Snow, Cleverness and Sweethearts

Standing in the drifting snow, my cracked plastic shovel in hand I take a few deep breaths. Waves of pain radiate along my spine just north of the belt. The pair of herniated disks howl like veteran death metal vocalists whose voices exude physical pain. Seconds before I resume the digging the blaze orange truck rounds the corner and buries the end of my driveway in a wave of snow any surfing professional would admire. The added snow isn't the concern but the packing effect of the repeated passings of the plow. Each run up the street adds a new level of difficulty to my chore. Just what my back and cracked shovel needed.
 

I wondered if the drivers of the plows use the same technique when cruising by their own home or those of their friends and family? Is there any other technique available? 

I can buy a plane ticket, rent a car and book a hotel room via the internet on my phone but there's no other snow removal technology in this country that doesn't result in burying driveways. Isn't it ironic that the plows are making the roads passable and the places the cars are parked impassable? 

I remember living in New York City where street parking in the same zip code as your apartment is comparable to hitting a scratch ticket for $1000. The plows would absolutely bury cars beyond any hope of freeing them. The owners who could simply took public transportation. The parking spots would be locked up for days until the snow melted enough to motivate the owner. 

I remember looking out the window at my landlord, Jack digging out the space in front of the walk up to the house. The plows had made a berm three feet high down the entire street. His car was double-parked down the street at his mother-in-law's house. He finished shoveling and walked off to get his car when someone driving along the street decided to park there. When Jack got back he was furious and had words with the man who refused to move the car. I cracked the window to eavesdrop. The man, dressed in a suit and dress shoes told Jack that if there was anything wrong with his car when he got back from wherever he needed to go, he would call the police. Jack accepted defeat and stormed up the walk into the first floor entrance. The man walked around his car a final time though I don't know why and headed off.
 

I heard the door slam downstairs. I looked out the window and saw Jack on the sidewalk drinking a beer. It was 9am! He put the can into a snowdrift and started shoveling again. But this time Jack was shoveling the snow into the street all around, under and on top of the slickster's car. I wasn't around when he got back, but I wish to hell I could've seen it.

Retail abounds with people giving away goods at reduced prices or for nothing at all. They make these decisions for friends, family and you guessed it, other retail employees! Sometimes it's a co-worker at the same company. Other times it's the clerk from another store. There's a mutual benefit to both involved. The restaurant worker gives out free food and then gets free cd's at the media store. The grocery store employee signs an inflated invoice for the soft drink delivery driver and then gets 30% of the take. Two employees at the same store steal customer's credit card personal information to open fraud credit cards and run up thousands in illegal purchases.

Professional courtesy or just theft? No one is really getting hurt, right? A patrolmen let's an off-duty cop off for running a red light. Celebrities get meals and hotel rooms comped though they can afford it. There are probably a hundred examples of professionals or non-professionals who take care of their own. Services and good are bartered openly every day in this country. When you're the owner of the business you're empowered to make that choice. Employees, not so much. So when politicians, law enforcement, military personnel, school administrators, financial representatives and members of the media alter the way they do business or operate simply because they're dealing with a fellow member of their club, is it professional courtesy? Is it discrimination? Is it plain old dishonesty? Corruption? I say yes to all of the above. 

In 2008 Jennifer Muir, a reporter for the the Orange County Register in California exposed how thousands of state workers obtained untraceable license plates that rendered their vehicles immune to all moving violations. Visit this link to check out the story. http://www.ocregister.com/news/dmv-189719-police-confidential.html

Do you get these kind of perks at work?