If there was one thing I was looking forward to about returning to the office, it would be that the building has air conditioning. We have air conditioning at home too, but during the day we only use fans – so you can probably imagine exactly how excited I was to be working in an air-conditioned space again. Of course, things don’t always go the way you expect it to go right?
When I enter my building every morning, the gentle cool breeze disappears. You can feel a little bit of air circulation in the lobby, and that’s about it. Taking the elevator to my floor, the air remains the same. As I get to my cube and put down my belongings, sweat starts rolling down my neck. You can feel the air coming from the vents – but it’s not cold air, it’s hot air.
I grab a sanitizing wipe to wipe down my desk, and as I wipe, more sweat is emerging from my entire body. The next 10-20 minutes consists of me fanning myself with the small hand fan I brought from home before I can even start working. The heat is unbearable. It is so uncomfortably hot that all your motivation to work disappears!
Throughout the day, I would have to occasionally grab my fan and just start fanning myself. Even on calls in the middle of the day, sweat would come rolling down my face as I am sitting perfectly still. Apparently standing also takes a lot of work because I would just be standing and talking to someone and still sweating. This is literally worse than working from home with no air conditioning and only a fan!
The building management has already been contacted, but nothing has changed. I’ve gone from never taking off my cardigan to not even bringing my cardigan. On the worst days, I would grab a cup of ice from the ice machine along with some paper towels, and just put ice on myself at my desk. It’s that hot. And no, I am not the only person in the office who thinks it’s hot!
What should I do next? Should I bring my own portable fan?