. There was maybe a tenth of a mile of clear roads as I started up the hill out of town but that didn't last. The car slid a little, and at times I was having trouble getting traction to continue going forward. Then I made a technical mistake: I turned down the small road I usually cut across on. Bell Street (the one I'd been on) was barely plowed. Walter Street (the one I was now one) was merely a suggestion of a road. Whenever I could, I drove down the middle of the road and still slipped and slid all over the place. My car's "no traction" icon was lit and almost never went off the entire time I was on Walter.

But the *real* problem was where Walter ends at Rt. 87. There's a gentle deline and then a slight incline before the stop sign; I really thought I was going off the road on the decline despite being in the middle of it. I made the right hand turn at the stop sign with minimal problem...but then the tires just couldn't get a grip to go up THAT hill. I had the pedal to the floor and was barely doing 3-4 MPH. A car came roaring up behind me (drivers here in the winter all seem to either drive waaay too fast or waaaaay too slow; both are dangerous) and I worried he was going to hit me. After some praying and a few tears, my tires finally gained purchase and I made it up the hill. The rest of 87 was bad but not as bad, then I turned right onto Rt. 306 and it was slightly less bad. Shockingly, when I hit my town, Rt. 306 was better. Despite us voting in favor of every road levy that ever appears on a ballot, I feel our town doesn't do a great job keeping the roads driveable, and if kids aren't in school, plowing often doesn't happen until much later...if at all.

All in all, it took me about 45 minutes to make the 20 minute drive home. SM had asked B and me to text her when we arrived home, which we both did. I like to think she was feeling maybe a touch of guilt for making us stay so long...but more likely, she realized that if something happened to B, she'd be down the employee who closes the store 5 days a week (and works all day Thursday), and if something happened to me, she'd be down the person who has already covered for other employees a half dozen times in less than 5 months.