I was on the elevator and a woman was complaining about how cold she is in her office.
“We’re all bundled up in our blankets, just typing away,” she said with a nervous giggle to the men sharing the ride with us.
“Did you contact your comfort coordinator?”
The men laughed.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“That’s the person assigned to each floor that is your liaison to the building maintenance. I’m the one on my floor. Have them call it in. Get your temp raised.”
“Oh, no no no….the guys are all right. They are all walking around in short sleeves shirts. It’s okay. It’s just us girls who are cold.”
“Screw the guys,” I said.
A nervous titter from the woman and a look from the men.
“Life is full of suffering,” I continued as the door opened to my floor and I stepped off. “It’s stupid to add to it. Call maintenance. Get yourself some damn heat.”
I’ve often complained about how cold it is in my office. And, yeah. Sometimes it is a completely moot point to call in a complaint since the call center is in Chicago and odds are it’s all just a Sisyphean task in the end. BUT, goddammit, it’s the mindset that, “OH…it’s okay that I’m suffering. The guys are all okay.”
Fuck. That. In. The. Ass.
You know that office building’s temperature settings are set for the comfort levels of 40 year old men, right? Yeah. It’s been that way for generations.
Time to chuck that generational mind fuck and GET SOME DAMN HEAT, WOMEN!
Life is all about suffering. And if you can do just one teeny tiny thing to alleviate just a microcosm of that pain, for God’s sake, DO IT.
For the record, I’m warm. I’m doing okay. And, yes. I called in a work order the minute I walked into my office today.
Nikki Nelson-Hicks 