Keeping Cool at the Office

After a spring that didn’t really arrive until very late we are clearly in summer mode and before long I’m sure people will be complaining about the heat even though they promised in April they would not do so.

Of course the majority of us spend a good deal of time in air conditioned comfort but when that comfort is interrupted our mood can change very quickly.

I mention this because yesterday afternoon I realized at some point that the AC was not working in the area where my office is.  Optimistically our engineer here thought it might just be a fuse but unfortunately that was not the case and I assume at some point today a professional will be here to fix the problem. At least I hope so.

I have a fan that I bought a couple of years ago and it helps a little and I brought another in from home which will at least help circulate the very still air.  Meanwhile my thoughts have turned to what it was like before there was air conditioning and wondering how people functioned, especially while working.

Could you imagine today sitting in a hot office for eight hours, especially if it was a job that required wearing a shirt and tie?  Clearly we have grown soft because the generations before us went from warm house to warm car to warm office and often warm was replaced by hot.

Air conditioning as we know it was not invented until 1902 and it was first used in the workplace only.  The first private home to have AC was in 1914 and it was not until 1945 that the portable, in-window unit was invented.

Of course during the summer many flocked to Jersey Shore beach towns to “beat the heat” and would bask in the cool breezes that often came off the ocean.  I could use a little of that today but will have to deal with a sticky leather chair until help arrives.