As 16 inches of snow dumped on Hamden on Monday and into Tuesday, one local college student didn’t get the day off. Matthew Bruin, a senior Quinnipiac University student and HQNN staffer, spends snow days working for his family’s snow plow company in Mendham, New Jersey. Here is his account of his last two days, where he estimates he worked at least 35-40 hours.
Snow days don’t exist in the Bruin household. Instead, when snow is in the forecast, my family goes into snow mode. My whole family gets ready to work. Ever since I can remember, this has been the case. However, as I have gotten older, I have evolved from the mechanical snow shoveler I taught myself to be, to an employee at my dad’s business, responsible for snow removal at 10 commercial properties.
With this responsibility on top of being a full time Quinnipiac University student living in Hamden, when a big snowstorm is coming, my parents — or in this case my bosses — beg me to come home and help. This time it meant a two-and a half-hour ride back to New Jersey.
After committing to taking the trip, the only question was whether it would actually snow as much as was predicted, making me wonder if the trip would be worth it. This time, it snowed more, and snow totals were over 35 inches where I work. I don’t know what they would have done if I didn’t go home.
The day before a big storm has a feeling of Christmas Eve mixed with the nervousness of going in for a job interview — I never know what to expect, but for some reason I am still excited. However, over the course of the storm, my excitement dwindles and is replaced with exhaustion.
Additionally, when I hop in the plow truck, I never know when my day will be over, and with a possible 30 inches in the forecast, I could expect that I won’t be going to bed for at least two days.
Once I get in the plow truck,my best friend becomes red bulls and snacks from whatever place is open. This past storm, everyone was closed. It was nearly impossible to find a cup of coffee.
Furthermore, because many gas stations stayed closed, whenever I needed gas, I had to venture a few towns away across unplowed roads, only for the parking lot to be covered with snow again when I returned. This happened over and over again, until the snow stopped.
However, after 36 hours of the snow falling, there was barely anywhere to put the snow. The piles had grown to the size of small houses, and the paths for the sidewalks felt like walking through a maze.
By the end of the storm when I pull into our house, I’m still not done. Our family, or in my case, my mom, expects me to fully clear and plow out my family’s driveway and all the walks. Although this is understandable, this is the only thing preventing me from sitting down and getting some rest.
