Stranded warehouse worker makes the best of it

When an epic wall of lake-effect snow slammed Buffalo, N.Y., in mid November, Tom Wilson was at work in a local warehouse. And there he and his co-workers stayed for the next 36 hours.

The fast-moving storm dumped an entire season's worth of snow so quickly that traffic came to a standstill, vehicles were immobilized on the New York Thruway, and residents were trapped in their houses by six feet or more of the white stuff.

Wilson, 28, told the Associated Press that he shared a frozen dinner with co-workers and later tried to get some sleep, which turned out to be harder than he had expected. "I slept on a pallet. Then I slept on some office chairs, and then I went back to the pallet," he said. That proved uncomfortable indeed, so the resourceful Wilson looked around for something better, eventually seizing on some sponges to use as a pillow.

The Consumer's Beverages Inc. warehouse where Wilson and his co-workers spent a day and a half was filled with drinks but little food. The stranded employees tried to make popcorn using some wood, charcoal, empty soda pop kegs, and a dust pan. And the result? "It didn't work," Wilson said.