8 ms·

I would love this. I have to dress for two different climates on summer workdays - skirt/shorts and short sleeves for outside, jeans and sweater (plus a sweatsh

by snegu 8y ago

I would love this. I have to dress for two different climates on summer workdays - skirt/shorts and short sleeves for outside, jeans and sweater (plus a sweatshirt over it) for inside. It's absurd how overly air-conditioned office environments are.

jon_richards 8y ago
>skirt It's because offices are stuck air conditioning to a level that makes suits comfortable. There was a big brouhaha about it in England a couple years ago.
- patriot_prayer 8y ago
  there's no article of clothing one can put on to become cooler, so it makes sense that the prevailing temp would be cooler.
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    NASA has a wardrobe that contradicts you.
    - skriticos2 8y ago
      I think GP meant reasonably acquirable. You can't exactly order a NASA space suit on Amazon, can you?
      - lowercased 8y ago
        perhaps not a real one, but... it's amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Charades-Astronaut-Space-Costume-Jumpsuit/dp/B002HPBF0K https://www.amazon.com/Charades-Astronaut-Space-Costume-Jump...
    - felix_nagaand 8y ago
      Is walmart adding that to next year's summer line?
  - eigenstuff 8y ago
    If anywhere in the world has figured out how to dress for heat and humidity, it's the Indian subcontinent, and all I'm saying is the sari involves bare midriff for a reason. I live in the southeast and spend a lot of time outside. To cut down on my sunscreen bill, I've started wearing loose, long sleeve white cotton button ups with the last few buttons undone so I can tie the ends up around my waist. You catch a breeze wearing that, and it's like wearing a weightless AC unit on your back. Hand to God.
mrep 8y ago
On the flip side, there is only so much clothes I can take off before it becomes illegal where as it is easy for people to put on more clothes if they are cold. Granted, there are ways I can help cool myself down such as having a fan which I do have at my desk but it would be ridiculous to bring that with me to meetings and stuff. To flip back around to your point though, I definitely understand it as my girlfriend has raynaud's so I'll be in my apartment with the fan on still hot while my girlfriend will be next to me freezing with her hands turning white because she is cold. We are hoping our future kids will even out our weird temperature imbalances and be normal.
- mrep 8y ago
  To add on, I also have to do the 2 dress types but for the winter because I get extremely uncomfortable in jeans in the office and so I'll wear those to work once it gets unbearable to wear shorts, and then I just switch to shorts once I get to the office. So, pick your poison and while it may be just that the grass is always greener on the other side, I would definitely prefer to run on the colder side than the hotter side especially since I prefer to wear jeans and a sweatshirt/jacket over shorts and a t-shirt. Edit: My girlfriend said she would rather be like me and be too hot than be too cold so maybe it is just the grass is always greener on the other side.
- randomfool 8y ago
  No matter how many layers I bundle my idle torso in that arctic stream of AC just freezes my nose and fingers. For most office spaces it's not so much the temp that freezes me it's the breeze while I'm sitting in a chair typing.
  - mrep 8y ago
    Do you have raynaud's because that sounds exactly like it and my girlfriend says the airflow is definitely a big part of the problem (also stress). If so, then I would talk to your coworkers to see if you can get switched to a better desk location for your medical condition.
    - 8y ago
dnbgfher 8y ago
Meanwhile you have people like me. I'm are already uncomfortably hot no matter how I'm dressed (or not) at 78. Even in shorts and a tshirt, most offices are warmer than I'd prefer. This may be my own biases at play here, but it's really not that hard to warm up by dressing warmer. You don't have that option for cooling down unless you want to wear a vest full of icepacks or something. If the goal is to maximize comfort, it seems like the thermostat should be set lower rather than higher.
- bumholio 8y ago
  Or we can simply ignore the vocal minority that demands temperatures below 78F/25C, and thus maximize subjective comfort. They are fucked anyway, they need to visit the outside world to get to work.
  - lovich 8y ago
    I don't think 78 is a temperature that only a vocal minority is uncomfortable at? It's not hard for people to start sweating at that temperature with even mild effort and most people don't like having sweat stains or sweaty armpits at work
  - erik_seaberg 8y ago
    Most cars have air conditioning (a lot of trains do too), and most people commute well before and after the hottest part of the day. If your office is a sauna for three months and you won't fix it, everyone who isn't unemployable will probably quit.
    - kayoone 8y ago
