ICEY ROADS?? I DON'T CARE!! GET INTO WORK NOW!!!

Amanda,

As a Manager, It was wrong that these demands be made. Most likely,
the manager did not want to come in and work. That is what is job or
position is all about. They cover at all cost. I am sure they were
not even remotely busy. Try call your local area of:
The Department of Labor and Relations, make a complaint with job
force, complain to your General Attorney Office, or even to an local
attorney for a chapter nine law suit. Maybe others in the store will
stick together on these issues. I don't always believe that suing is
the anwser, but legal advice is always a plus in handling, saying, and
doing the correct thing. Addressing these issue with an attorney may
help in dealing with future events.

A. Ph.D.

I couldn't agree more with you! Way to go!!!

For the love of God, the word is spelled 'Icy'. That is all. Otherwise
I agree with you.

I agree with you 100%. I was in a bad car wreck a few years ago trying
to get to work on a bad weather day. Not only did my absence still
count against me...my car was totaled and I was banged up. When I
realized that the company did not care anything about my safety, I
made up in my mind that I will use my OWN judgement when it comes to
bad weather.
I really hate that happened to your cousin and hope your letter makes
a difference.

Ya know, I have to agree with you and your cousin! When there is icy
roads in San Antonio, there is now way in hell that ANYBODY with a
brain is going go out on those roads! And Rent-a-Center should be
asshamed of themsleves for forcing thier employees to come in, despite
the danger! And I'm also assuming if there was totally White Out
Condidtions in San Antonio, to the point to where NOBODY can get out
on the roads, I can image that Rent-a-Center will be "forcing" thier
employees to come to work! After reading your letter, I will stay
away from Rent-a-Center from now on! Just becuase of how they treat
thier employees!

Sincerly,
-Phoenix Nimitz, Katy, TX

Amanda,

You are absolutely right! My philsophy on driving during unsafe
conditions is: if you're not going to make more than your insurance
deductible, why should you go in? Will Rent-A-Center pick up the tab
for your deductible for you????????? Also, how do you get to work once
your car has been totalled? Does this then mean that you are
definitely fired? Yes, Rent-A-Center does make 300% on their low end
products. This is yet another example of how they take advantage of
not only their employee's, but the consumer as well! My advice is to
keep this philosophy in mind. Perhaps maybe your cousins boss might
consider personally picking up his employees the next time. Do you
think he would jeopardize his own safety and vehicle? I don't think
so! Thoughts???

Sincerely,

Katie Laird

I wish I could sympathize because really, I think "non essential"
companies (like RentACenter - sorry, but it is) should consider the
safety of their employees and employ snow days when necessary.

Having said tht, my boss doesn't believe in them. Doesn't care how
bad the roads are, doesn't care that every government office and
school in town has closed, he insists we come in or take a vacation
day. And no - I would not consider our company to be an "essential"
one either. It wouldn't kill it to be closed for a snow day.

I think the problem is that corporations typically have uniform rules
regarding what conditions employees are expected to drive in, and
that's just the breaks when you sign up to work for those guys. We
here in the South forget that much of the U.S. has more severe
winters, and in fact, our little ice storm here in Texas wasn't a big
deal to the big powers that be who headquarter up north. I used to
live in Alaksa, where the ice on the road is about four inches thick
nine months of the year; you don't see bare asphalt unless it's July
or August. When we got an "ice day" like the one that whipped through
Central Texas, our employers told us to take the day off so we could
"run errands, take the kids to the park, and enjoy the good weather"
(no joke). That said, people have to know how to drive in that mess
and have the proper accoutrements (studded tires, engine heaters,
etc.) - if you don't, it's gets life-threatening pretty quick.

Take a sick day, ha. But seriously, that is an important and he could
lose his life driving on icy roads. It's a good think we have good ol'
Bush to keep our labor laws strict. Oh wait, bush is pro-death. Well,
I hope it works ouut for him, because Global Warming isn't very warm
anymore... Only in the summer!

We had a major ice storm where we live, in Springfield Missouri. I am
writing this from the public library as our house has been without
power for the last seven days. It's horrible and i talked to one lady
who was in Katrina who said in her estimation this was worse. There
are public shelters all over the city, not to mention all over
Missouri. I have not been to work in a week and if i think it's not
safe i won't be there for another week. There is no job on the planet
worth my life. So i agree with you, but my employment could terminate
me if they wanted, i made the decision not to go. I just don't get
why your cousin didn't write the letter.

