Sam's Club workers forced to walk through record-breaking blizzard

[Hum]

As hurricane-force gusts toppled trees, whipped the air into whiteout conditions, and brought temperatures down to 15 degrees, most businesses across Rapid City took drastic action on Oct. 4.

The Target store closed early and allowed 20 employees to stay the night in the building. Triple Crown Hospitality, which owns three hotels, not only let its employees sleep over, it extended the offer to their family members.

But nine employees at Sam's Club on Eglin Street, including a pregnant 19-year-old, were not so lucky.

This week, the Journal spoke with two Sam's Club employees who said workers were forced outside into the recording-breaking blizzard.

Unable to drive through snow-choked streets, and dressed only in fall clothing, the employees say they spent an hour trudging to a nearby hotel.

When called for comment, the Eglin Street Sam's Club referred the Journal to the store's corporate office in Arkansas; the chain is owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Carrie Moore, a spokeswoman for the company, said in a statement on Friday that Sam's Club guides its managers to take every precaution to ensure the safety of its employees.

She said that the manager on duty had elected to send workers to a nearby hotel during the blizzard because he was concerned that the store would lose power.

"In hindsight, we recognize that different decisions could have been made to maximize associate safety," she wrote. "We have carefully reviewed our Disaster Response procedures with our Rapid City team to ensure incidents like these do not occur in the future.?

Ronny Miller, 19, who has worked at Sam's Club since May and is eight months pregnant, hopes that no employee has to experience what she did on Oct. 4.

That Friday, Miller arrived at 1 p.m. for her shift. As the winds howled outside and snow began to fall, the store stood empty of customers.

"We were all standing around doing nothing," Miller said.

She said the manager on duty told the employees that he had called the company's corporate office repeatedly to see if the store could close early.

At about 6:30 p.m., the manager told the workers that corporate officials had finally given permission to close.

But by that point, driving home had become a near impossibility for the employees. A 'no travel' advisory was in effect.

Miller said her car was buried in three feet of drifting snow.

Miller said the manager responded that corporate had told him that the employees had to vacate the building.

"We were like, 'why can't we just stay in the store?'" Miller said. "'We have all the food we need. We have TVs. We have pull-out beds on the walls that we could just lay on for the night. I mean, c'mon?'"

Miller said the manager told them that he was sorry, but there was nothing he could do.

The Journal is not naming the Friday on-duty manager because he could not be reached. The newspaper asked Sam's Club if it would allow a reporter to speak with the manager, but an official said the Friday manager was no longer with the company.

Asked whether he had been fired, the company's corporate office said that its policy is not to discuss the employment history of individuals.

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[webeagle12]

What do you expect.. Walmart...

[Hum]

Scrooge is smiling.

 

[techbeck]

oh boo hoo.  I had to walk thru worse as a kid going to and from the school bus.

[neufuse Veteran]

Doesn't surprise me...every time we have a blizzard here that gives us a foot or more in a couple hours everything closes.... except walmart

[DocM]

Send them to Traverse City or Marquette Michigan about mid to late January and see if they still complain :ninja:

[Dot Matrix]

Doesn't surprise me...every time we have a blizzard here that gives us a foot or more in a couple hours everything closes.... except walmart

Because 'MURICA!

[Dark-Heart]

At least it's not as bad as it is here in the UK... Any snow and the country virtually breaks down, 9 out of 10 schools shut, shops mostly shut, even the trains and trams get it. But when I was a boy we had to go in to school no matter what... and the trains ran fine.

[DocM]

As a kid when there was too much snow for buses we rode horses or - GASP! - WALKED!!

1-room schoolhouse too.

[Dark-Heart]

As a kid when there was too much snow for buses we rode horses or - GASP! - WALKED!!

1-room schoolhouse too.

I was lucky the... Primary school and High school, I went to when I was young are 5 minutes walking distance from me. How time times change... LOL

[McKay]

oh boo hoo.  I had to walk thru worse as a kid going to and from the school bus.

Uphill both ways right?

[Yorak]

Growing up, one of the main complaints people had was about the weather. Our winters could get bad but they certainly were not as bad as some other states. I thrive in cold weather, probably because I have poor circulation and cannot feel my hands and feet very well after they get just a little bit cold anyways. I began to love winter more and more, mostly because I witnessed how miserable it made people and that brightened my day. You know? I would look down the street at people as they scraped the ice and snow off of their car with a grouchy look on their face. Since this is America, there is a 1/3 chance that the people walking were obese. They were simply angry because they had to walk.

[techbeck]

Uphill both ways right?

 

naw, just one way.  But I didnt complain about it and was worse than those people at Sams Club had to deal with.

[ozgeek]

'nuff said

[Luc2k]

naw, just one way.  But I didnt complain about it and was worse than those people at Sams Club had to deal with.

Were you also pregnant the whole time?

[Growled Member]

It's Walmart. I expect no better of them.

[Xerino]

Yet another Walmart blunder

[FriendlyBully]

Were you also pregnant the whole time?

 

Off topic: I used to love asking my wife to pick up beer/whiskey for me when she was pregnant. I actually did it on purpose. She would always rant about the dirty looks she got, LOL! 

[Growled Member]

Off topic: I used to love asking my wife to pick up beer/whiskey for me when she was pregnant. I actually did it on purpose. She would always rant about that dirty looks she got, LOL! 

 

You are so bad. :D

[techbeck]

Were you also pregnant the whole time?

 

Nope, but I did have my foot wrapped up at one point.  Had sitches acrossed all my toes, tendons stiched up, and I still managed to walk thru snow (few ft deep) to and from the bus stop.  1/4 of a mile each way.  Then my car broke down in HS 2miles from my house.  Below zero temp, snowing like crazy, and couldnt see 10ft in front of me.

 

People are to soft these days.

[Luc2k]

Nope, but I did have my foot wrapped up at one point.  Had sitches acrossed all my toes, tendons stiched up, and I still managed to walk thru snow (few ft deep) to and from the bus stop.  1/4 of a mile each way.  Then my car broke down in HS 2miles from my house.  Below zero temp, snowing like crazy, and couldnt see 10ft in front of me.

 

People are to soft these days.

Soft or not, management shouldn't have put them in that situation to begin with. They were kept at work even though there was no business and then kicked out even though they had the necessary accommodations to stay the night.

 

If you had a better alternative in the scenarios you mentioned, wouldn't you have gone with it?