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The following remarks were made regarding the article “Training in as Little as Nine Days Has Technicians Ready to Enter the HVAC Workforce,” written by Nick Kostora, former web editor for The NEWS, published July 16.

Doesn’t that whole metaphor make your brain on drugs seem a little too much like part of a delicious, nutritious breakfast? Maybe we should leave that to the zombie community and turn our attention to Harvard University, where some researchers who are interested in the effects of temperature have released their work.

There are a lot of women who live alone. There’s also a lot of women who are home alone while their husbands are working. And, believe it or not, they sometimes need their HVAC systems repaired or replaced. It’s your job as a contractor to make sure that everyone who hires you feels comfortable while you are in their homes and that they are 100 percent satisfied with your work.

I can only assume that the growing labor shortage is forcing contractors to increase wait times for new customers. Unfortunately, many prospective customers hear they can’t get an appointment immediately and will hang up the phone.

Admittedly, I do not pay near as much attention to local politics as I do to the national scene. Sure, I know some of the issues that are being discussed at the state level, but I could not tell you my representative in city government. I find out about decisions made locally after the fact, never before. This is not a luxury an HVAC business owner has when deciding how to follow politics.

Full disclosure: I was struggling with what to write about in this column. So I decided to let the readers decide. Time to open up the old HVAC mailbag and address questions or comments from our loyal readers.

If my anecdotal evidence is any indication, HVAC contractors from around the country are lamenting the skill level (or lack thereof) of the workforce.

BNP Media, parent company to The NEWS, annually asks readers in each of its Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) and mechanical systems publications to list what they want to see more of.