It’s 30 C (86 F) here right now. I came down to the pub for a couple of beers and can’t stand the air conditioning.
I’m wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sandals and am freezing my ass off! This happens to me often. There’s no excuse for having the A/C cranked to 21 C (70) in the bloody summertime. This is normal room temperature in the winter when I’m like fully dressed, and heat is blowing on me, not cold.
I’ve mentioned this to the management a number of times to no avail. So, I came out to the patio to warm the fuck up, except my beer also warms the fuck up.
I realize workers are moving around and are probably impervious to the cold, but it bugs the hell out of me.
My house is at 26 (79) during the day and that’s perfect. I didn’t just survive a cold Ottawa winter just to be cold again in the summer.
I find that “room temperature” is generally considered to be about 20 to 25. On one hand, the bar could have saved some energy by setting the thermostat to 25, but on the other hand 21 is within the expected range. The initial shift from sweating at 30+ to indoor air can feel chilly/refreshing, but that goes away after a minute; it’s not that everyone besides you is an Eskimo. Just stop standing directly underneath the cold air vent
Maybe I drink way more than you, but if I tell the bartender I’m chilly, or would rather watch soccer than Shopping Channel, or whatever, it’s taken care of right away.
Is this “management” person someone you tip? Maybe that’s the problem.
Absolutely agree. When I go to the supermarket, I take a jacket or at least a long-sleeved shirt to throw over my T. My son keeps his house at 68 summer and winter. But he explains that his MIL who lives with them and is, literally, their nanny, has respiratory problems and cannot take a higher temperature. But I wear a sweater and a jacket over that when we visit. It’s not just bars and restaurants.
If you know them well enough to have their cell numbers, send a pic of yourself at the new bar you’ve chosen – because it’s comfortable.
No, I don’t freeze in restaurants in the summer. I leave.
IME, if not prevented, the workers will set the temp at a setting for those hurrying about and waiting on clients. In the summertime this is invariably too cold for those who are relaxing at a table. If unchecked, they will turn the restaurant into cold storage. If it’s too cold, I tell management I’m leaving because of the temp and will try again at a later date. No meal or drink is worth shivering at my table.
Regarding the TV channel or music selection, I normally have no issue unless it’s too loud for normal conversation. Then the same policy – I tell the manager on my way out to a (hopefully) quieter competitor.
There seems to be a trend with louder music and less comfortable seating (temp or hard chairs) to encourage customers not to linger. Presumably, this helps sales somehow. I try to accommodate businesses that are doing this by not patronizing them at all.
My coworkers and I went to a fast food restaurant a few years ago with a loud corporate channel TV running (pretend news articles, with ads for the restaurant’s food). When we asked the manager to turn the volume down he told us it was set by corporate and he had no control over it. We’ve often wondered, in the intervening years, whether they still have that loud TV. Maybe someday one of us will return and find out. But it won’t be me.
In my opinion, restaurants are always too cold in the summer. I endure 9 months of cold weather so when it’s finally summer I don’t want to be cold. In the summer I’m usually wearing a sleeveless top and shorts or a skirt. I shouldn’t have to wear long sleeves and jeans when it’s 85 degrees outside just to eat a meal. But I’ve learned my lesson and always bring a jacket or sweater when we go out to eat.
Back in my days of employment, the workplace was always freezing. Whenever I would complain, I would be told, “I like it cold.” Back in my drafting days, I would say that my fingers were too cramped to hold the drafting pen, and the snot dripping from my nose made the ink smear.
When I worked for the State of Confusion, I brought in a Cuddle Up blanket and crawled underneath my workstation to plug it in. Then I parked my butt in my desk chair, wrapped the blanket around me, and finally knew bliss. I had a whole parade of supervisors who came in to see for themselves. My own boss said I looked like a little old lady in a nursing home.
I won’t say I’ve never set foot in business that was uncomfortably cold, but I gather my considerable tolerance for cold room temperatures is directly proportional to my considerable intolerance of hot room temps.
Yes, and like several others I carry a light sweater with me, knowing that restaurants, offices etc will be too cold. In one office where I work part time, the regulars all have their wraps and sweaters for summer. I don’t know why businesses can’t figure out that people in summer clothes won’t be comfortable if the air conditioning is set to 68 or 65.
The other thing that annoys me apart from the personal discomfort is the waste of electricity and the contribution to climate change: “global energy consumption for space cooling has over tripled in the last three decades from approximately 600 terawatt hours in 1990 to 2,000 terawatt hours in 2016.”
Sometimes the igloo conditions are from poor office design–the big open bay rooms with zillions of cubicles are notorious to heat and cool. Folks along the southern and western windows roast, and the central people, especially the poor, frostbitten ones under a vent, freeze to death.
You would be astounded at people who place the copy machine in a nice, convenient spot, and wonder why the employees have turned to popsicles. Well, next time, look for the thermostat before placing the machine!
~VOW
Yeah, not just bars and restaurants. The apartments where I currently live have a central air-con system and it runs 24/7 (unless you turn it off for your own unit).
Now given it’s often 40c outside, the air-con is welcomed, but every now and again I need to go out onto the balcony to ‘warm up’ a bit. And after 5 min, I’m back inside loving the aircon.
To take that to it’s logical conclusion, they could have saved even more money energy by turning it off altogether.
If the OP is at these bars before they’re getting busy, that could be part of the reason. It’s normal to get the AC going, and getting it maybe a bit cooler before the regular crown shuffles in. If you have the AC at a ‘normal’ temp, and it’s suddenly noticeably warm once there’s 50 people in there, the AC will be struggling all night to get it back down. If you start with it cooler, that makes it easier.
Also, whoever is in control of the t-stat might just ‘run warm’. The owner at the place where I work is always hot and keeps the place cold, especially in winter, to the point where I have a hard time functioning.
But if it’s happening everywhere, not just at one place, it’s probably the former.
