It’s 7:30 and I am still at my goddam desk (as are a handful of other editors), trying to get the damned September issue closed (like I can still “edit” after an 11-hour day with no lunch break!). They turned the a/c off at 6:00. It’s, like, 96º out (I am not kidding, it really is, like, 96º out). The top editors, of course, drifted out around 6-ish.
Not only pissed-off about getting home (the busses only run about once an hour this time of night), but we are fast running out of air. I have fashioned a crude oxygen mask out of a wire hanger and some Etienne Aigner pumps. If you don’t hear from me again, “I died in the name of copy-editing . . .”
I’ll bet there’s no maintainance person around, and if they were, they wouldn’t be able to turn on the a/c. I feel your pain Eve, we got new a/cs last year and the beginning of the term was hellish. Maybe you can take turns fanning each other.
[sup]I wish I knew which magazine you work for. It’s not Allure is it? Because I like that magazine and want to believe all the staff are happy, working in their little magical tree, editing away[/sup]
Eve, A/C controls are my specialty. Next time this happens, let your boss(es) know that you will not stay after the A/C has gone off for the evening. Force them to fork over the $50/hr or so that the building charges for after-hours A/C service. It is also possible, depending on the type of control system installed, that there is an override button on one of the thermostats somewhere in your suite. It turns the A/C on for a preset period and automatically bills the tenant for use (which is why it’s location is generally a State secret).
At the worst, you now have personal experience to help you relate to sweatshop horror stories. “We were chained to our Herman Miller cherrywood desks for 12-16 hours a day, forced to do editing piecework under barbaric conditions. Film at eleven.”
Finally home . . . Eating ice cream, perched in front of my tiny window a/c. All they need is an excuse to fire me and hire someone half my age at half my salary–I am in no position to demand luxuries like “air.”
No, I don’t work at Allure, which actually is published in a tree by elves. I work at Triangle Shirtwaist Monthly.
And there I was, trying to figure out how the oxygen mask would work. Sounded far too MacGyver-ish for your delicate self, Eve. But perhaps there was a string of pearls involved as well?
Glad to hear you’re home. Can’t believe they would allow the a/c to be off in those conditions. Wish you were in a position to get the heck out of there.
You do know where the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory is, right?
It’s actually now a class building at NYU; I kid you not. I found this out enroute to French class one morning my senior year - I saw a podium with speakers in front of the building and stopped to listen. It was Cesar Chavez, talking about the struggle of American workers and the people who had died on that very spot.
French class always felt a little morbid after that.
Hey, at least you get A/C at some point. My office/shop has none. It averages 82 degrees. Add to that the fact that my work can involve physical labour, and I’m not a happy camper.
I work in a museum which is located in an old house. We have steam heat and window air conditioners. Need I say more? (Well, I will anyway.)
In the summer, my desk used to be right in front of one of the window air conditioners. I actually wore a winter coat while working. (On occasion I’d forget to take it off and have to endure odd stares from the sweaty tourists coming in to the building.)
In the winter, we would leave doors open, hoping the heat would magically cirulate back to the office where there was no radiator. When it was very cold, we would take our work up to the exhibit areas and sit on the carpet.
Miserable in summer and miserable in winter. Thank god for the updates they recently did. The temperature’s still not perfect, but we can direct the AC with fans.