Tuesday, November 20, 2007

War, What Is It Good For?

It's on, the battle has commenced. The troops rallied. Strategies drawn. Allies sought.

The great Airconditioner War of 2007 that is. Our office has an airconditioning system on each floor, and a keypad that lets us turn it on/off and change the temperature. Which as it turns out is both a design feature, and a serious design flaw. Everyone fiddles with it.

So much so that we had to have a staff meeting where everyone agreed to set it at a reasonable temperature (in our case we agreed on 22C) and leave it alone.

Except, that only lasted for probably less than a week. And a couple of the managers on this floor, the same managers that were in that meeting, are the worst culprits. Every time I go past it's either turned off completely, or cranked as high as 27C. It is driving me crazy.

It also seems to have divided the floor along gender lines. Maybe we feel the cold differently, but when it's nice and comfortable for me at the agreed temperature of 22C, a number of my female workmates complain it's too cold. Then I can't concentrate because half an hour later it's a stifling 27C or something.

Every time I go to the kitchen for a glass of water or a coffee I pass the keypad. And you had better believe that when I do it goes back to 22C.

Every single time.

Bring. It. On.

6 comments:

Thombeau said...

Good for you, honey. You tell those frigid bitches the time and temp!

A popular retort is "Well, if you weren't so busy menstruating, maybe you'd be a little warmer!". That always goes over well.

The Other Andrew said...

::blink::

You're naughty!

Thombeau said...

HA!

(I don't know what got into me! Satan, I guess.)

Michael said...

I've been playing thermostat tag for 15 years with my business partner. Mostly he's a bright guy, but apparently thinks that you turn a thermostat OFF until it gets too warm, then you turn it down incredibly low, and it will somehow get cooler again more quickly, than if you'd set it at a reasonable temp.

M-H said...

iaqnrprOh, this drives me crazy. I can't stand to be hot (sorry about your theory, Andrew) and I say to people who complain that it's cold at 22: "Well, wear warmer clothes willya? If you turn it up any further I'm going to take something off!" That threat usually has an effect. But the worst, oh god the worst, are the econazis who turn the bloddy thing *off* all the time on the basis that it's never really that hot.

A modern, properly run air conditioner uses less power for a room ful of people than the damn fans that I keep tripping over the cord of in one of our offices. At the moment I'm not sharing an office. And I don't have an air conditioner. And I'm doing just fine. So far.

sko_G knits said...

funny i should stumble upon your blog post about this, i am CONSTANTLY battling with the man next to me...well, he sits across a walkway, but a mere 10 feet. the duct is right above my work area and he is in a space between two ducts, he wears wool sweaters, and is good deal over his ideal weight...he's ALWAYS turning the thermostat down to 65F, when the agreed upon temperature is 72F. i mean, if he's always so hot, i wish he would stop wearing wool sweaters on top of his long sleeved shirts!!