Hands off the fucking thermostat, bitch!

[Rat Diva]

Some pre-rant background: The office thermostat is enclosed in one of those locking plastic boxes, ostensibly to prevent Thermostat Wars. However, the key has been in the lock since the thing was installed ~5 years ago, which mitigates the point of the whole thing and also means that temperature changes take longer to register on the thermostat, since it has to penetrate the plastic box, resulting in temperature fluctuations like crazy. Suggestions to either have the key live in the office manager's desk, to be used only to reset the system at the change of seasons, or just take the stupid box off, have gone ignored.

Rant begins: Ok, so we've got the AC set at a reasonable 75F. No one else is complaining but you, not even Joe and Frank, who were the biggest whiners about the cold all winter and spring. People are coming in off the street during this, our first hot spell of the year, saying things like "Whooof, it's nice in here!"

Now, Miss Thing in your skimpy little strappy sundress that just about covers your hoochie as long as you don't try to bend over and that your boobs don't quite roll out of unless you lean forward about an inch*, may have seen me in my office, in my chair right under a ceiling register with an additional fan blowing on me because I'm at that Very Special Time in a gal's life when her personal thermostat likes to suddenly and randomly flip itself to a setting between "kiln" and "surface of a blue giant."

So next time you're freeeeeeeeeee-ziiiiiiiiiiiiingwhatistheACsetat?? may I suggest: PUT ON A FUCKING SWEATER! TURN ON THE SPACE HEATER IN YOUR OFFICE THAT YOU RUN ALL WINTER LONG! WEAR CLOTHING THAT COVERS MORE THAN 6 SQUARE INCHES OF YOUR BODY! GO JUMP IN A VAT OF CLAM CHOWDER! QUIT TURNING UP THE HEAT FOR THE ENTIRE BUILDING, AND ESPECIALLY YOUR HOT-FLASHING, GROUCHIER THAN USUAL CO-WORKER (me) JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE COLD WHEN EVERYONE ELSE IS FINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd tell her to get off my lawn, but she's older than I am

*sorry, guys, she's married with kids.

[JackieLikesVariety]

that's telling her!

I have a overly warm co-worker who is constantly wanting the temperature set at Meat Locker.

and that Very Special Time keeps rolling on, we are in the second decade of it in my life

[Rat Diva]

Over 10 years...?

[JackieLikesVariety]

that's just me.

maybe.

[Detroit Hoser]

I used to think that Very Special Time, which started somewhat early for me, was called "Celebrate Freedom" but alas, as it seems neverending it's now just The Road to Hell.

[Rat Diva]

At 40, I'm way early, though it's about average for women in my family.

I used to fantasize about it in my teens and 20s (OHAI endometriosis and doctors who didn't give a shit about listening to me!) but, as usual, the fantasy doesn't match the reality. No fair

[joyfool]

I used to be someone who wore sweatshirts in August in Texas and continually kept a heater on under her desk year round, until I'd been married to my overly hot-natured husband for years. In the battle over the thermostat, seems like he mostly won, so I guess my body started adjusting. Then came the VST, and now my furnace is set to full blast all the damn time. Add in that every elderly person I clean house for sets their temp above 90 and I'm always in perpetual melt-mode. It sucks and I'm looking forward to any upcoming ice ages.

[Solfy]

You need our thermostats. They're like the fake door latches hung on the wall of the Alzheimer's ward - there to make us feel like we have some control of the situation but functionally useless. They replaced them over the holidays with new "electronic" thermostats (no temp read out, just an up and down arrow). They, too, do nothing, but now they look nicer doing it.

We talked with facilities about this. Turns out some time in the far distant past people stuffed interoffice envelopes and file folders in the AC vents in the ceilings to block them off, so all the cold air comes out a single open vent a few feet away from being directly above my head. Facilities looked at it, shrugged, and did nothing. Folders are still in there. I haven't adjusted to the office tundra in 2yrs.

Three times yesterday I heard people step onto our floor and say, "It's freezing in here!" so it's not just me. I was wearing pants, a t-shirt, and a wool (handknit!) sweater. And was wrapped in my shawl. With the space heater on. It was 83°F outside.

[Jaglavak]

Originally Posted by Solfy

....all the cold air comes out a single open vent a few feet away from being directly above my head...

Did you know that duct tape was originally used on ducting?

[Khampelf]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

Did you know that duct tape was originally used on ducting?

Yeah, sounds like you should stuff a few folders yourself, Solfy.

