"10,000 Steps a Day Under the Blazing Sun"... A Harsh 'Summer Survival'

[Anchor]

Even when sweat pours down like rain in the midday heat, there are workers who must visit homes one by one for people waiting for them. These are "visit workers" such as private tutors and home appliance inspectors.

Reporter Dong Eunyeong followed the daily routine of these workers navigating through the heat wave.

[Reporter]

Jeong Nan-suk, a private tutor with 30 years of experience, steps out onto the heated streets carrying a tutoring bag in one hand and a parasol in the other.

Jeong's daily routine begins around 1 p.m., when the sunlight is at its strongest during the day.

Because she is in charge of a residential area where parking is difficult in alleys, she mostly gets around on foot.

[Jeong Nan-suk / Private Tutor : Last week was so scorching hot that sweat was just pouring down. It was hard to even walk.]

As it is the summer vacation period, classes are often abruptly canceled. When that happens, the place Jeong heads to is a neighborhood 24-hour laundromat.

This is because rest areas are far away, and she feels conscious of the elderly people at community service centers.

[Jeong Nan-suk / Private Tutor : It's too far to walk to a rest area, and rest areas aren't located everywhere.]

She has to walk more than 10,000 steps a day, and this summer has been even harsher.

[Jeong Nan-suk / Private Tutor : I get severe dizziness from the heat. Lately, because it's hot, I keep looking for cold things. So these days, a lot of teachers are getting enteritis and are struggling.]

Home appliance inspection workers mostly travel by car because of their various equipment, but places where parking is impossible require walking, and visiting homes in the scorching weather brings many difficulties.

[Lee Myeong-suk / Home Appliance Inspection Worker : There are many people who don't even turn on a fan. It is genuinely tough. I'm sweating profusely right now. My face has turned red.]

They cannot even drink cool water freely.

[Lee Myeong-suk / Home Appliance Inspection Worker : It's uncomfortable to tell customers at their homes (that I need to use the restroom), so I end up refraining from drinking water as much as possible.]

When getting back into a car parked under the blazing sun after finishing a home inspection, it feels suffocating.

[Lee Myeong-suk / Home Appliance Inspection Worker : It's so hard. It's like a steam room. I wonder what the temperature is in here right now.]

Although the heat wave this summer is said to have passed its peak, workers navigating through alleys to find customers are still battling the heat.

(Photo courtesy of SBS | Video reporting: Kim Nam-sung, Lee Sang-hak | Video editing: Park Na-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.