people that demand the ac must be on 18 on cloudy not warm days

[marieinlondon]

I only work part time in an office. The work is OK, but I just can't stand the ac. I'm the only slim one in the room and throughout the summer I have to wear a jumper and scarf as its freezing as my larger colleagues all like it turned right down to 18 even on days when there is a cool breeze outside all the windows are shut and we just have stale cold dry air. Does anyone else have this problem?

Oh look, the same people who would give out if the aforementioned fatsos dared to wear less than approved levels of clothing.

No, an office shouldn't be freezing to the point where people are shivering but they are, and many offices (like open plan ones) are not built with a cold side and a hot side. The air con works as one unit, so you have an entire office which is freezing. As many open plan offices are also divided along team lines, you can't switch desks.

So take your and dfod.

Under the factories act, I'm pretty sure if the temp fell below 60 ( 16 degrees) workers would be allowed to go home.

18 degrees is only 3 degrees above. Sat near the ac unit pumping out cold air is just intolerable. What it must be doing to your back muscles as well as everything else. It's not just about a jumper it's everything else like face, neck, hands exposed.

I had a house in Florida and the house temp had to reach 80 or 25 degrees before it came on.

I loathe air con as well. I don't wear summer clothes to work in summer because it is too cold in our office.

Yes, obviously. Fgs. I was just saying what our office is like. And in our case we were able to switch desks.

Thank fuck I don't work in a massive open plan office like that.

Have another

That's what should happen in theory Dowser, but in reality workplaces don't shut up - instead, workers are told to add more layers (see PPs for the kind of layers we end up wearing) or there are battles between staff who like to work in sub zero temperatures (I exaggerate, obv..) and those who like to work in normal (ie not sweltering) temperatures.

And another right back at you.

Meglet ....that is just horrible. What a waste of energy. What the stores are wasting doesn't bear thinking about.

Its 23.5 in our room right now and it's comfortable. I'd hate to think ac blasted on 5.5 degrees ago.

I put the heating on at 22.

( cos we sit in the warmest room and the rest of the house is much cooler.)

You're the one that started talking about thick socks and tights under trousers. I don't know why you started shouting at me when I suggested a jumper / extra layer?

Maybe you've had a shitty day, whatever, but wind your fucking neck in.

aircon should be outlawed in the UK, but to do that we need to knock down a lot of badly designed buildings, including lots of shiny new eyesores in London.

what we can do is make a fuss in shops with aircon on and doors open (and in winter with heating on and doors open). One or the other, fuzzwits.

Oh wind your fucking neck in Robot. You think I was joking about thick socks and tights under trousers in response to your 'wear a bloody jumper'?? I wasn't. It is that bad. Someone upthread uses a hot water bottle fgs - and she's not the only one I've seen doing that.

Dowser - air con that comes on when the temp gets to 25 sounds very sensible.

We have a metal roof above our office and a plastic skylight, it gets above 28 degrees on a "normal" British summer day and the small air con unit we have can only get it down to 24, but a stuffy 24 iyswim.

I long for 18 degrees....

that said I've worked in an office where this was a problem, it was aggravating having to carry a jumper etc to work in summer, and suddenly bake when you walked outside because of the extreme heat difference (well uk extremes admittedly)

There should be a compromise and having to wear thick jumpers etc in summer seems a bit stupid really

AC makes me feel icky.

This has definitely become a 'thing' in cafes too. DH & I have been shivering recently when going for coffee. I actually asked one of the workers to turn the AC off. It was fecking raining outside and not the slightest bit warm, so not necessary for air con to be on, only to be told it was policy to have it on during the summer months.

18 degrees is not warm and definitely does not require AC to be on at all. That does just require the window opening if someone feels slightly warm.

It gets so cold in our office that to counteract the air con some people use fan heaters. This is insane. How about not switching the air con on in the first place and just opening the windows instead?

Just wait until you reach menopause - then you'll be glad of the AC!

Individual, small desk fans - that's what's needed, as opposed to a wide swathe of AC blasting cold air out and making the inside temperature colder than the outside. Oh, and YY to fan heaters - we have those too

"Just wait until you reach menopause - then you'll be glad of the AC"

Been through it. I still feel the cold.

Pfft, whatever dude.

OP you would be feeling very cold under the air vent because the cold air blowing on you would lower your body temperature making you very cold throughout the day. You should bring up the matter of Workplace Health and Safety, you can't be comfortable so it would affect your work. Air conditioned offices should be no less than 24 - 25 degrees C through the day and in fact they are wasting money and energy if they are running the temperature at a ridiculous 18 degrees. If I was in your position I would at least ask to move, preferably near a window where it is warmer in summer.

I don't like the draft bit of it. I'm pretty fat but I feel the cold. Mostly the divide is between men and women in my office, thought not exclusively. I do get annoyed with having cold air blasting on a summer day where I have dressed appropriately for a summer day.

You're never going to have everyone happy in an office because people have different heat tolerances. What bugs me the most is that people never seem to adjust the setting by 1 degree and see how it goes so it yoyos between 18/23/18/23/18/23 or whatever settings are available. Also I am hot when I get to the office after being on the tube and trotting up the road, but I know that in half an hour I'll be fine. It annoys me that people are never patient enough to let themselves acclimatise to being sat in the office, they just set the a/c to arctic blast then someone else comes and switches it off completely, rinse and repeat.

23-25 degrees! Isn't 25 degrees close to the 'heatwave! Take precautions of last week? My kitchen is 22.5 at the moment & just about right, tho if it dropped a degree it'd be better.

YANBU, the air con in out office gets put on when the temperature outside gets above 22C as our office is generally about 5 degrees higher than outside temp. Which is generally most of the summer as I'm in NZ. We can't have the windows open as out office is next to the opening of highway so the noise is too loud.

Even then it gets switched on and off throughout the day to give the people who get cold easily a break.

Ive been a size 28 Ive been a size 12.

Am currently a size 14/16 I got/get just as hot at every size. Some of us just dont do well in the heat or humidity.

Muldjewangk - Ideal room temperature is 18-21 degrees. 24 degrees is meant to be a maximum.