To say thank you for their hard work plowing the streets day and night during the big storm, Jimmy Max restaurant on Watchogue Road is giving sanitation workers both free lunch and dinner.
“Oh, that's fantastic! I have to say thank you, when I get inside!" said a Sanitation worker.
The restaurant has been around for 28 years. The owner, James McBrattney, says whenever there is a snowstorm he feds the sanitation crew in memory of his grandfather who retired from the Department of Sanitation.
“It really bugged him that he felt the sanitation guys didn't get their due recognition they deserved," he said. They could plow 99 streets correctly but miss one and then everybody would complain about how they missed that one street," said McBrattney.
So early Thursday, the staff put up a Facebook post, inviting sanitation workers for Pop's Pasta, Grandma Mary's Lentils or to load up on carbs for the long shift ahead.
“It's great. We've been doing a lot of driving, how's it looking? It's looking a lot better than it was,” said another sanitation worker.
“Imagine what the nightmare would look like this morning without them plowing all night long? Without them we owe everything to them. It was the least we could do," said a restaurant employee.
Despite the weather, none of the longtime staff members had second thoughts about coming into work.
"We've never taken a snow day in 28 years including last January," said McBrattney.
As for the civilians willing to brave the cold? A free cup of soup of their choice.