polar vortex, day 1

[cellio]

This morning on my way out of the house I said to myself, "self, given how cold it is outside (-9F, predicted high 1F), if you let the regular programming on the thermostat stand, the house'll never warm up enough this evening when you'll care". So I overrode it.

That turned out to be prescient. The astute will notice that I am posting to LJ during the work day but LJ is blocked at work. No I'm not using my phone to do this.

I missed the "the office is closed" robo-call by approximately 1 minute, it seems. No heat, and soon no water. (I assume because water-filled pipes in an unheated building during a cold snap are a hazard, but I didn't ask.) I wonder how many days it will take them to get that repaired; our landlord is not very attentive to building maintenance even in the best of times, and I imagine that furnace-repair people are hard to come by right now.

I stayed long enough for my manager (in a more-westerly timezone) to get in so I could ask for clarification on relevant work-from-home policies. Most people have laptops and took them home last night just in case. I don't, and we're not allowed to access the corporate network with personal machines (even via an approved VPN client), except for some hacky system that requires IE and so doesn't work on my Mac, and I really didn't feel like carrying a tower, at least one monitor, and other peripherals home. We found a way for me to not have to take mandatory PTO today, so yay.

The house has warmed up one degree since I left this morning. But I have warm clothes, tea, and if I'm lucky, a cat on my feet.

Comments

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you don't need to take PTO for something that is completely out of your control. Stay warm!

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*sends you warmth*

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad they figured out a workaround for your work-from-home tech situation. And yay for staying warm!

[cjsherwood.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you had to schlep all the way to work, but very glad that there was some sort of solution that didn't involve burning a day of paid time off! (I'm reminded of the time my (now deceased) boss called me one winter and informed me I was not to come to work due to the snow (the company was open in NYC and we both lived in suburban NJ). I assured her as how I was just about to leave for the train and it would be fine and she said, "Look outside. There is lots of snow. They are expecting snowfall of 3-4 inches an hour. You are staying home." So I did... and then, when I got back to the office, had to deal with the phone call from HR saying "How are you taking yesterday?" and apparently "Boss -- the COO -- said Stay home" was not an option... so I burned a sick day (as they were unlimited within reason)).

Hope you were successfully warm at home!!