You’re going to hell for that.
Trust me, I know.
Regards,
Shodan
If the reason she would not use the A/C was because of side effects of her chemotherapy, or because she lost her toes during an arctic expedition . . . I would still boot her.
One of my dragon-boat team members got a ride to the canal with one of her coworkers (also on the team) yesterday. It was maybe about 25C out and not humid, but the car had been out in the sun for the entire work day.
The coworker wouldn’t even allow my team-member to roll down the windows in order to save gas. I don’t know if the car had A/C, but if it did, it never got turned on. Team-member is reconsidering getting rides with this crazy woman… it can get VERY humid here!
If this other person is a rational human being, you could show her all the stuff from Mythbusters, reports from manufacturers, etc, and try to reason with her. OTOH, given the “we had to try the AC / nononononono” conversation, I would say she had her chance.
Nuke her from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Or, I suppose you could try to be polite and go with Martin Hyde’s idea.
Damn! Now 25c is only 77f, so it’s not bad, but I’d still never have made it out of the parking lot. Just “Ummm…on second thought, no thanks.”
My cheap-ass sister-in-law (who is quite comfortable, financially) drives her 85 year old mother around with the “no air I’m saving gas” thing. Inexcusable in hot weather. The carpool lady needs to go.
Boot her ass to the curb and find someone else who doesn’t want to feel like they are burning in hell before they even get to work.
I’d definitely kick them out…
Why is this even a question? Your wife (and I assume the others) have to deal with people at work, but this person seems to think it is ok to arrive sweaty, wind-blown and irritable?
No carpool for you!
Does one of the people in the carpool sweat a lot? Soggy, sweat filled seats would quickly change many people’s mind.
Maybe one of the men could start taking his shirt off before entering her vehicle, you know, just to keep cool. Shoes get pretty hot too, maybe everyone could start taking their shoes off in her car.
No AC, no carpool, no way.
Learn to vomit on command. Tell her that if you get too hot you get really ill. Prove to her you weren’t kidding should she not believe you.
Or just tell her that her carpooling services are no longer welcome.
Piling on to say yes, boot her out.
Kansas City has had some early heat and there’s no way I would ride in an un-air conditioned truck for 20 miles on our highways. What with all the construction (esp if they go anywhere near OP), you are looking at one long smelly hot drive.
Another angle would be that this woman probably enjoys the air hotter than room temp. IF (and I say this knowing that your wife is gonna boot her pretty soon) she likes it warm, then when the dead of winter arrives, have your wife and the other 2 ladies say “Sorry, no heat today.” Then proceed to watch her cry.
Boot her. But before doing that, purchase a container of the fish product of your choice and take it along on the final carpool ride in Demon Lady’s truck. Open the container, and stash it under a seat.
I see that nobody has mentioned that Uncle Cecil wrote about this very topic:
What gets the better gas mileage: windows up, AC on, or windows down, AC off?
sputter I…wait, what?!
I wouldn’t have to kick her out. She would have, by now, spontaneously combusted from the heat of my reaction. This is no hyperbole. I take temperature seriously, man.
So she gets to enjoy the AC in the other cars, but won’t even put it on low for a short while when you first get in? Kick her out…but be sure she knows exactly why, and let her know that the few drops of gas she thinks she’s saving are going to disappear as soon as she has to drive herself four times as much…all alone, because she’ll get no one else to ride with her when you spread the news. Give her a day or two to reconsider, and then just don’t pick her up the day after the next time she drives without AC.
I really hate dealing with sanctimonious people who think they are being virtuous by denying themselves small pleasures, and then acting smug about it…
Me. But I do turn on the AC if someone’s in the car who wants it–that’s really the only time.
Anecdote: I nearly fried one of my kids–he was 14 at the time–by driving to Oklahoma (where it was 108F) in August in a car with no AC. By the time we got to my aunt’s he looked awful, and this was with pouring water on him and putting him on the shady(er) side of the car. His temp was 104F and we had to put him in the bathtub with cold water and ice cubes. It was pretty scary.
I was fine, as were my other two kids (one a 2-year-old at the time, in a car seat). We were sweaty but otherwise fine.
We had the AC fixed so it worked for the drive home, you can be sure.
Why bring it up, if you don’t want confrontation? Just agree with the other two A/C lovers to pool alone. That way, if the truck driver wants to start trouble by asking why she was left at home w/o transport, she’ll be the agressor. Be polite! Just ignore her, and there will be no argument. If you see her coming, walk away.
No confrontation.