MINNEAPOLIS - If you're having trouble in the heat, imagine working in a place that's hotter than the temperature outside.
"117 degrees,' said Med-Tek's Jim Duffy as he points to the thermostat.
Med-Tek specializes in heat-treating metals.
About the only light source is from a 1,600 degree oven or a "neutral liquid salt bath," which is ever so slightly cooler.
"1,550 degrees," said Duffy. "It's just salt that you heat up and it turns to liquid.
Duffy said by afternoon the place could reach 130 degrees.
He's worked at Med-Tek for 35 years and knows all too well the "re-fill drill."
"I'll fill it 12 to 15 times a day," he said as he holds up a liter bottle of Aquafina.
Staying hydrated on a hot and humid day is one thing Minneapolis food truck workers are just learning about.
"We're delirious," said Bridger Merkt who helps operate Bloomy's food truck. "I think that I've had five bottles of water, she's had like three and we've had Gatorade."
Bloomy's roast beef is new on the food scene and feeling it as the only truck on the sunny side of the block.
"100 degrees," said Merkt as he looked at a thermometer in the cab of the truck.
It's considerably warmer in the back of the truck where there is hot oil and an oven.
A cool place to work on a day like today is an "icebox." Ace Ice Company has one, but the business is so hot right now they didn't have time to let us inside. They're currently delivering pallet loads of ice to Lund's, Byerly's and Cub Food stores. The closest we could get to the ice were the cubes on the side of the truck which, on a day like today, appear to be melting.
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