Turn the Heat Down! (or: I'm Melting! I'm Melting!)

This is Canada; it gets cold here in winter. This is an accepted fact. It’s been a nice winter so far, but it is still cold enough to wear a jacket every day. And every freepin’ person in the mall has a jacket on. Do you think, Mr. Store Owner, that you could manage to turn the heat down a little so us jacketed folks aren’t keeling over from heat exhaustion in the aisles? I know you have workers in there who don’t have jackets on, but the customers outnumber them by about 10 to one, and we’re dying here. It’s the same damn thing every winter; has it never once occurred to the store people that everyone shopping there has at least one extra layer of clothes on, that usually includes a parka that’s rated to -30 C and waterproof, insulated boots (also known as “the sweat collectors”)?

There’s not a store in Canada that isn’t paying lip service to customer service; you know what real customer service would be? Acknowledging and fulfilling the needs of your customers, like the need to shop for Christmas presents without a ride to the emergency room for dehydration. Thank you. Much appreciated.

Even though I’m someone whose normal body temperature seems to be about 102.0 F, I have to side with the store owners. Yes, it’s inconvenient for the customers, who outnumber the employees 10 to 1, to have to deal with heat. And if the customers had to spend 8 hours per day in that heat, I’d probably come down on their side. But they don’t. Employees are there for, usually, 8 hour shifts. Customer spend, at most, 45 minutes apiece in the store.

In this case, the employees are the logical people to get the consideration. What’s amazing is that the store actually gives it to them. Rare thing in a retail employee needs/customer desires conflict…

jayjay

I have to say though, I’m a retail slave, and I don’t like it when the heat is turned way up. I’d prefer it to be a nice, moderate temperature.

Other than that, I agree with jayjay.

Bed Bath and Beyond was so hot today that I spoke to a manager. I had about $100 in purchases in hand and was leaving the store because I felt sick from the heat. (I bought the stuff, but pointed out that I wasn’t even 1/2 way through the store)
I was NOT wearing a jacket or boots, either. (Imagine those poor people). It’s usually like that in the store, and I finally couldn’t stand it anymore. I told her that I love shopping there, but if they can’t do something about the heat they will likely lose a lot of customers. (The employees were complaining, too. It was mother-lovin’ HOT in there- like 80 degrees F.)

Zette

It’s a conspiracy.
I was at Towsontowne Center today (Baltimore) and every store was hot and stuffy as hell.
The mall wants you to use their coat check…costs $1.00.
:rolleyes:

My co-worker keeps turning the air conditioning on.

I’m in New York.

So… cold…

It’s easier to put more clothes on than take clothes off. Store managers, split the difference. Make it a little chilly for the staff, and they can wear sweaters. Then the people who are your reason for being there can stay long enough to give you their money. I don’t even know of any places here in Calgary that have coat checks.
(I probably have much less sympathy for the staff because I’m a cold-lovin’ person. I always want to be colder than hotter.)

who says that the staff necessarily wants it to be so hot? are they still wearing the summer fashions? they may not be decked out in layers of coats and boots, but i’d bet they’re wearing long sleeves, warm materials, maybe sweaters.

Come to Kmart-you’ll be sweating gumballs. That place was so HOT today!

See, I like a cold store too. But see, I used to work at a store where-get this-we weren’t ALLOWED to wear extra sweaters and stuff. It was a grocery store, we were right by the door. I would wear heavy tights and socks under my jeans, a turtleneck and a sweater-and I’d be FREEZING. Customers would comment because I’d be shivering-but we weren’t allowed to wear coats because they hid our smocks. And we weren’t allowed to even wear fingerless-gloves.

(But the boss made sure there was a heater in the customer service office. The bastards.)

Believe me, I hate how Kmart is. But the problem is, the temperature is actually controlled through corporate-we have no control over it-can you believe that? It’s insane!

:frowning:

(I’d rather be cold and bring sweaters too).

ack, guin, i’ve been there. here’s a hint to grocery store owners: the registers are right by the doors. everytime a customer comes in, so does winter. the shirt you gave me to wear is short-sleeved. i AM wearing a jacket.

and this is in houston where “cold” means 50-60 degrees. i don’t know how anyone up north could stand that.

That’s a good point, Guin. It makes more sense if the stores are corporate-controlled. I can easily see a corporation based in Georgia (for eg.) not realizing that a store in Calgary doesn’t need to be 80 degrees in winter, and that the customers are dying from the temp. in the store.
(abuse angel, I consider 50-60 degrees to be my comfort zone :D)

unfortunately, featherlou, so does my s.o. :frowning:

Yep, tell me about it. I like it when it’s colder-I’d rather pile on sweaters and blankets.

At least at Kmart, if we’re right by the door, they DO allow us to put on our jackets.

The argument went at the other place-only if you can put your smock over your coat-and you couldn’t, so you weren’t allowed. Gloves-it would mess up counting money. I said screw that, brought in gloves with the finger tips cut out, and took them off to count money, and my most hated manager told me any money missing would come out of my paycheck-the dickweed.

We’ve obviously never dated. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Now then. I’m truly of two minds here. I loathe the cold, I’m paralyzed when I have to work outside in it for hours, and the broken back bone I suffered about 15 months ago only aggrivates that.

