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Air conditioning in the summer in public areas



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amother


 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2009, 2:36 pm
I was taking a public bus today, and it was absolutely sweltering outside.
There were horrid traffic jams, and we were stuck in the bus for over 2 hours instead of the 40 minutes the ride should have taken. It was bumper to bumper traffic, stopping and starting every 2 seconds, truly nausea inducing.
I'm in my third trimester of pregnancy and get very nauseous on buses even when not pregnant, especially when pregnant, and the stopping and starting makes it worse.
The only thing that really helps my nausea is to have cold air blowing on my face.
The buses here have a vent over each seat that you can open or close at will, so if you don't want AC blowing on you, you can turn it off, and if you want it, you can have it.
Well, for the lady in front of me, that obviously wasnt enough. She asked the bus driver to turn off ALL the AC on the bus because it was bothering her. I told the bus driver "No, please don't turn it off, I'm nauseous and pregnant and this is the only thing that helps me not throw up all over the bus."
Says the lady "I'm ALSO not feeling well. How about you be considerate of ME?"
Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes
Uhm, I'm not being considerate of her by having MY AC blowing on me? Its the summer, why should one lady have a right to tell the bus driver to turn off EVERYONE'S AC because for some abnormal reason she is cold in the middle of the summer?

Who was right?
What would you do/say in such a situation?
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louche




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2009, 2:44 pm
It's appalling that a person would have the nerve to expect a busload of people to be made uncomfortable to accommodate her. Even more appalling that she wouldn't be considerate of a woman who is obviously pregnant. The difference between being uncomfortably cold vs. uncomfortably hot is that if you're cold you can put on more clothing. If you're too hot, there's nothing you can do. Too bad you didn't have the presence of mind to throw up in her lap. (JK, but if there were a way to throw up without causing yourself any distress...) then you could have told her "I TOLD you I needed a/c on my face!"

Just curious, what country was this in?
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Lady Godiva




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2009, 2:50 pm
She may have been sick with something and feeling chills or cold...You never know other people's stories.
Of course AC is the norm in the summer, but I just wanted to point that out.
What did the driver do?
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amother


 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2009, 3:06 pm
louche wrote:
It's appalling that a person would have the nerve to expect a busload of people to be made uncomfortable to accommodate her. Even more appalling that she wouldn't be considerate of a woman who is obviously pregnant. The difference between being uncomfortably cold vs. uncomfortably hot is that if you're cold you can put on more clothing. If you're too hot, there's nothing you can do. Too bad you didn't have the presence of mind to throw up in her lap. (JK, but if there were a way to throw up without causing yourself any distress...) then you could have told her "I TOLD you I needed a/c on my face!"

Just curious, what country was this in?
Israel.
Well, I'll admit, no one on the bus had their vent open aside for me.
Perhaps she was not feeling well.
But as far as I know, the halacha is, in the summer, whoever wants it cold wins out, even if its just one person, and in the winter, whoever wants it warmer wins out, even if its just one person. I told her this, and she said "Forget about halacha, how about being considerate of MY needs?"

In the end, the bus driver made the AC very low, so I could barely feel it and it barely helped the nausea. Thank G-d the bus ride was almost over by that point...
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louche




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2009, 3:15 pm
amother wrote:
louche wrote:


Just curious, what country was this in?
Israel.


Ha! I Knew it! In the US no normal person would expect an entire bus to be inconvenineced to accommodate her. Oh, there are those lowlifes who are happy to inconvenience an entire bus by blasting their music, dropping their litter on the floor, taking up three seats apiece, and yakking loudly on their cell phone, but no one would ask the driver to turn off the a/c for the whole bus!
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2009, 4:51 pm
AC in a bus? that's a new one... people take the bus/metro in the heat here, sometimes more than 3 hours a day, and somehow they survive.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2009, 5:40 pm
some people feel sick from airconditioning and it has nothing to do with temperature...
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ora_43




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2009, 5:53 pm
louche wrote:
amother wrote:
louche wrote:


Just curious, what country was this in?
Israel.


Ha! I Knew it! In the US no normal person would expect an entire bus to be inconvenineced to accommodate her. Oh, there are those lowlifes who are happy to inconvenience an entire bus by blasting their music, dropping their litter on the floor, taking up three seats apiece, and yakking loudly on their cell phone, but no one would ask the driver to turn off the a/c for the whole bus!

Because nowhere else would a driver actually listen to that. Here people sometimes treat the bus driver like their personal cabbie -- because sometimes, they put up with it. (It can be a good thing -- on the one hand, the driver will turn off the AC because one lady is whining, but OTOH he'll also tell you where your stop is, or take a shortcut if nobody is getting off in a certain area).

The drivers can also ask you things -- when I'm getting off towards the end of a route, I've had drivers ask my destination + then sometimes drop me off at a non-bus-stop closer to where I'm going, or drop me off before the stop so they can turn a different direction. I don't see that happening in the states either.

OP -- I think it was fine to ask to keep the AC on. Especially since it's not on her, and she can just turn off her own overhead AC, so your request wouldn't inconvenience her the way hers would inconvenience you. And because it's generally accepted that buses turn the AC on in the heat, so she was the one asking for something out of the ordinary, not you.

Maybe you could have offered to move seats in order to be further from her. But I don't think you had any obligation to.
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louche




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 10 2009, 8:54 am
Ruchel wrote:
AC in a bus? that's a new one... people take the bus/metro in the heat here, sometimes more than 3 hours a day, and somehow they survive.


Ruchel, Paris is way cooler than EY. You guys rarely need a/c in summer; in EY it's practically life-threatening not to have it.
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greenfire




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 10 2009, 10:43 am
yeah in ny subways everyone is packed like sardines ... lucky if you get ac ...

when I was pregnant I used to hang in between the cars to vomit ... Puke it chased the usual gangs back in ...
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