Fun read from Sunday's Post-Gazette on how much of Pittsburgh handled "Snowmageddon".
Frank got a few paragraphs. Like most of us, he didn't have power, but made it in to open.
Frank Battista was luckier. He awoke at 5:45 a.m., took care of his dog, shoveled off his car and then drove from his Mexican War Streets home to help open up Aldo Coffee Co. in Mt. Lebanon at 7:15 a.m., where he's a barista.
It's a good thing he did: business was extremely brisk, thanks to a mix of regulars and others who'd trudged though snow-caked and largely deserted streets to find the lights on and coffee brewing inside.
"Our phone was ringing off the hook," he added. "We should have had, like a ski report, you call in and we say 'We have five lifts open.' "
For all the people without heat and power overnight, "This was a warm place to come to, that had coffee," Mr. Battista said. "Everyone's been very friendly -- just happy to have a place to go to."
Everyone made it in, on time. Thankfully Frank has 4WD. Jess walked, having left her car in the back lot Friday night. It took her 90 minutes to shovel it out. Sam walked a mile or so as the T was down (but got a ride home). Sonja and Clara both trudged the six blocks from their house. They were all our heroes for the day.
It took Melanie and I two hours to shovel the driveway, then another hour to get the Jeep up the driveway, only to find it wouldn't go more than 100 feet in any direction. But the old Volvo handled the messy streets OK.
We'd especially like to thank all our customers who braved the snow to drop by. And there were a lot of you who walked several blocks or more to get here through some pretty deep stuff. Many of you were without power yourselves and we're glad we were able to provide an oasis of warmth, coffee and electricity for a few hours.
When Frank called us early Saturday morning once he got into the shop, he asked if we were sure we wanted to open. And we weren't. That was the last call we'd receive before we lost phone service at home. We would have no idea what was going on until we made in it ourselves around noon.
We figured maybe we'd be open a couple of hours and see a dribble of people. Oh no. We ran out of ceramic cups and plates multiple times and there were even points where people were sharing tables with strangers as there was no place left to sit. The day ended up being one of our best ever for sales volume. Who knew?
The best thing was that even though it was ugly outside, everyone's mood was positively chipper. It was one of those times where we really were a "neighborhood" coffeehouse above all else. It was nice.
We hope you've managed to dig out and are now safe and warm. Now we're just waiting to see what this upcoming Tuesday/Wednesday storm brings. We'll be here.
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