Several years ago, our Team Family voted to follow Mississippi State’s lead when it came to weather warnings [they are literally experts ].
We watched the weather closely. We knew to expect the office to be closed on Monday, so we took home Monday’s work. Then, Tuesday happened… We weren’t as prepared for Tuesday, but we all have our work laptops at home, so we made the best of it. Then Wednesday…
FINALLY!! Mississippi State posted they would be OPEN on Thursday.
A sigh of relief rushed over me. As a small business owner, I lose thousands of dollars each day we are not open. Say it with me… THOUSANDS of dollars…. Add in payroll, and I lose even more.
I was giddy at the fact I would not be losing thousands on Thursday. I started prepping “catch-up” work assignments, and emailing the tasks out to our respective Teammates.
Blue barked, and abruptly interrupted my train of thought. I walked to the door to see who he was watching, and noticed quite a bit of slush on our street. I was puzzled, because we live in town, on the busiest residential street there is.
Curiosity got the best of me…
I put on my botts, sweatshirt, hopped in a freezing car [yes, I should have warmed it up first], and off I went.
I drove on side-streets, Highway 12, Highway 25, Highway 82, Highway 182, and several two-lane roads in between. Finally, I slid into The Barn [work] driveway – literally.
I worked for a few hours, and headed home around 5pm. I normally leave later, but I wanted to know what the roads would be like for my Teammates [most of them leave around then].
The roads were slushy, with sheets of thin ice, potholes that came out of nowhere, and bad drivers – really bad…
I made it home safe and sound.
I sat for another hour or so, thankful to not lose thousands on Thursday, but also concerned about the drive for everyone in the morning. I texted Hassie [Teammate].
For those that do not know, Hassie is my “gauge on humanness”. When I am curious how things will impact someone, I ask Hassie.
We discussed the weather, the roads, Mississippi State being open, and the Team Family. And in that moment, she laid every bit of the responsibility on my shoulders: “You’re the decision maker.”.
My head swirled…
– I don’t want to spend another unexpected day losing thousands…
– I want the office back up and running by 8am tomorrow…
– I need the Team to be in full-force tomorrow…
I grabbed my phone, opened up “The Unicorn Hunters” [our text thread], and messaged:
As we voted in the past to go by MSU’s weather decisions, Hassie and I discussed this evening, and we are EXTENDING work from home hours
You can't buy time, BUT... 