The MBTA has cancelled all rail service for Tuesday and there is more snow in the forecast for Thursday, so the challenges continue for those working to try and keep Boston open for business this winter.
"Getting to work these days has started to get a little tricky," said Mohammed Hossain. "I came in walking."
Hossain’s bus never showed on this snowy morning, so he trudged for 30 blustery minutes to the convenience store in Somerville where he works. Bus or no bus, the doors here need to open at 7 a.m. He arrived just in time, a line of customers already at the door, and plenty of shoveling to be done.
"Too hard for me," he said. "But you need to shovel so people can walk easy."
Walking in is not an option for Jocelyn Toll, who commutes from Allston to downtown Boston where she works in Guest Services at a Holiday Inn.
"Our shift starts at 7 a.m., so its always dark and kind of difficult to get to the train from where I am," Toll said.
Toll spent the evening before this latest deluge of snow stressed about her 7 a.m. start time the next morning, until she got a call from a colleague.
"She said, 'Oh, we can reserve you a room here at the hotel so you can stay here the night, so it’s easier and more accessible for you to get here in the morning," she said.
But, of course, not everyone has that option. Sandy Leger and Gail Alam-Bulan are nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital's dermatology department, which has remained open all but one day during this historic clip of wintry weather.
"Gotta be in," Leger said.
"We have to be here, so I’m like, way stressed," Alam-Bulan added.
They’ve been living the last few weeks between the proverbial rock and a hard place. On this particular morning, Leger took the commuter rail from Waltham.
"My train was supposed to get in at 8:45 but we didn’t end up getting here until like 9:30, 9:40," she said.
Alam-Bulan, worried about exactly that, decided against the train and drove.
"It was horrible," she said. "I sort of skidded on the highway into a snow bank, because I couldn’t stop."
Then there’s George Castaneda. Getting in is just the first of his challenges. His entire day is spent on the roads.
"I’m a truck driver," he said. "I deliver dairy."
He’s been navigating treacherous streets, fighting to find parking, and then, once he does …
"I also have to clean my way," he said. "It’s not easy, believe me, but hey someone’s gotta do it. I’m glad to do it, believe me."
Castaneda gets paid by the hour. Between road and restaurant closings due to the weather, he’s taken a hit.
"So yeah, absolutely, you can see your paycheck cut back a good 25 percent," he said.
Add to that, another expense, courtesy of the snow. Casteneda’s school-age daughters have had a lot of snow days. For some, his wife has been able to stay home from work. For others, it’s meant hiring a babysitter.
"That’s where the money goes," he said. "If I work today, that’s where the money’s gonna go tomorrow."
Of course all of these folks, as well as the firefighters out there clearing hydrants, and the landscapers redeployed as shovelers, need fuel for their day.
"Coffee," said Dee Perestrelo, who manages a 24-hour Dunkin Donuts in Boston. "Yeah, extra large coffee. Box of Joe’s. Coffee all the time."
Perestrelo lives in Lynn. Her staff lives all over. She says it will take more than a historic winter to shut her down.
"My people is really good people, all the time, and when you come in here my door is never, never gonna be closed," she said. "Never."
Despite the mounting challenges of this winter, nearly every worker I spoke with remained remarkably resolved — even upbeat. Most say simply that they have a job to do, and — one way or another — they are going to find a way to do it. That said, as Alam-Bulan admitted, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
"I don't know," she said. "Florida’s looking better and better."
