Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Stifling humidity and the state of mental health...

I read somewhere that violent crime increases during the summer when it is hot. In Iraq the summer months see an increase in suicide bombings and Iraqi on Iraqi crimes. Having experienced the stifling heat in Iraq I can tell you that my level of aggression rose with the temperature...but I have to hand it to the Iraqis,when the temp topped 120 and continued to rise I reached a plateau in aggression levels. They continued doing whatever it is they do despite the heat. It got so freakin hot that I did not feel like doing a damn thing. Cut to Cleveland Ohio...the outside temp is not horrible by any means. As a matter of fact as I was going to work this morning I thought it was downright pleasant this morning. A typical pleasant morning. I rode shotgun in the caddy with Jason driving,we made fun of Cleveland people, and joked about suicide being an option if we were forced to live here. There may be people from Cleveland reading this...don't get your panties in a wad...I am sure it's a nice place to live,it's just not for me. Anyway, I digress, we walked into the Ritz (not the greatest place ever), and wandered up to the floors our clients are occupying. As soon as I stepped out of the stairwell I was almost overcome by a wave of humidity that rivals Charleston SC in August! In case you have not been there, Charleston in August is Equatorial Guinea hot! So now I sit and wonder...WHY THE FUCK DON'T THEY KEEP THE AC RUNNING???? I have had days on this hallway where I have had to wear a coat and hat it was so cold. Where are those days!?!? It cant be an electric bill issue...our clients are spending over a million a month here. It could possibly be a mechanical issue. It could be some grand conspiracy to keep me , and my partner, uncomfortable as hell. I wont discount that immediately. But, I have often been told that the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one. In my humble opinion, I think it is just sheer idiocy. I am pretty sure the engineers in this hotel just sit around with their collective thumbs up their collective butts and discuss the best method to unclog a toilet. Our calls to them go unanswered because I am pretty sure they don't know how to answer the thing on the wall that makes noise every now and then. I imagine them in their lair looking at the switch with the pretty lights that controls the AC switching it on and off. They probably laugh like little Ralphie Wiggum when the lights come on, and get sad when the lights turn off. So given the limited resources that they have to work with, I guess I should be happy that the place has not burned down. I should probably resign myself to being uncomfortable for 12 hours a day. I suppose I have dealt with worse...

1 comment:

Jamers said...

I know exactly what you mean about the heat. I spent 8 hours today in front of a hot furnace collecting samples in a lab with 44% humidity. Granted, it is not Iraqi-level hot but it definitely alters my ability to deal with stupid people.

Oh - and you are quite possibly right about the engineers, since I AM an engineer, I have had my share of WTF moments. I find myself thinking "how in the world did this person get his degree?"

p.s. "Don't get your panties in a wad" is going in my quote log.