It's time to talk about something serious for once. And it doesn't get more serious than the differing in opinions towards what constitutes a well air-conditioned room. It's a battle currently raging at my place of work. Imagine the frustration felt by the author (yours truly) as temperatures ramp up to the high twenties outside, the breeze is minimal, the air is clammy...and you are consistently denied a comfortable afternoon's work in a nice chilled room because of the INCESSANT complaints of colleagues ("It's freezing", "God, it's ridiculously cold in here" & "I'm gonna catch pneumonia!"). This is a controversial point, but one I feel I have to make anyway...it's the women. There it is, I said it. It's the women. They don't get dressed properly. Bare legs, no sleeves, plunging neckline, no socks. Next thing you know, they're cold, and I'm just toasty. The battle lines are drawn now. I compliment the life-saving blasts of air-con with a USB mini-fan now. This has been construed by many as a provocative act, but I honestly just need to top it up sometimes. My core temp is always pretty high, I need that slight relief. I'm sure many of you have had similar stand-offs at work. Think mine is going to escalate into a violent assault if things carry on the way they are. I could see a handbag been thrust towards my head the next time I click that little fan on. But I remain defiant, resolute and sweat-free. They've already made it impossible for us to open the windows, now they want us to turn off the air con too! It can't be allowed to happen, I would choke, vomit and pass out at the same time if they let them have it their way. Yesterday, I kid you not, they were all coming back into the office saying stuff like "Oh, it's lovely and warm in that corridor...then you come in here bla bla bla", so I went in the corridor to go for a piss in the gents, and it was like being in that greenhouse they have (or used to have) in Pearson Park with the butterflies in it. IE, ****ing horrible. I just don't understand it. I'm at a loss. Let off steam here. You're welcome.
Brilliant - my Mrs would still have the heating on at home as complaints in the evening centre generally around how cold it is?? I'm like FFS we have just had the hottest day of the year, how on earth can it be cold? It is Women, they must be wired up completely differently. Immune to heat, yet susceptible to any climate less than sub tropical. No win.
At my old office in London, in the middle of summer, we'd have the air con on. But at the end of the room where the girls in accounts sat, they'd have the heating on too. Mental.
Party, i couldnt agree more. I've been coming to work in flip flps the past month its that hot. They've installed a portable air con in the office. It does **** all, even less than i do!! Went into a meeting t'other day and there was proper air con, they turned it off within 5 minutes. "Look at the goosebumps on my arms-its freezing and your outvoted-so there". Its my last day and ive turned up in shorts- toy day innit. Still boiling.
I feel your pain Party Hull. I have an extremely high core temperature (I'm convinced my death will be by spontaneous human combustion) and I always sleep with the window open, even in Winter when it's in the minuses. My office, while it has windows, gets no breeze from outside and it gets unbelievably stuffy in here, to the point that I sweat just typing away. I opened a window and stuck a fan on and the girls complain they're too cold. Then when they get too hot and I pop out for a cig, they steal the office fan and point it the other way. There's more of them, but I'm stuck with a ****ty plastic fan that does **** all. And to cap it all, I stuck Planet Rock on (which bangs out some cracking tunes, had The Who, Def Leppard, Warrant, Yes, Black Sabbath, Metallica, AC/DC, Clutch and Anthrax all in one sitting), went out, came back in and they'd put Radio 1 on. So now it's hot and sticky and I'm going to die to the sound of an airhorn going off over a **** drum and bass song.
They reckon you can have two zones in your car, no probs, but in the office . . . . . . The upside is the 'nipple' effect; that usually causes a few pleasant distractions!
I hear you brother, ****ing women drive me mental about this. Why are they always so cold? In a previous office I worked at the women would do exactly what you say - turn up in hardly any clothing and then moan they're freezing whilst all the blokes are in trousers, shirts and ties and roasting. Well put some more clothes on you bints! I cant take any more off. And that's another point, why do women in the workplace get to dress like they're going to the beach whilst the blokes have to wear trousers, shirts and ties at all times?
They're all in flip flops today, and those little slipper things. Arms exposed all over the shop. The weather's taken a turn outside, so as soon as the air con comes on, they'll be outraged. At that very moment I will compound it for them, and switch my fan on. I don't even feel guilty.
I feel whole heartedly for you I'm sure my internal temperature is higher than the normal, probably about 45c, the slightest bit of heat and i sweat profusely and feel incredibly uncomfortable, i can't impress anyone when i walk down the street looking like a wet dog....
I understand the fan problem though, i can't stand the constant horrific hum of the fan, it drives me to despair
I used to work in a really **** call centre with the ****test hardware ever. They had these phones which, if a fan was switched on nearby, would become completely unusable because all you could hear was a massive rustling sound down the phone. Not ideal in a call centre
Air con?! ****ing air con??!! You ****ers don't even know you are born. Here in West Yorkshire there's no such thing. My office is hotter than Mordor in a heatwave. I see mirages across my office. My window has been painted and nailed shut, which I presume was done to stop me committing suicide by throwing myself out into the traffic below. All that I have is a poxy fan which simply blows around the hot air; and the only available plug socket means that it is positioned so that it does not even blow anywhere near me. I feel like every ounce of fluid is being wrung out of my body. I am being cooked alive. I may not last the day. Like others have said, the women here can swan around in light summery clothes while I have to wear suit, shirt and tie. In a desperate attempt at self preservation though I have gone crazy and ditched the tie today. Just remember all of you with air con wars - there's always someone worse off