[Jaglavak]

Originally Posted by Khampelf

Yeah, sounds like you should stuff a few folders yourself, Solfy.

Apparently that is impossible because reasons.

Or maybe this might be some of that adult shit I read about.

[Solfy]

Originally Posted by Khampelf

Yeah, sounds like you should stuff a few folders yourself, Solfy.

Facilities strongly warned against doing that, but did not explain why.

[Jaglavak]

If a fan blows into too much back pressure, it can get into a flow pattern called fan surge. This usually makes an awful rumble-boom type noise throughout the building and if not fixed can break stuff. I once saw a fan shake so hard the edges of it looked blurry. After a slight adjustment of the main dampers it ran smooth as silk again.

[Pere]

Originally Posted by Solfy

Facilities strongly warned against doing that, but did not explain why.

You need a 27B/6. Where would we be if we didn't follow the correct procedures?

[JackieLikesVariety]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

Did you know that duct tape was originally used on ducting?

Facilities strongly warned against doing that, but did not explain why.

Bastards! we need to all meet there after midnight and take care of things. and we should be dressed like this.


and then? we do whatever it takes

[Solfy]

Originally Posted by JackieLikesVariety

Bastards! we need to all meet there after midnight and take care of things. and we should be dressed like this.


and then? we do whatever it takes

*snerk!* So that's the real reason one of the ceiling tiles was broken on the floor Monday morning.

[Rat Diva]

Do you mind if Jackie, Faithfool, and I move in with you for, oh, 10 years or so?

There is an old thermostat in the hall that hasn't been hooked up to anything since the Carter administration. Maybe I'll start telling new hires that that's the One True Thermostat so that they'll keep their paws off the real one

[Solfy]

Originally Posted by Rat Diva

Do you mind if Jackie, Faithfool, and I move in with you for, oh, 10 years or so?

There is an old thermostat in the hall that hasn't been hooked up to anything since the Carter administration. Maybe I'll start telling new hires that that's the One True Thermostat so that they'll keep their paws off the real one

You're welcome to join me. We can huddle in my cube for warmth. I've got my space heater on again now - the AC really cranks starting at 11:00 and doesn't calm down until around 3:00. That's part of what makes me so frustrated - if the arctic freeze is so regular, it can be controlled. But it's not.

I think you're on to something wrt the thermostat - just label the functional one "Out of Order." If your office is anything like ours, there's no reason to fear someone will try to fix it.

[joyfool]

Originally Posted by Rat Diva

Do you mind if Jackie, Faithfool, and I move in with you for, oh, 10 years or so?



There is an old thermostat in the hall that hasn't been hooked up to anything since the Carter administration. Maybe I'll start telling new hires that that's the One True Thermostat so that they'll keep their paws off the real one

I'm agreeable to anything that keeps my ass from feeling like its frigging roasting all the time. And I'm too damn meek to ever tell a client that. Too hot, too much. Sigh.

[Jaglavak]

Originally Posted by faithfool

I'm agreeable to anything that keeps my ass from feeling like its frigging roasting all the time. And I'm too damn meek to ever tell a client that. Too hot, too much. Sigh.

Fixded.

[Inna Minnit]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

Fixded.

That totally doesn't look like a bomb vest.

[Jaglavak]

I find that most folks are more concerned with how I smell than how I look. But yeah, you wouldn't be boarding any flights with that.

[joyfool]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

Fixded.

< adding to my Christmas wish list >

Originally Posted by Inna Minnit

That totally doesn't look like a bomb vest.

I should not, would not, could not care. Bring on the TSA.

[Rat Diva]

I can't complain, though (yes I can, obviously, but anyway) because at my last job the AC worked erratically if at all in certain departments. Of course mine was one of them. The maintenance guy was "waiting for parts" when I started and still waiting for the same parts when I left 10 years later. The heat in winter was just as bad, because it was on city steam heat, which is either off or Sahara Desert at noon hot.

[running coach]

Originally Posted by Rat Diva

I'd tell her to get off my lawn, but she's older than I am

*sorry, guys, she's married with kids.

So when she leans forward an inch, do the boobs roll out the top or the bottom of that little sundress?

[Rat Diva]

Top. She's about a size 0 and in total shape. Bitch.

[BJMoose]

My own thermostat peeve involves retailers - usually large ones - whose thermostats apparently are controlled by Corporate - the store people can't adjust them at all. Nothing like working in a big store after hours in the middle of summer in Kansas with no A/C at all.

