trimming the beard will have to wait

We've been assaulted by the Polar Vortex, and I've just been through my first sub-zero (℉) night since leaving New York State. It got down to -4.0℉ overnight.

I was at work from 10:30 PM until almost 7 AM, and people kept coming in wearing hoodies or windbreakers (or both) and complaining about the cold. Sure, some folks were properly overdressed, but too many were dressed for temperatures above freezing rather than 0℉ with a wind chill of -20℉.

It was not very warm indoors at the store, either. In the back room, where we have an ice maker and the mop bucket, I found a frozen puddle under the ice machine, and the mop was standing in a bucket full of dirty slush. I picked up the mop, and the cotton string mophead stayed bunched up. Frozen solid, with a crown of ice crystals.

Moving the mop bucket into the kitchen to warm up didn't help much - it was still slushy three hours later - but it provided a good visual aid to remind people not to leave water in the mop bucket.

The patch of ice under the ice maker turned out to be there because, funnily enough, a drain within the ice maker froze. Overflow then went through its "emergency exit" (an upturned section of pipe sticking out of the back) and onto the floor of the uninsulated room.

And, despite no precipitation that would require salting the parking lot, a few people poured out drinks on the ground. The drinks instantly froze, of course, so I had to salt those spots.