If I may...

I agree with your letter Mandy. My brother is from San Antonio and
had never seen real snow until he moved to Ohio. Additionally my
husband and I went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras for our honeymoon and
it happened to be a little snowy. Residents of the area were like
chickens with their heads cut off not knowing what to do. It amazed
us. Being from an area that gets lake effect snow, there are times
where the roads are horrible and the police advise that we don't
drive. Unfortunately we still have to work until they order that we
stay off the roads, which rarely happens and I believe should happen
more often. More companies should be concerned with the well being of
their employees.

The responses you have received here may not have been to your liking
but every one of us is entitled to an opinion. HOW we relay that
opinion should be carefully weighed before we respond to people. And
while I certainly don't condone the way some of my fellow PFBers relay
their opinion, two wrongs do not make a right. You had the option to
be above the nastiness and remain level headed, an option you
obviously did not consider until it was too late. Mandy, I almost
like you. I think that you are very intelligent. Certainly feisty.
My advice to you is to leave it be. Let people say what they want...
walk away. If you'd like to continue discussing letters on the
boards, you will be welcome as soon as you suck it up and let any
negative feelings towards everyone go. PFB is a very forgiving
community. We all have our disagreements. We've even said some
pretty harsh things to one another. The most important thing to
remember is that we don't know one another so we shouldn't attack each
person but disagreeing with one's ideas is welcome so long as you do
it respectfully and intellectually.

I think it's great that you look out for your cousin and care about
his safety.

This letter is very well written, it has good points but your cousin
should have written it. Your cousin needs to learn how to stand up
for himself, or people will continue to push him around(Like Rent a
Centre seems to be doing). It seems like Rent a Centre is pushing him
around. They can't fire him for standing up for himself. (especially
if you are correct and he is a good employee) Also someone else
mentioned this letter could cost your cousin his job.

For what it's worth - I've lived in San Antonio for a long time now
and they tend to overreact a bit to winter conditions thanks to the
local media - that being said -- better safe than sorry and saftey
first are usually good rules to live by. Many cities have worse
traffic conditions than San Antonio in general but few have worse
drivers. Most San Antonio drivers don't slow down in wet conditions
and we pay a very heavy price for that. Ironically, it's probably
safer to drive in SA during winter conditions than it is to drive when
it is simply raining -- when there are winter concerns, people tend to
stay home or slow down a little if they must get out and local public
officials tend to get more proactively involved. Still it is a pain
when you go to the Bank to get some much needed cash and your Bank has
closed 45 minutes early and then you go the next morning and they open
2 and 1/2 hours late - the traffic is light and there is NO ice on the
roads at all in most parts of the town (only on the shoulders) - so
they do tend to take things a bit too far.

Nevertheless, if this employee headed into work after sunrise, drove
slowly and on backroads -- he probably would have been LATE BUT SAFE
and he probably would have NOT been fired so long as he or she made
the effort (especially if they had a good record prior to this) -- if
nothing else, with many of the roads closed and saftey alerts
everywhere, an employer would be hard pressed to expect everyone to be
on time and therefore unlikely to fire anyone just for being late.

The truth isn't always in the middle but it is rarely found only at
one extreme.

For what it's worth.

I am usually not a fan of people writing on behalf of others.
However, before I read the other comments at all, I actually found
myself thinking that this was an acceptable case for such an event, in
my opinion.

Safety if very important, and while you can say that her cousin could
bring it up, it is possible. However, unless they really dig and
guess, etc they most likely will not match this letter to a specific
person. Also, as we know, that area was hit pretty hard. If they had
a snow emergency in the county that the person lived in or had to
drive through to get to work, then I think that they should let the
person stay home. The police, etc want the people off the streets in
snow emergency areas. And, this letter can go past just her cousin,
but is asking RAC to look at their policy in general. That's all,
nothing more.

She was not asking for money, a job, coupons, etc. She simply asked
that RAC look at snow emergency policy. I think it's a fantastic idea
for all companies to keep such policies up to date and re-freshed as
needed.

It really comes down to whether or not your cousin had to travel any
part of the highway system to get to work. If so then you have a
point. If not then you don't. I live here in San Antonio and you
could pretty much get around if you stayed off the highways. The
roads (not the highways) were fine to drive on.

