Watch out, ladies.
If things feel a little frosty in your office today, it’s not just because of the photocopier incident at last Friday’s work drinks. We have it on good authority that the air-conditioning units in your office are actually trying to freeze you out.
Just when you thought the war on sexism was over with our very own female bathrooms, skirt suits, and paid maternity leave; we’re being attacked again… but this time through the vents. Your office air-conditioning, specifically.
According to a study by the journal Nature Climate Change, automated air-conditioning temperatures are set according to a whizz-bang formula called FANGERS THERMAL COMFORT EQUATION:
In my office, I’m the air-conditioning MASTER. I hold the control of the air-conditioning remote, and rule it with an iron first. If I’m a bit clammy after walking up the hill to work in the morning, I’ll blast the cool air. If I’m feeling a bit chilly after jumping out to get a coffee, I’ll crank the gale-force heat. I care not for complaints from my co-workers, nor medical warnings about my dangerously careening body temperatures. I. AM. THE AIR-CON. MASTER.
And seriously? This study had obviously never worked in a predominantly female office before – because let me tell you, a cranky women who is having her cute seasonal outfits challenged by the office air-conditioning temperature is not one you want to mess with.
Sexist air-con unit, or not.
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Top Comments
People's work places have air conditioning? My classroom is about 15 degrees in winter and creeps up to 35+ in summer.
Two summers ago I cancelled my lesson, packed the kids up and sat outside under a shady tree when it got to 42 degrees in my room (my friend and I has taken thermometers in).
We've had the most insane temperature fluctuations since moving office last October. I'm in the middle of three offices in a row, and our heating / air con is linked, but the temperatures are nothing alike. Office 1 will be 26 deg, Office 2 (mine) 20 deg and office 3 (boss's office) about 16. Boss and I ended up getting fan heaters so that the guy in Office 1 can have engineering turn down the heat so he doesn't feel like he's in the Sahara. My office is uncomfortably cool for the first 20 mins of the day in winter so I take that time to unpack my stuff, make myself breakfast, go to the bathroom and sort out a few things in the kitchen before I sit down to my emails. After that it's okay.