My place of business has had broken (off and on) air conditioning all summer. Since they are a retail establishment it seems odd that it cannot be fixed even when it is literally 90 degrees in the store. The owners of the store have decided to move our location, apparently to save some money on rent. It seems that a few weeks from now, we will be moving to a new space. This is all well and good, but when the employees are starting to get faint from the heat it is just plain unacceptable. I am a patient man; however, I am at the end of my rope. I spoke to the owners of the store today and asked if we had to “suffer in this heat” any longer. He told me he had literally no more words of encouragement, since he had been trying to be positive about the 90 degree temps all summer. “That’s it! We are moving!” he says, throwing his notebook down in mock anger. I was not amused. Seeing that I was not taking to his joke he proceeded to say, “Well, at least I don’t have a large beard on my face”, waving his hand around near his chin to indicate the facial hair he did not have.

If we were friends, this would have been fairly humorous. We are not friends. It seemed as though he was saying he was happy that he did not have a beard (that I grew for the last three years and is a defining factor in my everyday life) because damn, it would be even hotter in here if he had one of those!

Sometimes I wonder if some people have any tact. Does your boss have tact?