This is not The Haters Club You're Looking For discussion

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I can't stand that my menopausal coworker bullycontrols the thermostat at work.

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message 1: by Heidi (last edited May 07, 2008 06:45AM) (new)

Heidi (heidihooo) She has an obsession, likely to be filed under "OCD," with walking into the conference room every day and turning down the temp without asking anyone first. Right now, the temp is set on "70" and cool... which doesn't do a damn thing to heat up the office when I walk into work at 6:45, and it's 37 degrees outside. The actual temp reading is 52 right now. I think I'm gonna freeze my balls off... and I don't even have any!

The other day, the big boss was here at our office (so I heard from a coworker) and turned on the heat. As soon as MW (menowoman), walked in the door, without having ever stepped foot in her office... she walked over to the thermostat to turn the air on cool. Coworker told her "Big Boss is here and she just turned on the heat. You may want to ask her about it before you adjust the temp." She asked. Big Boss said no. And apparently she stomped her feet and said "Other people have to work here, too, you know..." and then walked off and slammed the door to her office.

We've done everything imaginable without becoming inhumanitarian to compensate for this - making it a rule that no one can touch the thermostat except Big Boss, etc, etc... but she will still sneak into the conference room and make sure no one's looking before she adjusts the thermostat. I can't see her, but I can hear her when she does it. It'd be funny if it weren't so damned uncomfortably cold in here.


Reads with Scotch That is probably because you already froze them off. I only tolerated one menopausal woman in my life and that was the mother in law... never more, Kick that bitch in the bleeder and tell her to go get some hormones from the doctor.


message 3: by Tracy (new)

Tracy hey now, as someone who can relate to menowoman here (although not personally menopausal, i can say that the only time my mother and i were able to comfortably coexist in the same car was when she was suffering from hot flashes), i just have to say WEAR A DAMN SWEATER. no offense or anything, and i'm sure you're not exaggerating when you say you're uncomfortably cold, but think about it this way: there's a lot you can do to get more warm without affecting everyone else, but it's not really possible to get more cool. and there is nothing more energy/morale/sanity sapping than sitting quietly at your desk and sweating for no reason.


message 4: by [deleted user] (new)

If I were the Big Boss, I'd install one of those thermostat covers. I used to have to do that when I managed maintenance at a senior living apartment community way back when. The geriatrics would jack up the thermostat to about 80 degrees, even though it was the summertime. We got sick of the bluehairs fucking off with the mercury filament in the thermostat, so we had them locked.

We also chained them to their beds. That'll teach 'em to fuck with common area property.


message 5: by Heidi (last edited May 07, 2008 08:49AM) (new)

Heidi (heidihooo) First of all, I keep TWO sweaters AND my coat on the back of my chair at the office... always handy for when I get cold. I wear them every day and share with coworkers who are also cold. I wear my thermal underwear under my clothes to work always, even during the summer. I also keep a heater at my feet. Anyone who's ever been to my house knows I prefer to be cool. I always keep the ceiling fans on... and keep the temp at home set at 67 and cool. However, the office uncomfortability is ridiculous, esp. when our patients come in and complain that they are freezing cold in the waiting room... and have chattering teeth and goosebumps. The temp in my home is 67... not 52.

The only person who is comfortable in our office when the temp is set so low is MW. Seriously. Yesterday, one of my coworkers, fed up with being so cold, walked around the office and closed all the vents so that all the cold air would blow into her office cooling just her and no one else (in theory).

Truth be told - she's really the only one with climate control ability in her personal space at the office - she can open and close the windows to her office - we can't. She also has a personal fan and a personal heater (that she's been caught running on high at her feet while freezing the rest of us out) in her office... and she can open and close her door. We don't have doors... just a community space.


message 6: by Lisa (new)

Lisa 'Wear a sweater' is great advice if you, like me, are one of those people who is cold all the time when everyone else is comfortable. I do wear a sweater. Sometimes two. Occasionally even three. According to the thermostat in my office, it's 69 degrees in here, and I kind of wish I could type in gloves because my hands are freezing.

But I would probably just keel over and die (or at least end up a shivering ball under my desk waiting for the St. Bernard with the barrel of whiskey on its collar to come rescue me) if I worked with someone who kept setting the thermostat to 'Antarctica'. The thermostat should be set to a range that the middle 68.2% of people in the office find comfortable. If you're more than one standard deviation from the mean in either direction, you're just going to have to tolerate being too warm or too cold. (This is assuming that, like most human variables, the range of temperature comfort among people in an office is reflected by a standard normal distribution (bell curve)).

(Yes, I tutor psych stats in my spare time...why do you ask?)


Reads with Scotch Yep! like I said, Time to kick her in the bleeder.


message 8: by Lori (new)

Lori Speaking as a menopausal woman myself, while I may be sympathetic to her, she's also being just plain selfish. I don't expect everyone to cave in to appease my hormonal craziness, just like I don't take out my bad moods on others. She can keep her window open, dress in layers with a tank top underneath, and keep ice cubes around to rub on her neck.


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