[Khampelf]

84° is the target temperature around here. We just switch from heat to cool depending on the weather. If it's in the 80s outside, I can blow fresh air through the house with the evaporative cooler fan and turn the main system off. The old man then uses a space heater to keep his room in the 90s.

That's the thermostat, the rooms are a couple of degrees warmer or cooler depending on the season.

[Khampelf]

I imagine the scene from the movie Brazil, where a pipe bursts and paperwork and folders fly everywhere. Every vent in the place suddenly popping it's hinges and spewing forth.

[Solfy]

That'd be fine with me so long as I quit losing feeling in my hands.
I'm seriously knitting fingerless gloves so I can type because Summer Is Coming.

[Inna Minnit]

My co worker is cold all tbe fucking time. It's 80 kagillion degrees in our little corner of sardine hell (seven of us, our chairs and a printer stuffed in a 5x15 foot area) and she keeps a heater on. Which is directly behind me and I trip on all day. Sadly, killing her is a felony.

[Rat Diva]

Originally Posted by Inna Minnit

My co worker is cold all tbe fucking time. It's 80 kagillion degrees in our little corner of sardine hell (seven of us, our chairs and a printer stuffed in a 5x15 foot area) and she keeps a heater on. Which is directly behind me and I trip on all day. Sadly, killing her is a felony.

After she passes on, the devil will ironically make her spend eternity in Solfy's office, ass naked.

[Inner Stickler]

Not that I'd ever recommend doing something against policy but if the vents are still accessible, who's to say if some of the files and folders migrated around a bit...

[Glazer]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

Not that I'd ever recommend doing something against policy but if the vents are still accessible, who's to say if some of the files and folders migrated around a bit...

Ding ding ding ding give that man a bologna sammich. Seriously open some of the other vents. The system runs all the time because it's only cooling one area.

[Random Precision]

Originally Posted by Glazer

Ding ding ding ding give that man a bologna sammich. Seriously open some of the other vents. The system runs all the time because it's only not cooling one the area with the thermostat.

FTFY.

If you want to get this problem fixed, find out whose budget the cost of the A/C comes out of. Make it known to that person how much of their operating budget is being pissed away because of a poor air balance. I don't guarantee that this will get it done, but it's your best shot.

[Solfy]

The whole floor is freezing, it just blows particularly hard over my desk. The man with the purse strings is on the same floor and more concerned with remodeling lab space right now. (Which is a massive miracle itself). We keep chipping away at the facilities guys bit by bit.

[The Futility of Nihilism]

Man, it's warm in here. Anyone mind if I turn down the thermostat?

[BJMoose]

Originally Posted by The Futility of Nihilism

Man, it's warm in here. Anyone mind if I turn down the thermostat?

Not at all.

Just watch out for my wife.

[Rat Diva]

She's outvoted. ::cranks down thermostat::

[BJMoose]

Oh, great. You just woke her up.

[Rat Diva]

:: plays a soothing lullabye on her tiny violin ::

Go to sleeeeeep, go to sleeeeeep, go to sleep, Wife of Moosey...

[BJMoose]

Originally Posted by Rat Diva

:: plays a soothing lullabye on her tiny violin ::

Go to sleeeeeep, go to sleeeeeep, go to sleep, Wife of Moosey...

She's run off to the doctor, so we're cool. So to speak.

Now if I could just get her damned kitten to stop gnawing on the thongs on my slippers.

[Jaglavak]

Too late. Once they've been exposed to your hoof jam, there goes all nine lives anyway.

[Solfy]

It's 11:08. I can feel the icy fingers of death cold creeping in from my left as I type. Right on schedule.

[BJMoose]

I should be so lucky. . . .

(Actually, this morning she responded properly, for the first time, to NO!. There may be hope yet.)

[Jaglavak]

Aw, dude! You shouldn't talk to your wife like that.

[Khampelf]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

Aw, dude! You shouldn't talk to your wife like that.

Say goodnight, Gracie.

[BJMoose]

Goodnight, Gracie.




The kitten, dammit. The kitten.

[KingofSwisslandWarman88]

Hands off the fucking merchandise!

[stormie]

I don't see why someone or two haven't stayed late for urgent business, rolled a chair up to them vents, and hauled out the folders. I would have done it first I heard.

PS, love the vest.

PPS, I am hot unless there is frozen stuff around, including Margaritas. I know better than to turn the heat down or the AC up.