I live in San Antonio. I went to a mall tuesday and most of the stores
were dark and locked up. Many of the stores that were open were in the
process of closing for the day and and it was only aout 12:30 in the
afternoon. There were no hard feelings as one kind of expects the
city to shut down when it rains and dips below 30 degrees. I realize
it's funny to people who don't live in south Texas, but that's the way
things are done around here. Today, the highways weren't even open!
Your cousin's boss sounds like a jerk.

It's about time.

I was getting really fed up with all the assumptions about me. I
never ONCE assumed anything. When I called names, it's because of how
I was treated and, to me, those people were acting that way. Like
being called scum, a bad mom... being told I needed to take drugs.
Those are things that one can not gather from a letter posted on a
website. I am an excellent mother. My kids are always clean, they
are healthy, they are intelligent and they are loved very much. We
live in a nice, clean home and neither my husband nor myself do drugs,
drink excessively or abuse them in any way.

I work, I'm very much liked at my job and I am usually a very happy
and caring person. I wrote the above email beacause I care very much
for all of my family and I was upset at the idea that my cousin would
have to drive so far on back roads to get to work. I probably should
have waited until I cooled off to write the letter, but I didn't. If
that had been pointed out to me by everyone on this site, I would have
agreed. I saw PAINTEDLADY's point and realized that when she, nicely,
pointed it out.

I was having fun... I mean, being called CUPCAKE was patronizing, but
cute. No biggie. But then people started attacking me personally.
My life outside of this stupid thread. THAT WAS NOT RIGHT. The ONE
TIME I stooped to that level and mentioned inbreeding, I apologized
and I meant it. Sure, I cursed... OH WELL. Most of the adult
population does and it doesn't make you a better person when you
refrain from cursing, but stoop to calling a person scum and attacking
their parenting skills just because you don't agree with their email
message.

I do apologize if I offended anyone with the cuss words, but I did so
with the hope that those particular threads would be removed. From my
side, it seems that they have been, so my work is done. I'm tired. I
have some laundry to do and I have gone from having fun arguing to
just being insulted at the attacks on my personal life, which you all
know NOTHING about. So, have fun attacking innocent people. I'm
truly done.

Although I do not feel you should be the one writing this letter, I do
feel you have a valid point. I, too, am from the south, Mississippi
to be exact, and you are correct, we are not as adapted to icy, slick
roads. If we were, then it would not be as big a deal for any of us.
But when we get out on icy roads and slip and slide, well, we really
don't know how to handle it.

Hey Mandy!

I am all for your complaint, but this was the wrong avenue to take it.
If your cousin isn't a complainer, why was it necessary to send this?
We just had some bad weather here, so I know how bad it sucks to have
to go to work in it, but it must be done :(

If there was a complaint, your cousin should be the one to deal with
it, not you.

Please don't mistake this as another snarky response to your letter,
it truely isn't intended to be one; however, I think you thought
people would agree more than they have. I am sorry you haven't gotten
the responses you wanted, but there's a simple fix. Ignore the letter.
Ignore the urge to check the comments. It'll save you LOTS of
headaches, I promise.

Any letter writer who has had a letter widely disagreed with, has
learned just to not go back to their letter. Feel free to sit back and
enjoy the site, put you $.02 in where you want... this is a great
group of people once you get to know them.

Amanda - I just don't understand what your problem is. The company I
work for is international, and we simply cannot shut down for local
weather conditions. According to you, that makes me an asshole. Nice.

I'd like to thank you, however, for reminding me of some serious
issues. We have a job opening and are considering a candidate who
lives 30 miles away. I'm sure she'd really like the job, but do I
really want her driving that far during a snow storm? I need to
rethink this. If I hired a local candidate who lived just a few blocks
away, maybe they wouldn't object to actually showing up when the
weather gets bad.

OK, I live near SA, and the city I live in is definately not used to
this type of weather. The entire city shut down for a few days, and is
still not fully operational.

My company was open. Hubby and I work for the same company. While I
think it's crazy for a company to be open when the city is closed, and
the mayor said to stay at home, a business is in business to make
money. A lot of money would have been lost if my company had closed.

However, I can see it from both standpoints. If the roads are too
dangerous, do not drive on them. Simple as that. I have experience
driving in this weather since Im from Colorado, but a lot of people do
not have experience. If you dont feel safe, dont put yourself into
that situation. I am sure that his boss would not have minded given
the weather circumstance. Mine didnt, neither did hubby's boss.

