Snow Day!! almost

In January 1996, I was living and working in mid-town Manhattan. In January 1996 we also had one of the biggest snow storms to hit Manhattan (if I recall, it was about 21” of snow in about 12 hours). Busses and Subways were shut down. Nearly all of the roads - yes in mid-town Manhattan - were closed. Typical to New York, the city didn’t quite shut down, but it certainly slowed to a crawl.

This was, of course, before the days when telecommuting or even remote access to e-mail was even (widely) possible, so working at home was not an option for many, and certainly not for the firm that employed me. But being me, and living about 10 blocks from my office, I put on my business suit and my heavy insulated snow boots and made my way to the office. As I walked the snow plows tried to clear streets, turning every curb into the closest thing to mountain climbing most Manhattanites would ever see.

I remember this day for two reasons:

1) I was one of only seven people who made it in that day, out of more than 3,000 who worked at that office.
2) I had a new employee starting that day - and no, she never made it in either (despite her best efforts)

So why do I bring up this story now, today? Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we narrowloy averted a strike by BART, one of our largest regional transit systems. As I thought about what it might be like for people who rely on BART to get to work today had the proverbial 11th-hour deal not been struck, it seemed that they might face a challenge similar to the one that I - and millions of others - faced on that January day in 1996.

The big difference? Now telecommuting is simple. Easy. And inexpensive (or, had the BART strike happened, free).

As I write this, I am telecommuting, and I wonder how many people who might have been affected by the strike thought that was a useful and viable alternative (I know, in my opinion, not enough   ). And I wonder how many of them decided to slip on their version of fuzzy slippers (no, I don’t have those) and stay home anyway?

Public transit is valuable, useful and increasingly convenient (I hope this increases quickly in some spots). But while all those drivers caught a break today, courtesy of the negotiators, there’s still no guarantee that the spectre of a strike won’t loom again soon.

So, think about it - if you are one of those lucky drivers - leave the car in the driveway, and leave yourself in the house (or coffee shop, or location of your choosing - with internet access, of course!). Consider reducing your carbon footprint and your stress level and increasing the time you have at home with family (or in an alternate perfect location…)
I promise, we’ll help.

Posted by Jeff Weinberger at 04:20PM PST

—-
Jeff Weinberger
WebEx Green Initiative
WebEx Corporate Social Responsibility
Cisco WebEx