Similar story - last year, Olympia WA had a large snowstorm, upwards of 3-4' in 12-24 hours (which would be bad enough in most places, let alone a city without the infrastructure), and a state of emergency was declared (I'm a firefighter - had to go in and ended up working for several days straight).

My girlfriend is a nanny for two attorneys who work for the state. Their offices were closed due to the storm, and to quote the recorded message, "due to the extremely hazardous road conditions, we are closing so employees do not have to attempt the drive to work, and indeed we urge them to stay off the road".

My girlfriend's employers? "So, we'll be working from home - we were told it was too dangerous to go in due to the state of emergency, so we'll need you to be here (a 5 mile drive through mostly non-thoroughfare streets) an hour earlier to keep the (two) kids out of our hair."

Talk about a cognitive disconnect.

It's amazing the attitude even people who would swear blind, and believe, that they don't, have towards those they see as "the help".