Air conditioning repair in Shanghai

Be grateful for some of the overlooked workers in China who put their lives on the line everyday for our benefit. The people who carry out some seemingly basic services like window washing, air conditioning repair or installation, welding, and construction are often overlooked and looked down upon because these are jobs that don’t require advanced education and may not have high salaries. Many of the people doing these jobs come to China’s big cities as migrant workers from outside provinces, and may not fit in with local society. But they deserve a great deal of respect and gratitude.  Something as seemingly mundane as an air conditioning repair may involve breathtaking skills and dangers most Westerners might not expect.

In the photo above, a daring worker has climbed out onto the ledge of our apartment building to repair a problematic air conditioner. He has a rope connected to a railing if he should fall, but I’m not sure the rope looks all that safe and wonder if the railing would hold. On a second occasion, the man came alone and I was the one holding his security line for a while. His life was in my hands for a few moments. I was humbled to realize that this good, hard-working man takes on deadly risks every day to help people have a service that he may not enjoy in his own dwelling place.