Having said that? I HATE coats, parkas, layers, etc. Give me a nice cool store or workplace. One remains focused and is more alert and less likely to doze off in the middle of one’s shift just because one ate a few handfulls too many of those delicious home-baked oatmeal jamocha fudge ripple cookies in the back room. But, I digress.

It’s HEALTHIER to be in cooler temperatures. Corporate be damned. They will save a fucking fortune if they drop the working temp even from 78-80f, down to 66-68f. ( I dunno about you Canadians and Euro-Dopers, I can’t calculate Celcius on the fly and my Visor is upstairs. So, do the freakin’ math yerselves :slight_smile: ).

As for the coat check? Please, gimme a break. If you charge a dollar a coat, and the damned mall is big enough to be CALLED a mall, then you lost puh-lenty of dollars a day in heating costs that coatchecking cannot recoup. Not to mention the aggrivation factor.

You want less angry customers, less “Rage Holiday Shopping” outbursts in stores, especially in the check-out lines? Then lower the darned temperature. Most people are either A) In the stores briefly and then leave or B) Are in the stores for a while, and then are exerting energies and becoming warmed standing in line with their purchases. Either way, it works to cool down the workplace.

[hijack] I do have a related peeve here. I’m a Pacifist, I revile violence and revere life. Having said that, if I am forced to listen to ONE MORE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN HOLIDAY MEDLY, HEADS ARE GOING TO FUCKING ROLL UP AND DOWN THE AISLES LIKE IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME ON THE PRO BOWLER’S CIRCUIT..

Thank you. :smiley:

<------singing… " She’s a lady. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she’s a laaaaaaaaaady ! ". :smiley: Love you, cackle…

Here’s a thought. Wear the fingerless gloves but UNDER THOSE, wear Nitrile Non-Latex gloves with textured fingertips. THAT way, you have a bit of extra insulation due to the rubbah ( let’s all just bow our heads for a moment and say THANK-YOU-GOD for rubbah ), and the textured fingertips will allow you to count currency with an accuracy rarely witnessed outside of the Federal Reserve System…

E-mail me if you are interested, Guin, I can set you up with a supplier.

This is one of my pet peeves.
It’s ridiculously, obscenely wasteful to overheat those vast expanses. Hey, I make at least a stab at prudence with utility bills for my house during winter. These twerps are blasting heat into huge open spaces and passing along the price as overhead. It’s a stupid, unneccessary expense as well as being wasteful of resources.

I’d much rather they ratchet back the heat, hire some extra people and relieve the load on staff and shoppers alike. Much more sensible.

Besides, I HATE being headachey and miserable from heat while jostled by crowds of equally frustrated, miserable people. It’s so stupid. They don’t have to make it frigid but too many stores are like flippin’ saunas.

FWIW, all my Christmas shopping is done and was done online this year. What with the anthrax flapdoodle I figured packages would go through faster and easier if they were just drop shipped to the out-of-towners. The rest arrived at my door to be re-wrapped and distributed. And all done comfortably and easily at home. I wonder how many other people chose the same option because they just couldn’t stand the mall hassles.

Veb

The real problem is the difference in starting temerature.

When you come in from the outside, you’re suddenly aware of the extra heat. But after twenty minutes of acclimation, you’ll feel cool again, and if you’ve been standing at a drafty checkout counter near the oft-opening door, you will want a second sweater.

In about an hour, I’ll be driving to the Palisades Center on Rt. 287 in Nyack, NY. It’s the largest indoor mall in the area. Built just a few years ago, it’s already sinking- seriously. HUGE sinkholes in the parking level. How amusing.

I can’t wait to see how different stores handle this problem. I figure I ought to dress on the cautious side and so I’m in Dockers with a small stain on the right thigh and a long-sleeved tye-dyed t-shirt with a v-neck and a few buttons at the throat.

No layers for ME, bucko ! I’ll just flash my SDMB Science Advisory Board laminated I.D. card and ask to see the store’s thermostat. I’ll report back after I buy the Wifestrocity’s birthday gifts.

Any Dopers who spot me at the Palisades, let’s have cawfee and tawk.

Cartooniverse

Try working in an office like that. We have a few people who are terribly cold-blooded. They have little heaters in their office and also ask that we turn the heat up.

The rest of us roast.

The thing is, these cold-blooded types aren’t sensible in how they dress!! I myself am cold-blooded and can never get warm (usually, except when I’m in the office) but knowing this, I DRESS APPROPRIATELY. It’s not fair for someone to wear a light shirt and then come in and complain about how cold they are. Sheesh.

I can’t take the heat either. I live in AZ, and I haven’t needed to wear a coat here, (during the day), in three years. This morning at 7:00 AM it was 45dF. It rarely gets below freezing, so most of the time I don’t need a coat to walk a couple of hundred yards from the car to the office.

If I am going to the mall, even when it is cold enough for a jacket, I leave it in the car because I know I will roast once I’m inside. The only places that I have been that weren’t too hot are movie theaters. They always seem cool to me.

Cranky, we have a couple of cold-blooded types in my office too. They want to have the heat cranked up to their comfort zone, which must be about the same temperature as the earth’s core. During one of their “it’s too cold” tirades, I told them to put on more clothes, and even offered to buy them sweaters, coats, or blankets. They still complain, but not around me.