Employees criticise decision to resume work Saturday

AMMAN — Several social media users voiced mixed reactions to the government’s decision to resume work Saturday following a storm that brought heavy snowfall across the Kingdom over the weekend.

Employees said they were unable to make it to work because some roads were still blocked by snow and no public transportation was available, while others said they had had “enough of holidays”.

“How can I make it to work today? The roads near my house are still blocked and there is no way I can drive my car to work today [Saturday],” Hadeel Deab wrote on her Facebook page.

Mais Hassouneh had the same problem.

“How come we had a holiday last Thursday when there was not even heavy rain and now snow piles are everywhere and we are supposed to go to work. I don’t believe I can drive from my house in Tlaa Al Ali to Sweifieh,” Hassouneh wrote on Facebook.

Abu Osama, another Facebook user, said: “I spent most of the time driving carefully on the road today. When I reached work after a few hours it took me a very long time to park my car. This is useless.”

Other social media users said it was a good decision to resume work Saturday.

“Enough laziness and staying at home. There is no reason not to work Saturday,” Obada Saleem said on his Facebook page.

“We should return to [our] normal life. Snow is not an excuse to be lazy,” Saleem wrote.

Several social media users also slammed the government for its “lack of proper preparations” in Tafileh Governorate, 180km southwest of Amman, where there was a power outage for several hours on Friday.

“The government said it was ready to deal with the snowstorm, but this did not apply to Tafileh at all. There was a power cut for more than 15 hours; where is the government and its preparedness?” Moath Odat (@moaodat) tweeted on Saturday.

Abdullah Momani (@abdullahalmomani) tweeted: “Total blackout in Tafileh. It was isolated from the rest of the world on Friday.”

Qasem Saaideh (@qasems2000) agreed, saying: “Tafileh is isolated... even bakeries stopped working Friday.”

“Tafileh needs more focus from the government,” tweeted Ahmad Mhna (@ahmsadjaradeen).