I need a FAN!!!

[Not Lillith]

I grew up in the desert.
Months and months of 100+ temps.
We never used the A/C. Too expensive to run.

I remember when I was 25 I moved into a house that had a swamp cooler.
On good days it could wheeze out enough cool air to lower the house temp to about 85. HEAVEN!!!

about 10 years ago I moved to the Pac NW.

I think it took me about 5 years before I was adjusted enough to the climate to NOT wear a winter coat and thermal underwear year round.

So, forgive me, if I'm just a little unsympathetic, when during the "Great and Horrid Heat Wave of 2012" (read 3 days of temps between 85 and 90) you waited until the third day to buy a fan and every single store in the county is sold out.

SC: Where are the fans? I need a fan!!!

CW: I'm sorry, we sold out.

SC: I really don't understand how you could sell out!!!
The weather forcasters have been predicting this Heat Wave for TWO WEEKS! YOU KNEW THIS WAS COMMING!!! WHY DIDN'T YOU ODER MORE!!!

CW: We did. We sold 200 fans this morning. Isn't it funny how everyone waited until today to buy a fan?

SC: What do you mean by that? ARE YOU SAYING IT'S MY FAULT THAT I CANT BUY A FAN?!!

CW: No. Not at all. We do have an industrial fan for drying carpet if you want to try that...

SC: I'm going to Other Store!! I bet they will sell me a fan!!

.......
ahahahahahah. Yeah. Good luck with that.

(It's not that I have no compassion for suffering, but seriously, Summer happens EVERY YEAR...and you know what? So does Winter...any plans on how you're going to heat your house yet?)

The temps have dropped back down to the '70's today.
Which means tomorrow I will get to deal with 500 people returning the fans they bought last week because, "I bought this but I really don't NEED it"


/sigh

[depechemodefan]

Which means tomorrow I will get to deal with 500 people returning the fans they bought last week because, "I bought this but I really don't NEED it"

Because goodnesss knows it will never be hot again

[Merriweather]

Hi neighbor.

We almost hit three digits here. If the central air hadn't died and gone to the big cooler in the sky, I'd have used it a few days lately. Instead I relied on one tall fan on a stand in my main living area, and if I really need them, I have fans sitting on tables in the kitchen, bedroom, & my craft room.

Fans I got years ago. Fans I put in a cabinet in the basement at the end of summer, and take back out again the beginning of the next summer. Fans aren't disposable! And if one dies or I want one for another room, I can buy it when they all go on sale at the end of the summer and store it til next year, or buy one when they hit the shelves in late spring, before the heat waves. Cause, gee, there's been one or two weeks every summer for the 12 years I've lived in the Pacific Northwest, that you really, really need a fan or two. And hey, I can remember last year, and even years before. And predict the odds that, yep, needed one every year for a while, likely I'll need one again this year. Fans can be stored. They don't disentegrate during winter. They don't melt. They aren't meant to be disposable.

What I want to know is, what on God's green earth are thise people doing to their fans that they have to keep buying them every single year in such numbers? Then again, maybe I don't .....

[Not Lillith]

:What I want to know is, what on God's green earth are thise people doing to their fans that they have to keep buying them every single year in such numbers? Then again, maybe I don't .....

Why? Because, they buy them, use them for a week and then return them of course!

They need that store credit for when it gets cold and they need a space heater.
/nod

[Mytical]

Yeah it is basically a free 'rental'. Buy it, use it, return it for a full refund. Stores should wise up and have the same rule as DVD's. Return for another exact one only..no cash refunds.

[Merriweather]

Yeah it is basically a free 'rental'. Buy it, use it, return it for a full refund. Stores should wise up and have the same rule as DVD's. Return for another exact one only..no cash refunds.

Or at least only return them if they can tell they weren't used.

I remember watching the news one night when we had a really bad winter storm coming in, and they were talking about people buying the portable generators in case of power outages.

