“It is impossible to maintain a bearable temperature”
The shopkeepers and restaurateurs of Barcelona are not quite clear about the new energy saving regulations that have already entered into force. they assure that have complied with what is required by law, they have raised the temperature of the air conditioning and have closed the doors of the premises. But depending on the type of business, considering that 27 degrees It is too high a temperature and it is very hot.
In several restaurants in the center of Barcelona they have explained to The debate that the constant transfer of entrance and exit of clients makes impossible to have a “minimally bearable temperature”. Juan, a waiter on the morning shift, told us that there is no time for the premises to reach a “comfort” temperature, if the doors are constantly being opened.
And to that we must add, they told us, the temperature of the refrigerators; of others appliances, like the ovens or the lamps that point to the bar. That and that they are constantly moving around the premises serving the tables and those on the terrace. “We had a really bad time”, he assured us. On the other hand, for Jens and Olivia, who come from Munich, it seems that 27 degrees is an ideal temperature, considering that it’s nice because there’s not so much contrastso much difference between the temperature of the street (to which we must add the humidity in Barcelona) and that of the premises.
Of the same opinion as Juan are the waiters of a fast food establishment near Plaza Cataluña. And at noon, with the amount of tourists there are, is that it is “impossible” to have anything closed, besides that they, the foreigners, “don’t know what the copla is about” and go to theirs. “Yes Yesit just got really hot”for this reason, they tell us, they were going to raise the air temperature a little, because of course they add, “in the premises it is not 27 degrees, but much more”.
Also in El Debate we have visited several clothing stores on Rambla Cataluña and in the Portal del Angel area. Here, too, there is a diversity of opinion. For Susana and Margarita, shop assistants in a shoe store “they end up getting hot”, although they also attribute it to the fact that perhaps they do not withstand such high temperatures so well. In any case, they say that the issue of temperature in the store has always been the subject of discussion, because other colleagues did prefer lower temperatures “they complained that they had to work with a jacket and now, with 27 degrees, they find themselves more comfortable”. But they also tell us that they find it awkward having to serve customers with that feeling of being able to “be a bit sweaty”.
Instead, Janet, owner of a jewelry store in Terrassa, also in the province of Barcelona, says she is “enchanted” and that she is very comfortable. Perhaps, he adds, because it is a type of business that does not have so many customers and in which so many people do not accumulate, unlike a shoe store or clothing store.
The subway, “an oven, unbearable”
And another point to take into account is the Plaza Catalunya train station, which is nearby. Here, users tell us, nothing has changed. “It is absolutely unbearable being on the platform, makes the same temperature as in the street now in summer. But this has always happened, not that anything has changed with this government law. IT IS an oven”, tells us Alex, who is waiting for a train on the Rodalies R4 line. And inside the train? In this case the sensation is of heat. A fan is needed. But María tells us that this morning she had gotten on another train «and it was going very well, however, now a heatmaybe the air isn’t even on, but that sometimes happens, and you don’t know if it’s because it’s spoiled the air in the car, or it depends on the driver».
And the same has happened with the lighting of shop windows. There has been spotty tracking. For the president of the Union of Commercial and Tourist Areas of Barcelona Oberta, Gabriel Jené, this situation is due to a “technical issue”». This was stated by the EFE agency, where it also pointed to the fact that many businesses are on vacation, or that workers do not regularly know the programming clock, which has caused this unequal monitoring. In any case, he has once again criticized the “improvisation” of the Government when it comes to having to apply this measure.