While I think its admirable that you're writing this for your cousin,
I think its jumping the gun a bet. This entire thread is becoming a
pissing contest, and youre acting like a fool. Please remember that
this goes to corporate, and that you need to act like an adult when
you write letters to companies. You also need to act a bit more mature
when responding to these posts as well, because youre making an
incredibly huge ass out of yourself.

Amanda, I completely agree with you. Too many large companies treat
their lower level employees like garbage that can be replaced at any
time. Companies like these should treat their employees better and
then maybe they wouldn't have such a high turnover rate. I wonder
when they will finally realize that. Anyway, there is absolutely no
way they should have expected your cousin to come to work during a
winter storm. I never ever drive to work in heavy snow because I feel
that my life is more important than any job I could possibly have.
Circuit City should not be threatening employees with termination if
they do not come to work during a snow storm!!! That makes me sick.

I manage a collection agency in Ohio. My employees are expected to
bring their behinds to work unless a "level 3 emergency" has been
declared in the county. A level 3 means you get ticketed if you are on
the road.

I highly doubt San Antonio has had the winter I've had in Colorado.
I've driven on icey roads at least 50% of the time since November.
And I drive 90 miles a day. I missed one day of work because they
told me to just stay home. Had they not told me that, I would've
gotten up two hours early and hauled my behind in.

Clearly if this guy can't be bothered to find another job, stand up
for himself or write a letter, then I'm sure he doesn't have the
capacity to deal with icey roads.

I AM SO WRONG AND YOU ARE ALL SO RIGHT! GEE... WHERE WOULD I HAVE
BEEN WITHOUT THE PEOPLE OF PLANET FEEDBACK TO PUSH ME IN THE RIGHT
DIRECTION. PLEASE... PAUSE WHILE I TYPE AN APOLOGY TO RENT A
CENTER!!!

Okay, everyone, sarcasm aside... it's not that big of a deal. My
letter, rant or whatever you want to cause it is probably going to be
read and tossed aside like most the letters written here. I did not
realize it was just a consumer site, ok? If I had realized that, I
would have never posted it here. You guys really need to get your
panties out of a wad. Excuse me while I pull mine out of one because
I have become very worked up over the posts here, but as I look over
at my 1 year old who is spinning and saying WEEEEEEE!!!! I have
started to realize that this is really not worth me wasting time or
getting so worked up over.

Honestly, I'm not an angry person and I'm not ARROGANT (as I have been
called). I do, however, get worked up over things at time and I just
let this get the best of me. So, anyway... I hadn't been to this
sight since I was like 23 years old and I regret coming back now.

Have fun, folks!!

Mandy, I don't disagree with what you're saying in regards to employee
safety, but this is between your cousin and his employer. He may not
like to complain, but if his safety is being compromised, it's his
responsibility to take it up with the company if he chooses.

You do have some valid points, but you should really re-write your
letter, staying calm and leaving your cousin's personal issues out of
it.

There's so much wrong with the premise of this letter, Amanda Morales.
Your cousin has a mind and free will and the right to write his own
letters to whomever he wishes.

When he proposes, are YOU going to go down on bended knee and pop the
question? Are YOU going to ask for her hand in marriage? Are YOU going
to go on the honeymoon.... get the picture?

No one is forcing him to do anything. He has every right to say "I'm
mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" Are YOU going to pay
his bills, his mortgage? etc.

You need to butt out of other people's lives and stop sticking your
nose in other people's business. I'd be very upset if someone wrote
this BS on my behalf and so would you.

The employees at the rent a centers around here are long time PFB
readers, for about the last four or five years. They have on occasion
alerted corporate about certain letters.

Now it's sexual harassment and slander. The stories just keep on
growing. Sure. The EEOC agreed with you. If that helps you sleep at
night, keep hanging on to it. More likely it was your attitude that
got you fired.

Really and truly I am an attorney, cupcake.

Hey, why don't you write a PFB letter complaining about your attorney.
Let me guess - he's discriminating against you too...

I don't feel like writing a letter about my attorney. I don't feel
discriminated, against. And, I am, actually, a really sweet person.
If I was fired because of my attitude, I wouldn't have been rehired.
RIGHT? Now... go do some legal work, MISS ATTORNEY. :o)

You go girl!!!!

