Monday, February 04, 2008

Cold

What's up with the Bay Area weather these days? It is so cold all the time. Which is kinda okay, since I always have the choice of staying put in my apartment, turning on my heater, curling up beside it and never going out. However, in order to be able to afford the above said heater and apartment, I need to work. Which brings me to my actual grouse.

Whichever sadist designed my workplace decided that the air conditioning in here has to be directly proportional (and if possible, be lower) to the coldness of the weather outside. The cubicles are chilly enough. But the conference rooms are even worse. Stepping into one of them is like getting into the freezer compartment of a refrigerator.

Today we had a day long meeting and I sat in the conference-room like a salted snail, shriveled into a ball with the least possible surface area. A colleague looked at me concerned and asked if I was really that cold. Another sympathetically observed that it does get colder inside the office as it gets colder outside.

I have been wearing more and more layers of clothing to work everyday. Other than making me look more and more like Tuntun, this has not made me feel any warmer. It is just a matter of time before I go all out and wear my woolen cap, gloves, muffler, thermals and winter-outerwear inside the office.

The cap should help muffle the sounds of pointing and laughing I guess.

10 comments:

Anita said...

ha. it is so cold in bombay! and in the office everyone is down with a cold and brings it to your attention by sneezing in your face. it is all a matter of time before i catch one too.

Anonymous said...

I am not sure which is better. Yesterday, I was sweating in my office. The air circulation was non-existent for all practical purposes. I wound up with such a bad headache that I had to come home early! Cold, Heat - on the whole its work ... Never pleasant.

SK said...

Hahaha! :--)
Here are somethings I do:
Keep a sweater exclusively at work for such episodes.
Sit near the projector, if it is on the table, awesome warmth ;--)
Heat my hands by keeping them by the fan of my laptop, helps a lot ;--)

Bharathis said...

Archu, That day we saw an employee at the travel agent's office wearing sweater in hot Chennai because the AC was colder(around 24 degrees than outside (around 29 degrees C)! SK's helpful hints should help you though.

Anonymous said...

Even in Delhi,The temperature is really getting worse day by day.But as for the incident you mentioned,i think it happens all over the world.May be i think all those R&AC guys have taken oath to decrease the utilization rate of the employees.

Serendipity said...

Know what , we have the same conference problems too ,ironically the conf rooms are named after hill stations , so theres a Nainital ,Mt Abu etc.So the manager says meeting time and we enter with our jackets and stoles!

Altoid said...

Archana :)

Stay warm, some brandy maybe? :D

Aside, you've been tagged!

Archana said...

Sindu - I heard about Mumbai's unusual cold weather. Gosh, I SO hate it when ppl give gigantic sneezes without any tissue/kerchief to shield it.

Anon - ah, the other end of the spectrum is darn irritating too.

SK - thanks for all the tips :-D - will try to adopt them! Though I do have a sweatshirt as well as an outerwear jacket at work too. My legs still feel cold unfortunately - you think I would look like an old lady if I took a blanket to cover my legs while working ;-)!

Bharathis - heheheh :-D!

Lepus townsendi - welcome aboard :-)! That's an interesting name you got there! True - or maybe HR found this is the ideal temperature at which employees won't be able to comprehend the pointlessness of it all and go screaming from work :-P!


Serendipity - lol :-D. I can soooo identify with that - many of us go running to our cubes to fetch sweaters/sweatshirts before meetings :-)! Guess what, we have nicknamed one of our conference rooms "Siberia" - figures...

Altoid - Aii - you getting the brandy? I will throw in the peanuts and we can have a party :-P! Rads already tagged me on this one too. Acho, I better get working on it!

Jaya said...

We have two conference rooms which out beat each other in terms of being chilly - one is named Arctic Zone and the other Antartica.

Have a cuppa hot cocca.

Archana said...

joy - lol :-)! Man this problem of a too cold work place seems to be an universal phenomenon!