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The January 27th snowstorm was treacherous. And amid a weather emergency City Hall had a message: "All non-emergency City government offices are closed for today."

For good measure, it added people should "stay home and off the roads." So, by the thousands, city workers did. And now they're getting hit in their wallets because of it.

"I don't know how you were brought up. I was always brought up you had an obligation to work. Maybe it's different in your world," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

City Hall is docking a day's pay from those who stayed home. Unless they can give a valid excuse -- like the roads were bad, or a supervisor told them not to come in.

That's what taxi inspector Michael Lectora was told. He's antsy his waiver will take a long time to process.

"They won't just give you your money, you know, give you your time back," said Lectora.

City Hall says the pre-dawn announcement last month wasn't the last word. In several media interviews after announcing that many city offices were closed, Bloomberg amended his statement to say workers should come to work if they could.

“We say to city workers, if you can come in, please do," Bloomberg told NY1's Pat Kiernan in a January 24 phone interview.

Amid another bout of snow scrutinty, the mayor all but questioned both the work ethic and even patriotism of those who didn't make it to work last week.

"When you look out the window and it's not as bad as you thought it was gonna be, maybe a bell should go off and say, 'Hey! Maybe I could get to work today.' Because that should be your instinct to want to go. Unless I missed something here. Remember, was it JFK that asked 'what you can do' rather than the reverse,' said the mayor.

"City workers are dedicated, so I don't know what he means by that. Because if the trains and subways aren't running, how are they expected to walk to work. I don't think he walked to work," said Donald Arnold of Teamsters Local 237.

Meanwhile, Lectora isn't arguing with Bloomberg.

"I agree with him, and everybody was ready to come to work. But if the building's closed and nobody's here, we can't bust in and work on our own," Lectora said.