to ignore my colleagues request to close the window because of their hey fever

[tubewifeuk]

I just don't believe him. He takes breaks outside to smoke and goes outside for his lunch. Surely if his hayfeaver was that bad he'd stay inside?

I hate having all the windows closed in the summer as its stale and stuffy.

Looking at his eyes they seem fine also. Aibu?

'hayfever' can also mean just feeling awful and wheezy.
so have an adult discussion and compromise, having hayfever is miserable and even when on medication avoiding pollen gives relief.

No, LEM. OPs stance would be VU if you were the man in her office.

Unless you are, your circumstances have bugger all to do with her situation!

Sorry LEM, pressed post too soon.

Meant to add, I hope your steroids etc are helping more this week. It seems worse this week to me and my med mix seems to be just about coping... touching wood.

buy a fan

I can only refer you to the word 'compromise'.

The only compromise is a closed window.

You could honestly say that the smell of cigarettes makes you Ill and thus need to have windows open to get rid of smell.

So he's got a choice. No smoking windows shut. Smoking windows open

I'm happy to disagree with you, Dancing.

The bloke opposite me at work has heyfever, he is in bits at the moment despite taking various medication. I work in a crap old office with no a/c, yes its warm but the discomfort of me being 'a bit hot' is a distant second to how he would be feeling if the windows are wide open. I used to get pretty bad heyfever up until my mid 20s when the condition eased off a bit. I have nothing but sympathy for him given that some days when I suffered I could not leave the house without getting a streaming nose, itchy red eyes and sneezing fits.

He wouldn't go to the trouble of asking for shut windows if he didn't feel he needed them shut. You don't know how it feels unless you've got it.

My hay fever is bloody awful this week. I usually take a pill and I'm fine, but the medication isn't touching it when I'm outside at the moment

I'm not sneezing and I don't have a streaming nose, but I do want to rip out my own eyeballs - they're stinging to buggery and I can barely see, I've got an annoying constant tickly throat/cough and I feel a bit like I'm coming down with flu

I'd get a fan and let him have the windows shut

Don't underestimate hay fever - it's awful and there is a difference between popping out for a few minutes fresh air and being constantly subjected to a pollen carrying draught.

You need to be able to breathe too though and I can sympathise with you both as despite being a hay fever sufferer I also need fresh air when working.

I think he should see his doctor - the condition can seriously impact a person's productivity and quality of life but it is controllable.

These threads always make me so glad I no longer work in an office. Every single summer there was moaning, arguing, stirring, underhand tactics n even physical tug of war once - all because of windows!

Yes this man has a valid health concern n reason as to why he would desperately prefer the window shut but (maybe not in this case but in general) there may be other colleagues whom r menopausal or pregnant or have lung problems etc n couldn't bear the window shut. One does not trump the other.

This is where it gets silly. The only compromise is to either have it half open all of the time or open half the day, closed the other half yet nobody seems to accept that at all n would rather behave like playground kids.

OP, yanbu but neither is ur colleague. U will both have to be mature about it n sort a mutual compromise. Good luck!

Can't he move to a desk away from a window? Or to another part of the office where there are no windows?

If it is a medical need then the workplace should accommodate him but it's not fair to expect you to sit in a stuffy office all day.

no one with hayfever should smoke. it is a respiratory illness. i would lose sympathy with anyone with hayfever who is smoking.

Asa hayfever sufferer this week has been grim. And an open window all day would make a bug difference. I do think yabu to dismiss it out of hand.

My hayfever is getting worse each year. I take Clarityn (Cetrelief makes me too sleepy) each night, and steroid nasal spray morning and evening, and my preventer inhaler. I still struggle. I dont sneeze, and my eyes are not read. My problem is my sinuses and chest, mostly. I cant have the windows closed though!

Having said that, he smokes, and sadly he lost my sympathy there. He cant come in stinking of cigarettes and insist the windows are closed.

Do you have air conditioning?

We have a lot of hey fever sufferers in our office - when people feel affected we shut the windows and put on the air con for a bit - play it by ear.

I have hey fever but I don't mention windows unless it is bad despite antihistamine medication- we haven't had too much of a problem and no major fall outs.

Ironically we can't open the windows on our side of the office as the smokers congregate outside and it stinks the office out.

YABU. I work with selfish sods that have the windows open regardless of how others people. I actually despise them.

My Hayfever has been shocking this week. I can imagine the reaction of my workmates if I requested the windows stay shut to accommodate me though.

I agree with a pp. Why can't he move to a different part of the office away from the window? Bit of compromise is needed I reckon.

YANBU, he goes outside for his lunch! I don't do that when mine is bad because of that very reason. If his was so bad he wouldn't either.

If it was just cigarette breaks I'd say that going for a fan would be better because hayfever can be awful but if he goes outside for lunch...he's not that bad.

Antihistamines do not necessarily stop the symptoms though. I take a tablet daily, use nasal spray and eye drops yet often still feel like clawing my eyes out.

Fans don't help with hot stuffy stale rooms, they just push around this hot stale air.

I think this thread is a perfect example of why my company requested windows that don't open when they had new premises built!

did they also have air conditioning though?

My hayfever has been completely unmanageable for the past couple of weeks. I take tablets, use a nasal spray and an organic balm and all it does is take the edge off my symptoms. By the time I get to work in the mornings I look like I've been crying. I'm also wheezing and struggling to breathe for a while. My throat is sore and my chest feels like an elephant has taken up camp on it. I'm lucky if I can hear properly as well. I have it really bad most days. And yes, it is greatly affected by open windows.

Specific circumstances in the OP may mean she is not being so unreasonable, but anyone dismissing hayfever as something that can just be medicated away is an arsehole.