Here’s a problem that seems to follow me around much like the black storm cloud that follows Charlie Brown, or the way Bat Mite would constantly be tagging along and annoying the cartoon versions of Batman & Robin (not to mention the viewing audience). I am speaking of air conditioning at work.
Now, this happens everywhere and I have yet to have this addressed in a sane way – or addressed at all! Every summer there is inevitably some huge whale of a woman who decides 
against her better judgement (or not) to don a thin set of shorts and a sleeveless top into work where the air conditioner has been running for at least four or five weeks already – okay? It never fails. At some point I see them cramming a paper clip into the thermostat to disable the air conditioning. You have to understand that Iowa is so humid all year that it can be 68 degrees and you can be sweating like a hog, and nobody seems to have learned this here except for me.
I bring this issue up with management and their usual response to me is something along the lines of, “stop yelling”. This allows them to ignore the issue from the very beginning. My point is that you can dress for the cold, and in August in Iowa, it is far from cold anywhere. I work as an artist currently and more often than not every mock-up or print I handle has at least one blob where the ink has been washed off due to sweat leaking from my forehead and onto the work.
There is a limit, however, to the amount of clothing I would be permitted to shed in order to try to become somewhat comfortable. I usually have at least two fans running at my desk, which leads to some hideous respiratory illness eventually.
“It’s freezing in here”, these huge women always say as they turn off the air. Another great response when I address this issue, to say management or the maintenance help, is “the thermostat is set”. What in the hell does that mean?! It’s set – To what? Those are numbers I tell them and the main factor in whether or not an air conditioner is doing its job or not is if it actually turns on! Now – If you set the thing at 74 it will never turn on, and the magic number is 69. Remember that – That is the top setting. It will never turn on if it is set any higher than 69 anywhere. Jimmy Carter really screwed that whole thing up bad. Now everyone sees 75 degrees as some magic number where you set the air. It will never kick on at 75!
Now there was one instance where I was in control of the temperature for about three or four years at one point and I had this mastered. The room I worked in was next to the break room where the thermostat was located. I kept it set at 69 all year long. Whenever some obese woman would walk through and say “it’s freezing in here” my response went something like this:
“You drove yourself into work today didn’t you”?
“Yes”.
“Well then – I would assume then that you also possess the mental capacity to operate a sweater or jacket as well”.
Please – For the sake and comfort of your co-workers, leave the air conditioning on. If it seems a bit frigid for you, bring a damn sweater or jacket into the office and leave it there just in case you need it. If I were to strip down to my boxers they would escort me out of the building as fast as a cat can lick its ass. My problem is that this seems to be the standard wherever I work. The other issue I have is that I look around the room at all these other miserable souls who are just as uncomfortable, but they have not the fortitude to bring up the issue. This pisses me off even more I think. Here it makes sense as our boss has this theory that cold air rises, and the thermostats are “set”, meaning that they have been set to 76 and locked shut. To add insult to injury he often walks through and says “it’s cold in here”. His office, by the way, could accommodate a side of beef hanging from the ceiling it’s so frigid in there.