Unnecessary air conditioning

I'm menopausal and still feel the cold. That is the beauty of working from home some of the time. I am never cold at home.

In the book Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez.

I’m overweight and I’m always freezing. I have bad circulation so I don’t think it’s that hard and fast. We worked with a woman who was always boiling, she wore best tops and flip flops, in winter, in Scotland! She was always turning the air on to arctic and also opening windows (no matter how many times we explained you need to close the windows to get optimum air con results.

Opening the windows meant the draught just hit me and my colleague and we were frozen whilst she was complaining about the ‘terrible heat’ the temperature gauge said it was 15c in the office. I offered to swap seats as i was in the line of the windows but she refused.

MintJulia Bollocks You just wanted a dig at fat people Ive been a size 28 and a size 12 and i hated the heat just as much at both sizes.

There are also a lot of people here who arent stuck in a shitty small sauna of a flat in the middle of a block on the top floor

I need to move to your area then @Defiantjazz. We had two weeks of nice weather in June, a warmish and dry (not hot) week in August and a lovely week at the beginning of September. Other than that we have had a dreadful summer with the wettest July for 50 years.

The week before last was, otherwise, no it wasn't

Oh yes it was. Where I live anyway.

@RampantIvy in a different office it would keep a fleece so I had something to wrap up in. And I've gone outside for a heat.

Loads of articles here about men preferring to work in cooler environments

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=men+prefer+colder+offices+to+women

It seems like the main demographic of women on here are peri menopausal or menopausal, but most female office workers aren't (and some of us are post menopausal and feel the cold)

Er..I would have liked some air conditioning in the office over the past few weeks. It’s been quite hot hasn’t it?

The week before last was, otherwise, no it wasn't.

Since science. Look it up.

Er..I would have liked some air conditioning in the office over the past few weeks. It’s been quite hot hasn’t it? Very stuffy in that office though fortunately I’m sat by a window.

YANBU!

We recently stayed in a Premier Inn and it was bloody freezing in the restaurant/bar area! Had to wrap up to eat/drink and go outside for a warm!

This thread is like an object lesson in “the plural of anecdote isn’t data”. Some posters linking to peer-reviewed research, others refuting it with ‘Well, I like it cool and my husband likes it warm so you’re talking rubbish!’

In shops it's to keep the food fresh. I read that women want the heating on when men don't, never found this in real life. I'm usually really hot. Even my 31 year old DD hates the heat,loves working in places with air conditioning.... unfortunately at the moment this is Wilko. My last (hospital) ward,20 years ago, when the patients were tucked up for the night, I had a desk just inside the ward,to sit and do the paperwork, while being able to keep an eye on the patients, the air conditioning came on at midnight, unit was bang over my head, absolutely freezing and you're cold when you're tired anyway. The day staff were suffering, course the windows only open a little for safety.

Air conditioning alleviates the symptoms of climate change while contributing directly towards it. It's not feasible to expect everywhere to be at a comfortable 21 degrees while addressing unnecessary energy use. We need to invest in design that is sensible for a heating planet and not design that needs high energy use to heat/cool it eg tall glass fronted buildings.

Someone needs to tell dh and his male colleagues that they are supposed to like the cold more than their female colleagues! There is a constant air con battle in his work as all the women want it to be colder, and the men warmer!

As a 50y woman I definitely like the general house temperature to be a little cooler than dh. Though I hate it being really cold outside, and prefer warmer outdoor temperatures in general, but like the aircon cold!

Don't know where the daffodil came from

YANBU.

Especially some chain cafes and restaurants - it's like Costa want you to leave as quickly as possible.

It's not a new thing but I completely agree that it's annoying. I get so cold and physically unwell after 8h in the office because it! We're always told to turn the thermostat down in the winter to save money and the environment, yet its perfectly acceptable still to keep indoor spaces at arctic temperatures with air con.

I agree with you @SunshineHello, but this in MN where everyone seems to hate the heat or suffer from all the negative aspects of the menopause. I know that a lot of public buildings have had aircon for decades but I agree that it is more noticeable now and buildings are a lot cooler.

On hot days I take a cardigan to work, and take my lunch outside to eat just so that I can warm up. I don't live and work in London or even a city so we don't get the urban heat island effect..

We have the odd day where air conditioning is required, but most of the time it is a ridiculous waste of money and bad for the environment. In most cases just opening a window will suffice - and yes, we have windows that open at work. We don't need it on cold days, and yes, we have had people with heaters on under their desks because the aircon is too fierce @Fightyouforthatpie

It’s also such a huge waste of energy use. There is a happy medium between being frozen and being melting

Exactly @Crunchingleaf. Sitting still at 18 degrees means that I need a cardigan or jumper. If I was gardening or moving around at 18 degrees I would just be in short sleeves.

I agree that trains are often too cold now and non food shops overuse aircon as well.

@blahblahblah1654 Some of the research is summarised in this article https://amp.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2017/oct/11/why-women-sewcretly-turn-up-the-heating

Of course there are individual differences, but it seems pretty clear it that on average women are comfortable at a warmer ambient temperature than men.

I should add that I'm not someone who prefers the heat. I hate hot weather, I'd rather be too cold than too hot. But our office is ridiculously cold.

YANBU. One of the reasons I hate going into the office is that it's so cold!

I forgot to say but I actually brought a little heater in with me and put it on when the aircon came on because the maintenance guy wouldn't believe me.

Yes, I was hoping that the cost of energy would stop this nonsense.

The problem is that men often have to wear suits and closed shoes in offices and women can wear dresses and sandals so men are going to feel warmer.

I almost resigned from r my job because the air con would come on at 5:30 in the evening and be really cold even in the winter. The maintenance guy wouldn't believe me and I was chilled to the bone and when I went out in the cold it was unbearable.

Fortunately one day the maintenance guy agreed to stay after 5:30 and felt the air con come on for himself and did something about it.