❄️ This job is snow joke

👋 Alissa here. The old saying goes, "before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes."

• I recently had an experience sort of like that — except I drove a mile in their snowplow.

Driving the news: Long before the first snowflakes of the season fell, city officials invited journalists to test drive a snowplow obstacle course used to train Snow Warriors.

🤫 Context: Luckily, they didn’t check my driving record, or they may have reconsidered.

Yes, but: I’m happy to report I passed the test — albeit barely — thanks to guidance from my passenger seat coach, Snow Warrior Lacey.

How it works: Drivers carefully maneuver a Ford F-550 while also controlling a plow with a joystick. My years of video game experience didn't help much, unfortunately.

• For most obstacles, the goal is to earn points by getting just close enough to touch targets, plowing the full width of the hypothetical street.
• Bump a border barrel and you lose points. Those represent objects like parked vehicles and mailboxes in real life. I caused … some light property damage.

The bottom line: It's a lot harder than it looks.

• If you're up for the challenge, the city is still hiring drivers as it prepares for winter.