I really want to drive a snow plow...

[Rick58]

Driving a plow is not as much fun as it looks like. The LONG nights, crappy diet and blowing snow can make it a nightmare.

Amen to that. Good point about the crappy diet. Eating junk food and drinking coffee all night trying to stay awake until you get gut rot.
Speaking of trying to stay awake, one night I was plowing one of our largest lots. I was backing to make another pass. Note, you HAVE to keep moving at a good clip to get done in time. Well, I was about half way back, moving at a good pace, and I nodded off for just a fraction of a second. Without knowing it at the time, I remembered getting tunnel vision, then everything just went black. Luckily, it was a wide open, basically empty, lot. That was probably the scariest event I experienced plowing. If that was one of our congested facilities, it could have been really ugly or even fatal.

The funniest experience was another time, again backing. I saw a homeless guy walking in my direction with a cup in his hand. When he got close to the truck, he threw his empty cup in the air and started yelling I just ran over him, but if I bought him a cup of coffee, we would forget the whole thing. I "made sure he was ok" and gave him 5 bucks. It gets better. Later that day, I got a call from a friend of his who asked if I wanted to give this friend some cash to settle the whole thing. I gave him the number for the police and told him to turn me in. Never heard another word. Imagine that. :lmao:

 

[Rick58]

...a tennis ball off a cone is challenging??...lets see them take tennisball off a mailbox!!.....nevermind,i know the results. j/k...you plow drivers are the guys/gals that keep it all going,and are to be commended.

Thanks

 

[Patrice]

I have a cousin who flies transpacific cargo jets and describes the experience as endless hours of mind numbing boredom interspersed by moments of sheer terror. My brother, a long haul trucker, says the same of his job. I guess there are many occupations of a repetitive nature where the value is not in the high degree of required skill, which there is, but more in the ability to go from the mundane to heightened awareness and effectivity in an instant.

 

[digital flower]

Rick, the next snow we get I'm coming to plow with you. We'll record the experience and send Pally a DVD of the first person view! Haha

record 15 minutes, loop it, then watch it for 8 hours. There's a plow session

:mrgreen:
Only 8 hours:er: we usually have 12 to 16 hour shifts. Your boss must be nice.

 

[Rick58]

Rick, the next snow we get I'm coming to plow with you. We'll record the experience and send Pally a DVD of the first person view! Haha

record 15 minutes, loop it, then watch it for 8 hours. There's a plow session

:mrgreen:
Only 8 hours:er: we usually have 12 to 16 hour shifts. Your boss must be nice.

I am the boss, and you're right, I am nice. Ask any of my guys or gals.layball:

I have a crew of 13 doing sidewalks and plowing and we can wrap it up in an 8hr shift. We figured it out a couple years ago. My sidewalk crew has about 1.5 miles of sidewalks we're responsible for.