Servers forced to ‘hike’ through ice because they aren't allowed to call in, sparking debate

As the bitter cold from the Arctic blast is harrowing the people of the United States, life has come to a short-term halt. Cities and towns have shut down with very few people daring to step out in the dangerous weather. However, a few employers showed no mercy to their workers prohibiting them from calling in. So, many employees have no other option than to walk to work in the snowstorm. Savannah Dunn @savvdunn posted on TikTok about how pathetic she and her friend were as they paced to work through the slippery snow. The viral video made many other employees rant about such terrible experiences they had. 

The 18-year-old Dunn worked as a server and she and her friend had to show up at the restaurant despite the life-threatening blizzard situation. "Our hike into work because we aren't allowed to call in to save our lives," read the text overlay on Dunn's video. The servers were seen climbing up a ramp as the stairs next to it were covered in ice and could've been slippery. With a little bit of exaggerated stomping, Dunn called their walk to the workplace a "hike" to emphasize how hard it was to go out while it was heavily snowing. The video's background song was Frozen Heart from the movie "Frozen" and its lyrics, "Born of cold and winter air and mountain rain combining," fitted perfectly to Dunn's situation.

"They(the restaurant) could've survived with one server the whole night," Dunn pointed out in the caption. The video gained over 2.6 million views. Many people ranted about how they or someone they knew had similar experiences too and shared their employers' unreasonable expectations in the comments. "I won’t be risking my life like that. I will call in if I need to. Last year I ended up in a ditch going to work in a really bad snowstorm," wrote @lanabos14. "I used to work for the government and got written up for calling off in a snowstorm," commented @smartee_pants. "And then no one comes in and they just cut you. So, happy I don’t work at restaurants anymore," wrote @gracebeautyandaesthetics. "I work in retail and people still be shopping in a snowstorm. Like, go home," wrote @megasourusrex.

In a conversation with Daily Dot, Dunn pointed out that there was never a time in her job as a server that she had been called off due to the weather. Speaking about how work was the day she posted this video, Dunn said "It was so slow. I made 35 dollars the whole night. The snow only got worse as we were there, so by the end of the night I had only had 2 tables." She mentioned that though the snow wasn't that bad when she shot the video, it became severe later that night. She hoped that employers would have some concern over the workers and close the place during such dangerously bad weather conditions. "Employees shouldn’t put their job before their life. It’s sad that people are scared to stay home where they feel most safe because they know they’ll lose their jobs over it," said Dunn.