MY LETTER TO THE EDITOR!

I wanted to write about the symbolism of Christmas. You know, what the candy cane represents; why we have Christmas trees and wreaths. Unfortunately, that will have to wait. There is a pressing matter that needs to be addressed immediately!

Okay. Here it is. Be kind to people who push snow! I'm not talking about the city, although conscience dictates you ought to be nice to them too.

Let me tell you a little story. My sweet husband works for K2 Construction. They do underground utilities i.e. water mains, gas lines etc. As I'm sure you can imagine, when it snows, they have to find something else to do. Instead of sitting dormant all winter, they help clean up Lincoln when it snows.

Now I'll admit, before I met Tyler I was the first in line to bawl out those lazy guys who barely scraped the parking lot at work. Why do they have to put the snow in a parking stall? That's two stalls close to the door that we can't use! Why can't they scrape it so I can see the lines? Why aren't the sidewalks scooped and salted at 7:00 am? Come on guys! I have to go to work and I don't want to even SEE a flake of snow on the pavement when I get there!

Let me tell you how it really works. On Sunday night, we got a call from Tyler's boss. "Be at the shop at 2:00" That's right, 2:00. Not the next day either. 2:00 in the MORNING!!! He went out that morning and didn't return home until about 1:00pm. That's almost 12 hours!

I know what you're thinking, "they're in those warm machines all day just going along blocking in cars!" NOT so! My poor hubby was pushing a shovel. That's right! You heard me. A shovel. For those of you who have shoveled your own driveways and sidewalks, you know that one driveway can take hours in this kind of weather.

The next day, he was out at 9:00am but only because his crew leader didn't call him. He was out until 6:00pm. Still longer than banker's hours. So he's out all day in the snow and wind trying to stay on top of things. Never mind that 20 minutes after clearing an area, it's snowed over again. It NEVER stopped snowing that day.

He came home and went straight to bed. Why? Because he had to go out at 1:00AM. 1:00!!!! That means he had to get up at 11:30 so he could get his truck out to go to the shop. Then he proceeded to push snow until 6:00PM Wednesday! That's like 18 hours!!

People need to understand how BIG those machines are. You can't just turn on a dime. Sometimes, that makes it hard to be picky about where to pile the snow. Also, a word of advice, please don't follow a back hoe and then just stop behind them so you can let your wife out to shop and wait until she gets back to move. If you trap them, they can't finish their job! Don't watch them plow a few spots and then park where they haven't plowed. Hello? How are they supposed to plow where you're at. If you are going to do that, don't get mad when they HAVE to plow around you or they don't get to go home! Especially when they try their hardest not to plow you in.

Don't make rude gestures. Don't complain that the snow is in theese three parking stalls instead of the ones 6ft from those spots. Oh, and especially don't come out and casually ask 12ft high, 6ft wide piles to be moved after someone has spent 5 hours plowing your lot and putting the snow where you asked them to put it, even though they knew it wouldn't work. Oh yeah, and if you work on a crew, don't just sit there sleeping in the truck while one person does all the work. Ridiculous!

Please remember that your lot isn't the only one it town. Remember that those boys have been up since before you went to sleep the night before. They are allowed a few mess ups or inconveniences on your part. It's not the end of the world if you have to park somewhere else. It's not the end of the world if you have to wait a bit to get in to the lot. Just remember the world doesn't revolve around you and it won't hurt you to be nice to the working class, especially when they've been out in the snow for 18 hours so your acrylic-nailed self won't have to break a nail on a shovel.

Whew! What a rant.