Why does my colleagues need for warmth over-ride my need for fresh air - open plan office rant

[sandyballs]

I work in a large open plan office, there are about 30 of us in here. I know this summer has been crap weather wise, loads of rain but it isn't cold is it! It's quite muggy. Whenever I open a window everyone moans and starts putting cardigans on and scarves FFS. What is wrong with them, we need fresh air! There are 30 of us breathing in the same old air and coughing and spluttering.

I opened the window a crack this morning and within 30 seconds a woman looked up from her computer and started complaining about her neck and draughts and leapt up to close it - she was about 25ft away from it! She has got trousers and boots on, a long sleeved top and a fleece .

Driving me mad, I need an office to myself.

Why not just say "it's just you, why don't you wear a thermal vest or big jumper rather than complaining about the cold every day." Why are you being such martyrs?
The majority rule. if most people are cold then the window stays shut and if they are hot it gets opened.

Can I throw in desk hierachy !

People who won't swap desks to be near the heater or window because the desk over there is lower in the desk hierachy.

I'm with you OP, I like fresh air and have to have a window open, even in Winter. I flush very easily if it's stuffy.

It is offensive

jodie i just spat my drink across my desk that made me laugh so much.

oops

im very lucky because nobody but nobody walks into my office and moans about the temp and i get to have the windows open whenever i please and i dont care about how many jumpers anyone else wears

Sock

Seriously. If people don't have the wit to realise that it's easier to put on a jacket or a cardigan than it is to sit in your pants frantically wafting a print-out of a spreadsheet under your pits in a desperate attempt to reach something approaching a reasonable body temperature then God help us all.

FYI - my colleague is 'ooooo I'm sooo cold! I'm just sooooo cold!" when the office thermometer registers about 23 degrees.

Yanbu....it's like on the bus....30 people sitting in an airless box with all the windows shut. I open them nd people start saying "BRRRR!" like we're in the Antarctic!

My house has every window in it open all day and my bedroom window is open while I sleep. IN fact, I dream of sleeping outside...if I had a roofed veranda, I would sleep on it.

I used to HATE this. I worked in an office full of people who had an aversion to fresh air. Now I work at home. I've been hot for weeks, when that sun comes out it's roasting! Can't believe some offices have heating on that's absurd.

Ffs the Air isn't any 'fresher' it's just colder! You don't work in a vacuum, you won't be able to use up all the air.
Other people actually being cold obviously is more important than you believing the weird myth that outside air is 'fresher'.

I'm one of the cold ones too but I don't complain about what other people do. I think it's easier for me to layer up and get warmer than it is for them to get colder, so to speak.

I wear thick tights and my husband's fleece in the office, and have a hot water bottle too I'm not feeble or weak, I'm just cold!

I'm afraid numbers do win though so you might have to consider working in your bermuda shorts and vest top

I had a colleague once who claimed to have Raynaud's Disease (sp?) meaning everyone had to sit in the boiling heat (I loved it of course, but she wasn't popular with others!)

This same woman embraced the fresh air when it came to mucking out/riding horses and doing generally outdoorsy things.

Krum you might believe in the comparative freshness of outside air if you had to sit next to me as a I gently sweat away in an overheated office, clammy feet shoved into smart work shoes, &c &c

If an office is actually hot then that's different but the op wasn't talking about temperature she was talking about the 'freshness' myth a lot of people seem to believe.

Thanks for replies. Seems I'm outvoted . I agree the majority should take precedence but what's wrong with them . I fling open my windows at home even if it's snowing to air the place, not all day, but a bit of a blow through.

I've just opened the window , and no I haven't asked, they don't ask to close it or to put bloody heaters on everywhere, in July!

I'm always chilly. But I realise that's just me and I try not to complain about open windows. I didn't play the flute at school.

They are all yawning and complaining how tired they are, how long until home time etc etc. THAT'S BECAUSE YOUR ARE WORKING IN A SEALED STUFFY ENVIRONMENT. Breaaathe.

I'm going to do a poll and find out how many flute players we have amongst us . Quite a few I reckon and at least one basoon.

People who play(ed) the flute have long tapering fingers with discreet pearlescent nail varnish, favour bias cut slip dresses, are always cold, have peach toilet roll (quilted) and cry easily. EVERYONE knows that.

If flute players were genuinely cold they'd have chosen a bigger, warmer instrument. A tiny cold metal one will not keep you warm.

I played Double Bass

I fiddle

Sorry Krum but I do believe the air is "fresher". It is a well know fact that illnesses spread more for example in places where the air is not renewed, so call it what you will but I call that air fresher (and it does smell fresher too!)

Majority wins in this instance. I spent a couple of years working in an office of menopausal women. Thermometer clearly indicated that it wasn't warm but we went with the majority and so i dressed for the arctic accordingly

^^ I'm obviously working in Tyler's old office