'I came back to a house that was 86 degrees inside': Boomer parents visit son to escape heat wave, undo all cooling measures in house while he's at work

Author image for Isabella Penn
Isabella Penn
Jul 26, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

In the summer comes the dreaded heat—the kind of heat where you don't even want to step outside without fear of profusely sweating. No one likes that uncomfortable feeling, which is exactly why these parents chose to go and visit their son to escape the heat in their hometown. Their city was experiencing the kind of heat wave where, if you were lucky enough to have air conditioning, it could barely keep up. So, they chose to visit their son, where the temperatures were 15 to 20 degrees cooler. And for good reason. Their son was fine with this and, in fact, kept his house really cool in the summers to escape the heat. His parents visiting was no problem…until they undid all of the cooling measures he had in place to keep his house at a comfortable temperature. He was gone one day because he couldn't get off of work, only to come home after a long day to an 86-degree house. 

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  • 01
    r/BoomersBeing Fools • 1 day Wandering_Scout A) Boomer parents come to visit to the escape a heat wave B) Promptly undo every measure in my house keeping it cool while I'm at work C) House gets unbearably hot D) Somehow this is my fault.
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 02
    So I love my parents, and fortunately they're not the usual tantrum-throwing Fox News zombies we see on here, but this cracked me up. We live in the same state, about two hours apart. It's usually a good 15F - 20F degrees cooler at my place, and neither of our places have air
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 03
    conditioning, as we live in the USA's Pacific Northwest. It usually hits high 80s for a few weeks in my city, but with keeping the blinds and curtains drawn, the windows open during the cool nights, fans, a mister, and the furnace set to cool, where it
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 04
    blows non-heated air throughout the house. With good insulation, the cold night air usually lasts through the day, and my house says at 66 - 72 during even the hottest parts of the summer. They don't do well in the heat, so they come to visit for a few days. I couldn't
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 05
    get off work for their first day, so I'm gone all day. It's supposed to hit 102F where they're at, but won't break 85 here, even for the peak of the day, and then it will drop into the mid-60s in the evening. I come back to a house that's 86 degrees inside. It's actually hotter
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 06
    inside that the outside air temperature of about 82. * ? Every window has the blinds not just open, but pulled up, and the curtains thrown back. Why? IT WAS SO DARK IN HERE. YOU NEEDED NATURAL LIGHT!
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 07
    Yeah, and the sun turning my place into a greenhouse. * The windows are open. There's zero breeze, so the trapped cool night air is long gone and there's no benefit from breeze, and the hot outside air is just seeping in. THERE WAS NO FRESH AIR!
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 08
    * The vents are all closed, meaning no air is circulating. IT WAS SO LOUD! They're both practically deaf. I have no idea what they're talking about. * Same reason the living room fan was turned off. It's an expensive blade-less Dyson I got as a gift that's ninja quiet. Nope, TOO LOUD!
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 09
    * The plastic airflow deflectors are all removed from the floor vents and piled on the dining room table. WE KEPT TRIPPING OVER THEM! You'd have to be Solid Snake sliding against the wall to come anywhere near them.
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 10
    * The furnace is actually on. To HEAT. Um.what. IT'S SO CONFUSING. There's a digital thermostat. You just press FUNCTION to choose between HEAT, COOL, and OFF, along with a desired temp for Heat. That's it. "You know you really should have researched how poorly insulated this place is before you moved in."
    via u/Wandering_Scout
  • 11
    Powerful_Rayd • 1d ago Reminds me of my dad the other day. Goes to wash his hands in the kitchen sink and sees food stuck in the plug which has slits to let water run but to catch food to stop it clogging the pipes. He pulled the plug out and started mashing food down the plug hole. When I told him not to and why (the bin is right next to the sink, you can just lift the plug out and dump the food) he just gave me the stink eye and acted like I didn't appreciate his 'favour' of cleaning the sink.
    via u/Powerful_Rayd
  • 12
    Tea_and_Biscuits 12 . 1d ago My husband is not a boomer but leans towards that state of mind from time to time. The closest I've ever got in the 20+ years we've been together to murdering him was the summer of 2020 when he was stuck wfh while I remote/home schooled/summer vacationed the kids. He hates AC in general and doesn't like the high energy bill besides. So I'd implement a lot of the same techniques you're describing to keep the house cool. He'd come down from his home office EVERYDAY for
    via u/Tea_and_Biscuits
  • 13
    the house I left moderately cool and comfortable to everything wide open letting the sun and heat in and it being as hot as or hotter than the outside. Then he'd complain after work about how it was so uncomfortable down here. No amount of explaining or showing what I was trying to do got him to stop. Because it was "so stuffy! You need some fresh air in here!". So I finally lost my on him and told him if he effing touched the windows again I was calling my dad to come install some window AC uni
    via u/Tea_and_Biscuits
  • 14
    He continued to leave the upstairs windows wide open including in his office and was always surprised at how much cooler and more comfortable it was downstairs when he took breaks. He works back in the office full time now.
    via u/Tea_and_Biscuits
  • 15
    Warburgerska • 1d ago That's what you get leaving overgrown children alone at home.
    via u/Warburgerska
  • 16
    • sgwaba 1d ago Growing up, my boomer parents would always open the windows and curtains during the day because it was so hot. They never caught on that this would let the heat in. At night, they had to close most of the windows to be safe. Many years later they asked me how I kept my house so cool without AC. Yet, you guessed it, they maintained their backwards behaviors.
    via u/sgwaba
  • 17
    howedthathappen • 1d ago And you didn't send them home?
    via u/howedthathappen
  • 18
    EKGEMS • 1d ago My parent's house the past few years was a real sweat box set to 78 even in hot, humid southern state in summer. We would beg to adjust it down or sometimes adjust it when they weren't looking. I'm not exaggerating I would sweat like crazy. Mom was on hospice at home and dad would try to crank the heat up and I firmly said (dad has advanced dementia) 'Dad, we are all here to take care of you and mom it's 90+ degrees out, the nurse is here daily and it has to be a good temperature
    via u/EKGEMS
  • 19
    to bathroom' but I busted him turning the heat on later. My handy sister ordered and installed a lockbox over the thermostat and he wasn't happy but it kept the house comfortable and he couldn't access it.
    via u/EKGEMS
  • 20
    Un B PossibleDue9849 • 1d ago Send them home. If they stay they don't touch anything. If they can't respect your home they don't get to stay.
    via u/PossibleDue9849
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    Cheezburger Image 10378120704
    via Alireza Kaviani

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