How do you do it?

This is the question often asked of workers in a dry cleaners during the hot days of summer. I have been filling in for the fitter this week at http://drycleaningstationcolumbus.com. I hoped and prayed the heat would die down for my week in said cleaners, but no, it did not. I would like to see a thermometer placed inside the cleaners out of curiosity to see what the temperature climbs to be. They secretly do not want the workers knowing how hot it actually is inside. You try your best to wear the proper clothing in order to stay cool, such as absorbent cotton, shorts, and breathable shoes but it only helps for a short while. Fans do not help, they only seem to make matters worse on the 90 + days with blowing the heat around.

This is not comforting and only seems to make the heat feel even hotter than it is. I wondered if it would help to place an ice block in front of the fan like in the days before air conditioning. Kill two birds with one stone, as the ice melts you have refreshments to keep hydrated. This is the key most of all to keep from getting to overheated. The end of the work day could not come fast enough. I found as time went on the heat continued to linger, my brain could not keep up and retain information for doing the job. ( I just had the location on the rack of your order, now, Poof it left my brain.) Like an overheated engine it breaks down and cracks the coolant system. There is talk of me running a shop out of this cleaners, a full service shop. Before this could even be possible the cleaners would and must consider revamping. Rooms separate from the cleaning side of the business with air conditioning would be necessary in order to preserve the quality of work by keeping smudges from appearing on garments from sweaty hands. This would also improve the alterations business and generate more by giving a pleasant changing environment with cool fitting rooms, instead of the one closed up hot box they now have. I fitted a pregnant lady the past week who by the time the fitting was over she had retained fluid and could not get out of her dress. Too tight zipper would not budge. It was horrible and I felt so sorry for such miserable conditions. It was her choice of course to grin and bear it to have the best in alterations take care of her garment. So two more days in the hot box for me, then my business will be back to normal with a short temporary non-comfort during my pickup time. In the meantime let the talks begin, for operation of my own business in your business and we will see if we can make me and the clients comfortable in the future.

I hope I survive and don’t break down from the heat of the dog days of Summer.