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Thread: Annoyance at work with A/C

  1. #1
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Annoyance at work with A/C

    Okay it's been a long and frustrating day at work so far, but I will discuss something that's been annoying me for a while. I share a small office with one other employee and he always puts the air conditioning on...even though it's the middle of winter!

    Because our office has tons of huge computer servers, they generate heat and it heats up the room. This can be a potential concern in the summer, when the summer heat + heat generated by the servers puts the servers at risk for melting(or so they say). But in wintertime, there is simply not enough heat to put the servers at big risk, to justify running A/C in winter. Yet my coworker insists on putting on the A/C, or at least the fan, almost all the time! I get annoyed by this because:
    a) I am the type that gets cold really easily
    b) My desk is right next to the A/C, so I'm feeling most of the cold air that I don't even want.

    I try to gently tell my coworker that we should shut off the A/C, but he keeps claiming that it is too hot for him in the room. It's getting annoying. I suggested that he open his window a crack, since he'll feel a breeze from a window right behind his desk more than he'll feel an A/C on the other side of the room. I told him it'd be more efficient plus it'll save electric. But he declined. He lacks the frequently used software programs on his computer and will not ask our boss to purchase it because it "saves money for the office," yet he will think nothing to rack up the electric bill by blasting A/C in February! How contradictory is that?

    A few weeks ago when I was sick with the flu, I had to literally bring a blanket to work and wrap up in it at my desk...and the A/C was on! I was so grouchy from being sick, that I just marched right over to the A/C and snapped it off without asking my coworker if it was okay. I try to be nicer than that on most days though(although I kinda snapped about something earlier today, which I feel bad about).

    What do you think is the best approach? Should I just randomly shut off the A/C, or should I dress in extra layers and let him turn on the A/C, etc?

  2. #2
    AudreyLeigh
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Is he a higher up or the same position as you? If youre the same Id have turned the AC off a long time ago and cracked the window for him. If he goes to turn it back on Id walk up right behind him and turn it back off. Either he'll deal with it or stab him with your shoe when he starts an argument......

  3. #3
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Hmmm it's hard to say if he's higher up or not. We're both managers at our office, but we handle different things...I manage the employees, and he does the IT stuff and deals more with the clients(although we both deal with the clients). He might be a little higher than me(he gets a higher salary, because his job requires some computer programming and knowledge of Linux and Unix).

    Then again, I do a lot of things to help him, since he hasn't been working here for more than a few months, and since he doesn't have perfect English(he's originally from another country). For example, looking over the e-mails he sends out to the clients to make sure that they are grammatically correct. So it's really a toss-up.

  4. #4
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    By the way, right now the AC is off LOL. I was steaming mad about something that happened earlier today at the office(it's been one of those nightmarish days, where everything seems to go wrong), and during that time I turned off the AC and I think my coworker didn't want to piss me off any more than I already was by turning it on again. Basically I was making a lot sarcastic cynical comments about how annoying the work problems were.

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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Can you swap desks so he's by the air conditioner and you're on the other side of the room?

    Phil.

  6. #6
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    No unfortunately I cannot swap desks. Our computers are each linked to specific servers and equipment. It'd practically be easier to tear the AC out of the wall and reinstall it on the other side of the room.

    I guess I'm wondering if I should set my foot down about the AC issue, or if perhaps I'm the one being unreasonable. After all, what some people would call "too hot," I call "just right." From the sounds of it though, other people kinda agree with me. For example, one of the few times when the boss's elderly mom came in(she does some paperwork for the company), she said, "Ah why do we put the AC on in the winter? We don't need AC in winter time." LOL I was glad she said that, but unfortunately sometimes the AC is still turned on.

  7. #7
    cameron_keys
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Have your boss circulate a memo stating that due to rising costs, A/C is not to be used during winter months.

    Post it right over the A/C unit

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    You're not being unreasonable.

    There has to be give and take over conditions. I share an office with 5 - 6 other people, and we generally ask each other to turn the heating up/down, open/close windows etc.

    I'd pick a moment to discuss your feelings with your co-worker. Just explain that you're sitting under the air conditioner and it makes your day really uncomfortable if you have to work in cold conditions. Be as reasonable about it as you can, and try and reach a compromise.

    If that doesn't work, wait a few days then discuss the matter again. Drop into the conversation the thought "I'm being really distracted from my work by the temperature in here - I'm going to ask senior management if they can change the routing to the server so I can move my desk".

