I heard a funny story the other day about a man who knocks on his son’s door...

“Jamie,” he says, “wake up!”.

Jamie answers: “I don’t want to get up, Dad.” The father shouts, “Get up, you have to go to school.” Jamie says, “I don’t want to go to school.”

“Why not?” asks the father. “Three reasons,” says Jamie: “First, because it’s so dull; second, the kids tease me; and third, no one listens to me. I really do hate school.”

The father answers, “Well, I am going to give you three reasons why you must go to school. First, because it is your duty; second, because you are forty-five years old, and third, because you are the headmaster! Wake up, wake up!

Ha-ha, funny isn’t it? What makes it all the more funny is that we can all probably identify ourselves as the headmaster and sympathise with him. After all, who hasn’t had a day when they would rather have stayed in bed than go to work?

Facing up to our responsibilities, and even facing reality is not all as simple as getting up in the morning.

It is sometimes evident that even those walking around and talking may as well be asleep. They carry on doing and saying the same things day-in, day-out without giving it much thought.

I had the misfortune recently to sit in a meeting between an end-user and their contractor. The contractor assured the end-user (their long time client), that there was nothing to worry about regarding supply of R22. That money spent on energy savings schemes were a false economy, and that only supermarket systems leak (which theirs wasn’t).

He went on to say that even if they did release some refrigerant, it would only be a small amount and so have no impact on the environment.

“It would be no worse than a fart” they proudly claimed, “and not as loud or as smelly” they added helpfully!

Wake-up! There is enough information from suppliers and manufacturers as well as consultants and contractors to point us all in the right direction and to improve system efficiency and environmental impact, together with reducing operational costs.

If only we can get up each morning and be awake to the wealth of information available and put it to good use. It is time that we all woke up, and faced the real responsibilities this industry has.

I can imagine the headmaster joke being slightly changed to ACR engineer, but then it doesn’t seem quite so funny.