Snow Plowing as a Career

What is the best job in the world? It's the one where you go to work while everyone else stays at home telling their bosses they can't get out of their neighborhoods. The one while everyone is staying nice and cozy and getting an extra day to spend with the kids or with their pillow. That's right, it's the one where people plow the streets during winter weather.

Snow plowing for the city or town is the occupation for which you need to be the first one up and out the door. These people brave the freshly covered streets way before anyone even thinks about getting out from under that big comforter. They are hated by the children, who don't want a slight chance of school that day, but loved by the parents after they get just a little delayed to the workday or even the whole day off.

Why is this job so good, you ask? They get to see the beauty of the weather since it hasn't been touched yet. Untouched snow, even in the mixed weather, is one of the greatest wonders to the human eyes. While the rest of the world is behind the curtains, the workers snow plowing are witnessing the gorgeous views in front of them.

Unfortunately, they have to turn the beautiful sight into the ugly brown and black mush on the side of the road. They will start with the busiest and most important streets first, and slowly work their way to your house, wherever that is. These snow magicians; I like to call them, in some areas of the country, just make the snow completely disappear. They will go back and forth until there is black pavement underneath them. Sometimes the magic occurs immediately, other times it takes a few hours, especially if the precipitation is still falling. The job quickly turns sour once the magicians start replacing the peaceful quiet with the buzzing hum of an engine.

While the snow magicians are doing their tricks, I can't imagine the sights they see as people brave the roads to wherever their conquest is that takes them from the safe haven of their bed. There are some certain types that typically come out during winter weather that require the disappearing act of snow.

The four-by-four fortitude men, or women. We've all seen them and sometimes secretly wish we could maneuver our vehicles how they do theirs. They are almost above the snow magicians in their ability to get around while the roads are still covered. They purposely let their vehicle slide around as if they were sledding. The ones with most energy will even attempt doughnuts, the equivalent of a snow angel with a vehicle. While this is fun if you're lucky enough to be a passenger, they really should stop showing off.

The creeping-crawling car. This is the individual who doesn't have the fortitude four-by-four, but still needs to get out on the roads. It may take them an extra hour to get wherever they are going, but by golly, they'll get there. These are your typical sedans, most likely with the rear-wheel or front-wheel drive. They also are the individuals who truly hate their boss because he is making them be a creeping-crawling car on this snow-filled morning.

The lost and lonely in the parking lot. The snow magician has to remove the snow from the parking lot, and off in the back corner is a car that was left overnight for some reason. What does the snow magician do now? It's one car out of the several that needs to get in the parking lot at some point. This is when the snow magician just makes the car disappear, well at least until the mound of snow and mush melts three days later. Wahla! My car reappeared!!

The "I'll let the air dry off the snow" cars. These are the individuals who didn't allow enough time to clean off the excess snow on the car and just cleaned where they needed to see out to their destination. They are probably the individuals who also had the first day after the snowfall off, so they are evidently the last ones to clean off their vehicles. While the rest of the four-by-fours and creeping-crawling cars have no reminisces of winter on their cars, the air dryers are spraying their excess on our clean windshields.

Snow magicians may see both the beauty and the unattractiveness, but watching these car types has got to be interesting. The snow plows get to go back and forth while these types try to navigate the slushy roads. The snow plow trucks have it lucky, most of the time, since they won't slide around or have to creep along to get the road cleared. They also don't have to worry about another car's air-drying snow hitting its windshield being up so high, as the trucks are usually quite large.

Next time you find yourself wishing that truck wasn't making it easier to go to work or to school, imagine the sights he or she gets to see while you're so cozy under that big comforter.