Gym manager reprimands personal trainer for staying home during blizzard travel ban despite their clients canceling: 'I'm expected to find an alternate route to work'

Would you risk your life to go to work during a blizzard?

This week, in the northeastern part of the US, we were hit with a pretty monster blizzard. And that meant a travel ban for the better part of Sunday and Monday. That meant that unless you NEEDED to go somewhere, you were staying the heck at home. No need to incur extra risk. It was the perfect night for staying in and making a big pot of soup, watching a movie, and going to bed early. If you were a non-essential worker, then you were probably either working from home or you were dismissed from your duties for the day. This is the reasonable thing. You don't want people getting into accidents just to go work a shift at the corner store. But bad bosses continue to be bad bosses, and that means that not everyone was so lucky.

Sometimes jobs require sacrifice. They make us sacrifice our time and our freedom, but that's a tradeoff we know we're making. Anything above that should be up to our own discretion. If your job is not a life-threatening job (and even if it is), then you should always prioritize your own safety over the bottom line of a company. This might anger the higher-ups, but it's your right as a human to put yourself first. At the end of the day, you're living your one wild and precious life, and you have to take care of that before you take care of a job.

via Unsplash+ (Toa Heftiba)

An employee stands in the snow, unable to go to work.
_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
Advertisement
Boss expected me to work during blizzard travel ban.

via u/rizzem_tizzem
via u/rizzem_tizzem
It's up to bosses to be understanding in that struggle. They have lives to live, too, after all. But the boss in this story was not so understanding. Even though the blizzard was preventing his business from running as usual, he still expected his employees to go out of their way to be there. This defied logic and left those under his employ feeling like they needed to look for a new job. If you were in his boat, what would you have said to your boss? Read on for the details and leave your judgment call in the comments.
Commenters gave their advice.

via u/Commercial_Wind8212
Advertisement
via u/rizzem_tizzem
via u/Im2kinky_4u
Advertisement
via u/rizzem_tizzem
via u/Commercial_Wind8212
Advertisement
via Unsplash+ (Toa Heftiba)

A parking lot of cars covered in snow during a blizzard, preventing workers from getting to work.
_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
via u/rizzem_tizzem
via u/PhDTARDIS
Advertisement
via u/rizzem_tizzem
via u/kvothe000
via u/rizzem_tizzem
Advertisement
via u/joggingjunkie
via u/rizzem_tizzem
via u/PhDTARDIS
Advertisement
via u/rizzem_tizzem
via u/PhDTARDIS
via u/rizzem_tizzem
Advertisement
via u/daydream6666
via u/rizzem_tizzem
via u/horrorho