      funny, here in Germany many offices and most homes don't have AC. Granted it's usually not that hot during the summer, but right now it has been around 85 since April and a lot of people are suffering at work, but nobody would quit because of that.
      - felix_nagaand 8y ago
briandear 8y ago
In my office, I have a lot of hardware. With my door shut, it gets to be an oven even with air conditioning, with the door open it’s still hot, even though the hallway temp is 68. I actually like it cold inside. You can always wear more clothes, but there is a limit to how much you can take off. It’s pretty unfair to impose hot temperatures on people since there isn’t much that can be done after you’ve stripped down to the bare essentials of clothing. But colder temperatures — it’s easy to wear a light sweater. 78 in the building along with hot computers means you are quickly going to have a rather uncomfortable situation. The fact this company has to adjust work hours to accommodate their “progressiveness” means they actually haven’t solved anything. It’s just virtue signaling. They could just as easily have their team work nights to get the same effect — but then they wouldn’t get media attention for just how innovative they are. Windows open in California means you also subject yourself to wildfire particulates, smog and other pollutants that HVAC systems mitigate. “Fresh air” is nice — when it’s actually fresh, and in most cities, it isn’t. Even Paris has had serious air quality situations. City air just isn’t all that clean. In Beijing, “fresh air” is downright toxic. I am not sure how eliminating air conditioning is considered an innovation. Air conditioning was one of the most important inventions, anyone that says otherwise never spent any time in an un-air-conditioned New Orleans house with box fans creating a cross breeze of 100% humidity. The nostalgia for the good old days is felt by those that never had to live through those days. This story reads to me like nonsense. Seattle, while it can get “hot” is positively frigid when compared to much of the rest of the country. Try that in Atlanta, Houston or Arizona. This story is the equivalent of a Miami building being built without heating — it isn’t any kind of groundbreaking innovation. When a building in Minnesota is built without heat, then I might be interested. What’s really innovative is how Apple Park handles fresh air and HVAC. Apple Park isn’t 78 degrees inside — it’s much cooler; they went far beyond the “innovation” in this Seattle building. This sort of innovation can be done, but being proud of a 78 degree internal temperature is like being proud when someone’s kid stops wetting the bed at age 12. It’s only a big deal to those who are experiencing it, but to the rest of us, it’s just self-congratulatory bullshit of the most mundane sort: big deal, you designed a building that isn’t quite at hot as the outdoors using groundbreaking technology that is equivalent to an open window.
- hinkley 8y ago
seanmcdirmid 8y ago
Your arms will still sweat to your desk if you don’t have great typing skills regardless of how naked you are. Offices are kept at or below 70F because productivity peaks at that level in ways that clothing can’t help.
lowercased 8y ago
i worked in a call center years ago. the thermostat was in the 'executive office' hallway, where 4 people worked. it controlled the temp for the whole side of our building, affecting 130 people. One of the execs 'liked it cold", and would turn it down. The airflow was a problem - to get it to 73-74 for him, the rest of the larger callcenter room would be closer to 68-69. My shared office space with 5-6 others was off that larger space, but was one of the airducts feeding everything else. I came in one morning, and the digital thermostat on my desk clock said it was 62f at my desk. I couldn't type after an hour. I went and brought in a small space heater, and got a slight reprimand (non-company equipment, etc). It was odd - the rest of the guys in my space said "yeah, it's cold" but claimed to be OK - I couldn't move my fingers to type/mouse without some pain after an hour or so of being in 62f.
- syshum 8y ago
  ohh I would be in heaven to have an office at 62f.... BTW 73-74 is not "like it cold" that is standard temp most offices should be at for the balance. 62f is liking it cold, and I like it cold. I have been known to wear short sleeves, and shorts outside in 45-50 degree weather.
  - lowercased 8y ago
    I probably should have said "he liked it at 73" - that was his thing. If anyone moved it, there was a lot of hell to pay (or so I'd been told). The preferences of one person (who was not even necessarily in that building a full/regular 40 hours per week) outweighed the comfort of 120 other people who worked early morning to late night.
prolikewh0a 8y ago
I've been in Seattle for almost 3 years now and the temperature the AC gets set at is like 64F. When I lived elsewhere it was always set @ 72F. It's so cold in my office downtown that I have a fall/winter jacket I'm often wearing on the hottest days and dresses/skirts end up causing me to be uncomfortably cold the entire day.

