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AIBU?

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Original poster

Fan heaters in the office

58 replies

FortyElephants · 11/03/2025 10:51

AIBU to ask a colleague to turn off the fan heater blowing at her feet?
i am genuinely unsure. If it was cold I would have sympathy but it is not. I have struggled with it many times but today is the second time I've asked her to turn it off. It's too hot regardless of which of the free desks I sit at. She got the hump and moved herself and her heater to a different corner of the office (I have to sit in the specific area, she doesn't)
am I being unreasonable saying please turn off the fan heater in the office?

OP posts:
Original poster
FortyElephants · 11/03/2025 12:35

Catza · 11/03/2025 11:44

You have not more right to your preferred temperature than her. I can sympathise with her, I am always cold. It is cold for me even if it isn't for you and I spent a lifetime surrounded by heaters in freezing offices.
I think a polite request for her to move to a different part of the office is fine but you can't really insist she turns the heater off.

She did move. But I would feel more awkward about asking someone to move than about asking them to turn the heater off!

OP posts:
AsdaCafeWriter · 11/03/2025 12:22

i can sorta understand but i dont see why or how the heater alone will make an overall temp difference ? what about a temp gague thingy on your desk so you can know if it does make a differece in temp ?

AnSolas · 11/03/2025 12:22

Ask the office to get a inbuilt temperature control fan for under desk usage only.
That way it will click off as soon as the space under her desk is hot.

Duckyfondant · 11/03/2025 12:17

There are loads of ways to keep warm without blowing hot air around the room. YANBU

TheMorels · 11/03/2025 12:15

Neither of you is unreasonable. I’m the perpetually freezing person at work and I often have to take myself off to a small meeting room to work as it’s warm in there. This is why I don’t go into the office very often.

Bingbangboo · 11/03/2025 12:11

You aren't unreasonable to ask her, but she's not being unreasonable to refuse either. One of the things I do not miss about being in the office is having to sit between my boss who had her heater on constantly and the males in our team who had the window open in all weathers. There is no compromise that will satisfy everyone unfortunately.

NooNakedJacuzziness · 11/03/2025 11:54

I hate fan heaters, they make me feel sick after a bit. If she doesn't want to move next time suggest a hot water bottle.

Catza · 11/03/2025 11:44

You have not more right to your preferred temperature than her. I can sympathise with her, I am always cold. It is cold for me even if it isn't for you and I spent a lifetime surrounded by heaters in freezing offices.
I think a polite request for her to move to a different part of the office is fine but you can't really insist she turns the heater off.