Does anyone else here hate air conditioning?

[Ant]

There are three vents almost directly above my desk. One is for a building-wide system, one is for a system for this floor only. No one seems to know what the other one is. The cold, dry air blasts down at me all day long and is so bad that my left arm and hand, which get the blast full-on, are considerably colder than my right. Sometimes if I'm using my mouse for a long time my left hand even seizes up a bit from the cold. I'm forever getting up and turning off the one aircon vent that we can control.

Why it's deemed necessary to have it on at all in the depths of winter is totally beyond me.

[lozzyloz]

The third vent is for pure oxygen to keep your brain alert and improve productivity. It can also be used in times of crisis to pump nitrous oxide into the office. Normally around the time of the annual salary review.

Why not ask HR to provide you with a left hand glove?

[Keef]

I with you!!!

We have an "air sock" running through my office, which is a material tube along the ceiling that sounds like an areoplane. Loads of people have been getting ill in the last year since we moved to this office and they sealed all the bloody windows! (6)

[Brendan]

Yeah. I work in a Victorian building (so it is at least 2500 years old) and at some point in its history they fitted an air-conditioning/heating system that does a very good job of ruining the its authentic charm and keeping it cold in winter and hot in summer.

[barrymarshall]

yeah - same here. The windows in our office don't open and the whole building is controlled from one point, meaning it can take a couple of hours for the temperature to change. In summer it is baking hot and in winter freezing. Added to this, the building is having a new series of windows put in, ones that block out most of the daylight. Now if there's one thing I hate more than aircon, it's fluorescent lighting.

[Keef]

That's horrible. If I couldn't look out of the window on to the river I'd be well gutted. It's all I do when I'm not on the forum!

[Ant]

Our windows don't open and they make even the sunniest day look gloomy. Grr!

[citizenED]

If you are racked off about air con, this is a good place to vent your anger.

[barrymarshall]

Nice one Citizen!

And Keef, all I have is a view of Aldgate tube station and a bit of the Gherkin. It's not much, but now even on a sunny day like today it looks gloomy. It's a conspiracy to grind us all down.

[boosboss]

I love having aircon at work, but then again I can control its setting. I can open the windows, but who wants tunnel dust up their nostrils. oh the joys of a tube driver

[Cassius]

I loathe air con. Last winter I was in an office that blew out out hot and very dry air above my head, so my head constantly felt hot which made me faintly dizzy, whilst my feet were like ice. There were 5 of us in a small office with no fresh air and we seemed to take it in turns to be ill all winter.

This year I am in an office with radiators and windows, and fingers crossed have kept relatively healthy.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

My 'air is lovely and silky.

[Nero]

Where I work, the air con/heated air is never right. It's about 24C minimum and then there's a few parts of the room where a cold wind blows. I'm forever getting them to come and measure the temps. 26C is way too warm to work in, don't you agree? So, yes, aircon and its opposite are a pain if they work incorrectly. Nero

[mockney piers]

I'd normally be right with you guys, but at the oment it's 27 degrees at night with 90-100% humidity, so am liking its good work.

I'll change my tune in a couple of days of course!!

[Azul]

Aircon is the best thing ever.

Usually it started late in May and went through all month of August.

first 32 degrees you manage it well, feels good and goes well with a cold beer.

then it keeps on rising and reaches 35, 36 you start feeling a bit woobly, heavier, with more lazy thoughts.

When it gets to 37 you don't want to go to work, the fan is on all night but it doesn't really cool you down.

Past 3 in the morning and you're still well awake. You take 3 cold showers a day just to keep you cool.

Next morning by 8.30 it's well over 32 again, luckly the car has aircon so you turn it on and wait 10min before you jump in. , by two in the afternoon you can expect the 39.

Around 11am, your brain just doesn't function anymore, you just stare, someone asks you something but they don't even look like they really want an answer. you're just too confused, you feel that most of your blood left you through the pores.

Why don't they all go away ? Why can't we turn off the sun ?

At lunchtime you hear it on the radio, they're saying that it's 41 already and that they expect it to rise a bit more during the day and that the heat is here to stay. More than 30% of the forest has gone already in flames and it's only early July.

The worse it that you have to walk two minutes to the cafe to get some lunch, but you can't stand the heat, someone is getting their act together and switches on the engine, 10 minutes with aircon on so that the car cools down before we go in.

You rush, rush, rush to the car, drive 30 seconds and rush rush rush to the cafe where they have the aircon running and feels like -5 inside.

2.30pm your digestion gathers all the blood you have for some kind of meeting in your stomach, not the best timing. You had to leave the office to go to a customer, and after parking (you managed to find a spot over a crossing) you only have to walk 100 metres to their office, along the way there is one of those electronic panels of information from the city council where they measure the temperature, it is directly exposed to sunlight, it marks 55. you're not felling so well now.

In a few weeks time, the average will be 44 every day.

[Nero]

Azul, where are you talking about? Nero

[Azul]

those were my summers back in lisbon

[Nero]

Ah, I see. I like hot weather, though, but not in Britain. Death Valley was great. Nero