Much as I loathe to agree with the likes of this arrogant,
self-serving OP, people do sometimes get fired because the other women
in the office are jealous of them. When I was 22, I worked in an
office at which the boss' wife also worked. Mind you, he had married
her after having had an affair with her while he was married to
someone else. I was 22 and the only single woman in the office. On
my very first day I was chastised for wearing a dress that was too
short (it came maybe a couple of inches above my knees - it was hardly
a crotch-hugger) while other women had skirts on that were shorter.
That was okay - they were married and not a "threat" to the boss' wife
(like I'd have gone for her geezer beau to begin with). Then, the UPS
guy started bringing me little gifts, like candy bars and the like.
That wasn't approved of, either. Boss' wife even went as far as to
contact the company attorney to see if she could have the policy
handbook (of which I was never given a copy) rewritten to specifically
state that I, and I alone, could only wear skirts that fell below the
knee. I will reiterate that I was NOT wearing sleazy too short
skirts. But I was 22 years old and friendly and the women in the
office did not like that. Not just the boss' wife, ALL the women, who
were much older than me.

Eventually, as I was opening the mail, I found a thank you note from
someone who had interviewed for my position. I had not done anything
wrong, hadn't made any job mistakes (heck, I was a receptionist - how
do you screw up answering phones). I should have left right then, but
nooooo. The next day, they got rid of me with the vague explanation
that it was due to my "failing to comply with company policy" (what
that policy was, I assumed, was not wearing skirts below my knees
while everyone else was allowed to do otherwise, but I wasn't told,
nor was I ever given a copy of said "policy"). Oh, not only that, but
they also fired two of the men with whom I was friendly, with no real
explanation. One was told it was excessive tardiness (he was in the
office an hour EARLY each day), the other, I'm not sure (on the plus
side, the "tardy" person got a position with a neighboring town, with
whom this firm (engineering) often bid on projects. To my utter
delight, his job was that of the lead engineer - the person who
decided which bids were accepted. Guess what company lost a lot of
money when its bids were no longer even considered?)

In the meantime, I used to change to walk home in the biggest stall in
the bathroom, which had a large frosted (read: you weren't supposed to
be able to see in it from outside) window. Turns out that the men in
the office next door would gather each day to watch the show because
the window was not, as I had been told by the cats in the office,
impossible to see through from the outside. Not only did these women
KNOW the men were watching me, they found it hysterical and didn't
tell me (I found out when they fired me.

Anyway, it can and does happen. Petty jealousy and a big group of
nasty, determined people can work against a person and being young and
attractive can indeed get someone fired. It absolutely happened to
me.

Oh, and as to why I didn't go get a new wardrobe just to please them?
I was being paid something like $7 an hour. Couldn't afford it and my
take on it was that I was NOT going to go to work just to get money to
buy clothes I didn't like just to wear to work.

Long story. Sorry. But yes, it absolutely can happen.

Points the others have made are important. This letter will most
certainly get your cousin fired, if not severely tormented.

However, I want to give a little different take on this.

Normally, letters dealing with employer-employee situations are
discouraged here, as this is a consumer site. Sure, consumers want to
know how well or how poorly employees are treated.

But...

I'm willing to bet that there's someone out there that would have
written a letter to RAC when his stuff didn't show up. "Snow or no, I
want my rental!" someone would write.

While I'm in agreement that no employee should ever risk their life, I
just know that customers would be furious if your cousin wasn't on the
job.

People are petty and having reads hundreds of letters here at PF, I
can guarantee that there are dozens of people, not including your
cousin's boss, that don't give a darn about him and his safety.

Therefore, he needs to make his own decisions about what's best for
him. To heck with what others think. And if his boss is this
unreasonable, he needs to get another job.

Well, Amanda... Let's see... I wonder how hard it's going to be for
the manager at your cousin's store to figure out which of his
employees "enlisted the aid" of someone like you to complain.
Tell me, Amanda Morales, are YOU willing to support your cousin when
he gets fired because he put you up to this?
No, he didn't put you up to it, HOWEVER, he has no way of proving that
to his boss.
I hope he's ever so grateful to you for getting him fired.
Here's an idea... BUTT OUT!! It's not your business and if he doesn't
get fired he will be VERY lucky. Because if I got a letter like this,
I guarantee the employee discussed in it would no longer be employed.

Actually, it's 41 deaths at last count, which is plenty, but it's no
"close to 100."

And you have no business writing a letter on behalf of another capable
adult. Your cousin chose to work there, he chooses to STAY there, he
chose to go into work for fear of losing his job -- and one would
think that Rent-a-Center-type place jobs are a dime a dozen.

It's nice that you care about your cousin and I know you meant well,
but you need to butt out with his employer. This is his problem, not
yours.

What if your letter were to cost him his job?