by snegu 8y ago

jon_richards 8y ago

>skirt It's because offices are stuck air conditioning to a level that makes suits comfortable. There was a big brouhaha about it in England a couple years ago.

patriot_prayer 8y ago
there's no article of clothing one can put on to become cooler, so it makes sense that the prevailing temp would be cooler.
- craftyguy 8y ago
  NASA has a wardrobe that contradicts you.
  - skriticos2 8y ago
    I think GP meant reasonably acquirable. You can't exactly order a NASA space suit on Amazon, can you?
    - lowercased 8y ago
      perhaps not a real one, but... it's amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Charades-Astronaut-Space-Costume-Jumpsuit/dp/B002HPBF0K https://www.amazon.com/Charades-Astronaut-Space-Costume-Jump...
  - felix_nagaand 8y ago
    Is walmart adding that to next year's summer line?
- eigenstuff 8y ago
  If anywhere in the world has figured out how to dress for heat and humidity, it's the Indian subcontinent, and all I'm saying is the sari involves bare midriff for a reason. I live in the southeast and spend a lot of time outside. To cut down on my sunscreen bill, I've started wearing loose, long sleeve white cotton button ups with the last few buttons undone so I can tie the ends up around my waist. You catch a breeze wearing that, and it's like wearing a weightless AC unit on your back. Hand to God.

mrep 8y ago

On the flip side, there is only so much clothes I can take off before it becomes illegal where as it is easy for people to put on more clothes if they are cold. Granted, there are ways I can help cool myself down such as having a fan which I do have at my desk but it would be ridiculous to bring that with me to meetings and stuff. To flip back around to your point though, I definitely understand it as my girlfriend has raynaud's so I'll be in my apartment with the fan on still hot while my girlfriend will be next to me freezing with her hands turning white because she is cold. We are hoping our future kids will even out our weird temperature imbalances and be normal.

mrep 8y ago
To add on, I also have to do the 2 dress types but for the winter because I get extremely uncomfortable in jeans in the office and so I'll wear those to work once it gets unbearable to wear shorts, and then I just switch to shorts once I get to the office. So, pick your poison and while it may be just that the grass is always greener on the other side, I would definitely prefer to run on the colder side than the hotter side especially since I prefer to wear jeans and a sweatshirt/jacket over shorts and a t-shirt. Edit: My girlfriend said she would rather be like me and be too hot than be too cold so maybe it is just the grass is always greener on the other side.
randomfool 8y ago
No matter how many layers I bundle my idle torso in that arctic stream of AC just freezes my nose and fingers. For most office spaces it's not so much the temp that freezes me it's the breeze while I'm sitting in a chair typing.
- mrep 8y ago
  Do you have raynaud's because that sounds exactly like it and my girlfriend says the airflow is definitely a big part of the problem (also stress). If so, then I would talk to your coworkers to see if you can get switched to a better desk location for your medical condition.
  - 8y ago

dnbgfher 8y ago

Meanwhile you have people like me. I'm are already uncomfortably hot no matter how I'm dressed (or not) at 78. Even in shorts and a tshirt, most offices are warmer than I'd prefer. This may be my own biases at play here, but it's really not that hard to warm up by dressing warmer. You don't have that option for cooling down unless you want to wear a vest full of icepacks or something. If the goal is to maximize comfort, it seems like the thermostat should be set lower rather than higher.

bumholio 8y ago
Or we can simply ignore the vocal minority that demands temperatures below 78F/25C, and thus maximize subjective comfort. They are fucked anyway, they need to visit the outside world to get to work.
- lovich 8y ago
  I don't think 78 is a temperature that only a vocal minority is uncomfortable at? It's not hard for people to start sweating at that temperature with even mild effort and most people don't like having sweat stains or sweaty armpits at work
- erik_seaberg 8y ago
  Most cars have air conditioning (a lot of trains do too), and most people commute well before and after the hottest part of the day. If your office is a sauna for three months and you won't fix it, everyone who isn't unemployable will probably quit.
  - kayoone 8y ago
    funny, here in Germany many offices and most homes don't have AC. Granted it's usually not that hot during the summer, but right now it has been around 85 since April and a lot of people are suffering at work, but nobody would quit because of that.
    - felix_nagaand 8y ago