    Don't have a go at him directly - just leave him the thought that your superiors might start to wonder why he's so inconsiderate of the person he has to share an office with.

    If that doesn't work, you will have to take it up with your superiors. Just appear as reasonable as you can about it - "X needs the air conditioning on, but it distracts me from my work - is there any way of moving my desk?" That way you're showing you've done everything you can to sort out the issue quietly and your co-worker is being unreasonable.

    Final thought for you - you might have a cultural problem - if he's come from a country where women have a subservient role, he may feel that his views are more important that yours. Unfortunately, we're all conditioned by the environment we grew up in.

    Phil.

  9. #9
    Alaska
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Tell him the environment appreciates a fan and that's more than fair?

  10. #10
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Quote Originally Posted by Phil-W View Post
    Final thought for you - you might have a cultural problem - if he's come from a country where women have a subservient role, he may feel that his views are more important that yours. Unfortunately, we're all conditioned by the environment we grew up in.

    Phil.
    Hmm that could be a good point. He's from Ukraine, but I don't know if that is a country that has subservient roles for women. Overall though he doesn't appear sexist. He's a fairly nice guy who just has a few small foibles, the AC being one of them. Anyone know anything about this country's culture?

    I don't know if my current coworker would count as "sexist" due to his culture, but I definitely DID work with someone that was. I used to work at a restaurant and one of the guys that I worked most closely with, "E," was from Bangladesh. He tended to bark orders at me and bitch about tiny things I did, but never bitch about other (male) coworkers that way. (In reality, the restaurant's owner actually PREFERRED that I confirm and recite orders out loud, since I was new and it helped me to learn, and since "E" often rushed through his work and sometimes made mistakes; the owner told everyone this) Then at the end of the night when "E" realized that perhaps his shortness with the "pretty girl" might ruin his chances of me liking him, he would act all flirty and nice. Even the owner admitted to me (during nonwork time) that the reason "E" acted so commanding was because he came from a culture where they treated women like second class citizens.

  11. #11
    AudreyLeigh
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    I still say hit him with your shoe........

  12. #12
    God/dess jaizaine's Avatar
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Ok this is where I have had many arguments with men. They have no idea or understanding that women feel the cold a lot more than them.

    I had this prick in this lecture i was in who would turn up in shorts, a singlet and then have the nerve to turn on the A/C when all the women were in jumpers and sitting there shiverring. Fat prick he was too which is prob why he was hot.
    But it's rude, people should ask the rest of the people and the most votes should win.
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  13. #13
    cameron_keys
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Maybe compromise? Tell him that if he is truly THAT uncomfortably hot(as uncomfortably cold as you are) that you can trade off...every other day A/C goes on. That way every OTHER day you are comfy, and the cold days you know to bring an extra sweater.

    ANd maybe put a piece of metal or a board in front of the A/C vent pointing towards him to route the cold air his way.

  14. #14
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Quote Originally Posted by jaizaine View Post
    Ok this is where I have had many arguments with men. They have no idea or understanding that women feel the cold a lot more than them.

    I had this prick in this lecture i was in who would turn up in shorts, a singlet and then have the nerve to turn on the A/C when all the women were in jumpers and sitting there shiverring. Fat prick he was too which is prob why he was hot.
    But it's rude, people should ask the rest of the people and the most votes should win.
    Yeah I know that feeling! The thing is, my coworker isn't fat or anything...he's kinda short and average build. My former coworker was built a little bigger than him and he would get hot easily, but even he wasn't blasting the A/C in the winter. When this former coworker visited the office to pick up something last weekend, the A/C was on and he saw no point in my coworker leaving it on.

    As for taking a vote, I can't really do that because it's only my 1 coworker and I in the office. When the manager's elderly mother stops by to do the bookkeeping, perhaps she counts as person #3.

    Either way, in Philly it is only 18 degrees outside and it feels like 3 degrees with the windchill. Needless to say, my coworker didn't put the air on today thank God!

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    Featured Member Kaiyla's Avatar
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    Default Re: Annoyance at work with A/C

    Quote Originally Posted by AudreyLeigh View Post
    I still say hit him with your shoe........
    ^^hahaha, I agree.

    Sounds like a bit of a power play here. Remain strong and don't back down. No one should have to suffer through uncomfy conditions.

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