Saluting The Laborers Who Can't Be Bothered Laboring on Labor Day

It was ungodly hot in LA the past weekend.   Now you would think that the car temperature is not so bad, but keep in mind this picture was taken at 1130PM.   

Okay, growing up in hot and muggy New York, I used to be able to deal with that kind of weather.   But, spoiled in Los Angeles, an uncommon humidity swoon had me grasping for cool air.  A rare occasion for me to put on the apartment central AC, since this unit remains very comfy and chilly most of the time.

Gasp.   Out of the vents came nothing but warm air...the kind you feel coming from the vent of your clothes dryer.  Clearly, something was wrong.   I called my neighbor who is the HOA President for a look see.   Probably needed some coolant injected into the mechanism on the roof.   Okay, easy fix, right?  

Not so much.

Per my usual instructions, I called my condo owner who likes me so much that she tends to overreact when I have the slightest problem.   She immediately called a bevy of air conditioning repair people in the neighborhood.   She did this on Saturday.   

They had all closed down for the Labor Day Weekend.   We can see you Tuesday morning.  Enjoy!

Enjoy?   Even with four fans on high blast all over the apartment, I was starting to feel like the inside of a microwave when you're trying to make popcorn. Once I got home from seeing a movie at the Cinerama Dome where even their AC was sputtering, Hell probably felt like a cooling oasis compared to my home.   

With fans pointed at me from all directions and lying with little clothing on in bed, I started to get woozy and there was almost a calming peaceful sensation. Ah, good.   But then I realized this is probably how you feel just before you die. I dreamed of a TV weatherman issuing a warning to Los Angelinos during this heat wave.

"Please be sure to check on your pets, the elderly...and Len."

When a better sense of consciousness ultimately prevailed, I thought about the fact that, during a terrible heat spell in Los Angeles, most AC repair people had taken the holiday weekend off.   See ya!   I thought back to the olden days.   Even during Christmas or Thanksgiving, most services like that had a skeleton crew. There were people in my own family who worked for an oil burner company. My own dad part timed there for a while.   They were also getting pulled away from a holiday dinner table because somebody's furnace was on the fritz.   And they thought nothing of this inconvenience because that was their job.

Not any more.   Oh, sure, there were folks working on Labor Day.   Doctors, nurses, police, first responders.   Especially the latter who were very busy here fighting brush fires, which were so bad that smart phone weather conditions labeled the prevailing forecast as "smoke."

But finding a repair person?  Oh, it can wait until they finished eating their carne asada at a picnic.   

Another sad realization in America 2017.   The good news is I didn't endure a Texas flood or a Burbank fire.  And I did survive a hot apartment.   

But, things aren't the same anymore in this country.   I learned this yet one more time.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich and fruit.