briandear 8y ago

In my office, I have a lot of hardware. With my door shut, it gets to be an oven even with air conditioning, with the door open it’s still hot, even though the hallway temp is 68. I actually like it cold inside. You can always wear more clothes, but there is a limit to how much you can take off. It’s pretty unfair to impose hot temperatures on people since there isn’t much that can be done after you’ve stripped down to the bare essentials of clothing. But colder temperatures — it’s easy to wear a light sweater. 78 in the building along with hot computers means you are quickly going to have a rather uncomfortable situation. The fact this company has to adjust work hours to accommodate their “progressiveness” means they actually haven’t solved anything. It’s just virtue signaling. They could just as easily have their team work nights to get the same effect — but then they wouldn’t get media attention for just how innovative they are. Windows open in California means you also subject yourself to wildfire particulates, smog and other pollutants that HVAC systems mitigate. “Fresh air” is nice — when it’s actually fresh, and in most cities, it isn’t. Even Paris has had serious air quality situations. City air just isn’t all that clean. In Beijing, “fresh air” is downright toxic. I am not sure how eliminating air conditioning is considered an innovation. Air conditioning was one of the most important inventions, anyone that says otherwise never spent any time in an un-air-conditioned New Orleans house with box fans creating a cross breeze of 100% humidity. The nostalgia for the good old days is felt by those that never had to live through those days. This story reads to me like nonsense. Seattle, while it can get “hot” is positively frigid when compared to much of the rest of the country. Try that in Atlanta, Houston or Arizona. This story is the equivalent of a Miami building being built without heating — it isn’t any kind of groundbreaking innovation. When a building in Minnesota is built without heat, then I might be interested. What’s really innovative is how Apple Park handles fresh air and HVAC. Apple Park isn’t 78 degrees inside — it’s much cooler; they went far beyond the “innovation” in this Seattle building. This sort of innovation can be done, but being proud of a 78 degree internal temperature is like being proud when someone’s kid stops wetting the bed at age 12. It’s only a big deal to those who are experiencing it, but to the rest of us, it’s just self-congratulatory bullshit of the most mundane sort: big deal, you designed a building that isn’t quite at hot as the outdoors using groundbreaking technology that is equivalent to an open window.

hinkley 8y ago

seanmcdirmid 8y ago

Your arms will still sweat to your desk if you don’t have great typing skills regardless of how naked you are. Offices are kept at or below 70F because productivity peaks at that level in ways that clothing can’t help.

lowercased 8y ago

i worked in a call center years ago. the thermostat was in the 'executive office' hallway, where 4 people worked. it controlled the temp for the whole side of our building, affecting 130 people. One of the execs 'liked it cold", and would turn it down. The airflow was a problem - to get it to 73-74 for him, the rest of the larger callcenter room would be closer to 68-69. My shared office space with 5-6 others was off that larger space, but was one of the airducts feeding everything else. I came in one morning, and the digital thermostat on my desk clock said it was 62f at my desk. I couldn't type after an hour. I went and brought in a small space heater, and got a slight reprimand (non-company equipment, etc). It was odd - the rest of the guys in my space said "yeah, it's cold" but claimed to be OK - I couldn't move my fingers to type/mouse without some pain after an hour or so of being in 62f.

syshum 8y ago
ohh I would be in heaven to have an office at 62f.... BTW 73-74 is not "like it cold" that is standard temp most offices should be at for the balance. 62f is liking it cold, and I like it cold. I have been known to wear short sleeves, and shorts outside in 45-50 degree weather.
- lowercased 8y ago
  I probably should have said "he liked it at 73" - that was his thing. If anyone moved it, there was a lot of hell to pay (or so I'd been told). The preferences of one person (who was not even necessarily in that building a full/regular 40 hours per week) outweighed the comfort of 120 other people who worked early morning to late night.

prolikewh0a 8y ago

I've been in Seattle for almost 3 years now and the temperature the AC gets set at is like 64F. When I lived elsewhere it was always set @ 72F. It's so cold in my office downtown that I have a fall/winter jacket I'm often wearing on the hottest days and dresses/skirts end up causing me to be uncomfortably cold the entire day.