You're as cold as ice

It's raining outside. I know this because the hole in the ceiling tile is dripping. At least it doesn't smell bad. Yet.

And seriously, Texas, what's the deal? I was in a car wreck on Sunday night on a highway ice rink...I mean, on-ramp. I missed work on Monday from a combination of icy road conditions and anxiety from the aforementioned events. Wednesday morning it took me over an hour to get to work because it was snowing-slash-sleeting and also icy. By yesterday evening, we'd thawed out a bit, but tonight it's supposed to start all over again.

The best part of this weather thing is that my company doesn't give us inclement weather provisions. That's right, they'd rather I risk my life and limb to get here, or? If I have it, I'm allowed to take vacation. Oh boy! I'm also explicitly NOT allowed to use pre-approved absence or sick time, of which I'm allotted 5 days a year and rarely use. I knew this on Monday, so I knew the risk I was taking by staying in.

On Wednesday, I looked out the window and said, "Hmm, snow. This is unexpected." Not having 9 spare vacation hours laying around, I got my happy butt out of bed and began my journey. I arrived at work at 8am after a crawling commute and proceeded to go about my day. At 3pm, I received the following broadcast e-mail:

"We’ve experienced an unusual situation this week with two days of snow or ice in the same pay period. Due to today’s conditions, many people arrived at work late or decided to stay at home because of road conditions. With that in mind, we have approved the use of the weather or calamity code by all salaried employees for up to three (3) hours of time missed on Wednesday, Jan. 17...Please note that the code cannot be used retroactively to charge for time missed Monday."

I'm sorry, is this a joke? How can you possibly tell me that Monday's commute was not just as bad as Wednesday's, when I was in an accident the previous night and a) the temperatures had been below freezing since, and b) the sun had not been out? Furthermore, how are you going to send this e-mail out at three pm, after I've wasted my whole day here?

Having 2.2 hours left to work, I immediately packed up and high-tailed it out of there. Because you must have lost your damn mind if you think I'm not charging as much of that three hours as I can. That said, I am dying to see what they do tomorrow when we get yet another "winter blast".

Update: Would you believe that, at the very minute I posted this story, we received another broadcast e-mail allowing us to use the weather/calamity code on Monday?? I can't win for losing.