One guy they interviewed (a customer at at one of the big DIY stores) actually admitted on camera that when a really big storm was predicted he'd go buy a generator, then if his power never went out and he didn't have to take it out of the box, he'd return it. But at least he only returned it if it wasn't used - more like free insurance than free rental

[Anakah]

Its hot as hell out here too. It gets up to like 122 and sometimes its humid at the same time. Might as well have built my house on the sun

And yes, failure to plan ahead is NOT the stores fault. People. ha.

[muppet101]

You could ask them to send any unwanted fans to me! Today it's going to be the hottest day ever recorded here 37c which I think is close to 100f...

[bhskittykatt]

LOL. I was complaining the other day about how it was too hot and humid to walk the dog (it was 85), while on FB my mom was saying how their weather in 'Bama was getting down to 85, and how it would finally be cool enough to sit outside!

I can't imagine not having a fan. We have two for our small apartment, and if one dies, we have another one to tide us over until we can get a replacement. Pull them out in late June, clean them off and put them in the windows, and then at the end of August, take them down and clean them again, and store them in the closet. Just...just have them!

[UncleImpy]

Air conditioning units I could see people returning - those can be pretty expensive (hugs his $700, 12.5 btu monster), but fans? Fans are like $20. These people probably spent half that in gas returning the stupid things.

Not that I agree with the 'rental' strategy these people have in the first place. I just dont understand it for something as cheap as a fan. KEEP IT, PEOPLE

[EricKei]

while on FB my mom was saying how their weather in 'Bama was getting down to 85, and how it would finally be cool enough to sit outside!

Heehee. It finally got that cool here yesterday or so, thanks to some rain. Woke up with the same.

I have heard stories about people "renting" used generators, especially after Katrina. I wanna say many stores REFUSED to take returns (good for them!) on non-defective ones unless they had literally never been opened. Naturally, getting them in stock to begin with was just as hard as those fans, even with stores importing generators from half of the country as fast as they could at the time >_>

As for fans, I'm not really familiar with the concept of "storing" fans...Let alone this odd concept of which you speak, this "not summer" o_O (yeah, yeah, the lows do usually flirt with Freezing 2-3 days a year). We enjoy a constant 85%+ humidity, too. I use fans year-round (I can't tell you the last time I turned a ceiling fan off except to clean it), and I have a couple of box fans in the living room just to help with air circulation -- tho that is due, in part, to poor placement of A/C ducts.

Maybe one solution would be to either tell custys that you can't take fans back (via signs, print it on the receipt, and remind them when checking out), or post huge signs in the front doors that say "35% restocking fee on all opened fans! (unless defective)" -- We all know customers don't read the small print unless it includes the word "free". Wouldn't want to encourage them to smash the fans right there on your store floor and then claim they were defective >_>

[Fudgethatkay]

Ah, Fresno and our summers when we range 101 degrees as cooling down...

Not many smart people here, but I never heard of anyone turning back a fan. It may happen, but the person would get weird looks by everyone in the store, likely, unless it was defective.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Lol 80's to 90's? Not hot at all. Fans are really the best to use, imho. You face them pointing out of the house during the day when it's hot, then turn them around and face them INTO the house at night when the air is cooler outside.

I actually hate air conditioning, it makes me sick.

[MournBlade]

Having lived in a desert myself - swamp coolers are a blessing.
They just trickle water on a filter or straw or whatever yours uses and blows a fan past that.
Not only does it cool great in arid areas it also adds humidity.
I wish they would work where I live but in areas with high humidity they don't work at all.
I would sell the guy a fan... have a redwings fanatic chase him around for a few days.
Jogging in the breeze might help keep him cool if he doesn't have a heart attack.

[Desk clerk knows all]

I too live in the Pacific Northwest (so glad it's gray and cloudy today-I love that!) I run my fan year round. I work graveyard shift so I run the fan to drown out noise from outside and my upstairs neighbors.