'Only go out and plow if I tell you to': County road supervisor makes a snowy mistake during morning rush hour

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Feb 10, 2024 11:00 AM EST

This new boss was surprised that some older employees knew better than he did. That was hardly a surprising outcome to the employees, but new managers often feel like they have to make a good impression by bossing everyone around. After all, if they're hired to lead, they think that the most visible way to demonstrate that is to make changes to their workplace immediately. In reality, if they just spent a few minutes talking to their most dedicated employees, they'd probably find out which changes would make the biggest impacts. 

This malicious story concerns the folks who wake up very early in the morning to plow snow from the roads. It's a very important job—this determines if school buses will be able to get kids to school, not to mention all of the people who need to drive to work. Of course, these workers don't always get the appreciation they deserve. By the time most people are awake, the roads are starting to be cleared. (Also, no one likes getting stuck behind the salt truck as it flings salt all over the roads… but that's beside the point.)

After you check out this snowy debacle, read about one truck driver who decided to send their boss delivery photos until their computer crashed. 

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    Cheezburger Image 9878093056
    via Torbjørn Helgesen on Unsplash
  • 02
    "Only Plow When I Tell You To." M This isn't actually my story, but my neighbor's, but he barely uses facebook, much less reddit and loves hearing when this story gets spread around. I'll call him Brad for this story
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 03
    Brad works for the county road department running a maintainer tractor for the dirt roads. It's basically a big tractor with a blade to scrape the roads. It also can double as a snow plow when needed. A few years ago the county road supervisor (Brad's boss) retired. The new guy wasn't from around the area, but he worked in a similar situation before. His name is Andy.
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 04
    Andy sadly got off on the wrong foot with the road guys. They were used to going to the roads they thought needed the most work. The old boss let them because they were on those roads every day, most of them even lived near them. Andy wasn't used to running things that way. He chewed out a few guys for going out without permission, citing budget cuts and
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 05
    that there wasn't enough money fuel up their trucks and tractors and they needed to work out when to work and where. Most of the guys understood that. The county board took advantage of a new guy and it was going to be a lean year. They stepped back.
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 06
    Then winter came. Most of the maintainer guys prepped their trucks and tractors to help out the plows. They always had because there were a lot of roads, too many for the number of plows the county had. The first snow that hit was pretty light. An inch or so, but the plows and the road guys got it cleaned up very quickly. When they
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 07
    came back in Andy was furious. He thought he had made it clear that the could not go out to work wherever they thought they were needed. He yelled at all of them for it. All of them were very taken aback when he said, "Only go out and plow if I tell you to go out and plow."
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 08
    They met up outside and agreed to follow those directions to the letter. They took off any snow plow attachments they had and waited.
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 09
    The next week it snowed again, this time it was much more: nearly two feet of snow. And Brad sat at home and waited. He knew by 5 AM calls would start coming into Andy's office complaining about the roads. Our own driveways was completely impassable, but Brad had already called and explained the situation and we just enjoyed a day off. It only took until 9 for Andy to call up Brad. He hadn't been the first Andy had called either.
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 10
    "I know your plow stuff isn't on, but go ahead and get it attached and get out there when you can. Do whatever roads you usually do, I trust your guy's judgement. I'll see you tomorrow." And Brad got to work. It was after rush hour when he was done, but the roads were clear.
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 11
    The meeting was actually quite pleasant. Andy apologized for how he acted and promised that he would get more money to get the roads into shape somehow. He even thanked them for being up and out so quickly after he called them. They apologized for acting like they knew everything and said he was right to try and reign them in a little.
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 12
    Brad still loves his job, still plows and keeps the roads looking good. He says that from them on if Andy was yelling at you, you deserved it.
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 13
    TLDR: Road workers get punished for working when they weren't explicitly told to by a new boss. So when heavier snow hits, they don't. Boss gets the message and works with them.
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 14
    ShaddapDH I like this. A lot of these stories end up with someone being off at the end of them. This one kind of knocks everyone involved down a peg or two and everyone comes out understanding each other better than when they started.
    via u/ShaddapDH
  • 15
    Newbosterone I was expecting Brad to find out that Andy intended on creating a mess, because that's how you get your budget restored. Managers can play this game too.
    via u/Newbosterone
  • 16
    up_sideand_down OP. The following fall was an election year for the board who decides the budget. Andy's job wasn't at stake...but he dropped a few tidbits here and there about things board members told Andy he wouldn't need. Like maintainers used as plows. There were a lot of new faces on the county board that year.
    via u/up_sideand_down
  • 17
    100 Wells1632 I was waiting to hear that upon receiving the call to go out and plow the snow, Brad's response was "Can't. The roads are blocked by the snow and I can't get to the plow." Good to see a wholesome ending though. 6 Reply Share up_sideand_down OP. That would have been a good excuse, but he takes that big tractor with him every day and he can use the usual grading blade to get through snow. It just won't go as deep is all.
    via u/Wells1632

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boss workplace-stories road jobs work stories job malicious compliance snow work coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit workplace winter malicious compliance reddit snow plow roads
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