I work at a library, and my desk is on the public floor while my boss has a private office within a staff-only work area. Her office tends to run quite warm, so she likes to keep the temperature in the building quite low to counteract that. The area where her office is has its own thermostat and the public floor is controlled by a separate system. For whatever reason, she insists on setting every thermostat to a reliable 72 degrees, which is already a little chillier than I prefer (I get very cold very easily, which I recognize is a “me” problem to some extent) but feels absolutely frigid in this setting for whatever reason. A co-worker has a desk near mine and we are always complaining about how cold we are, and it’s not uncommon for the staff who work at the front desk (which is located between the two temperature zones of the staff area and the public floor) to comment on how strong the AC is when our boss cranks it up.
I take every opportunity to bump the temperature up a few degrees, but I can really only do this when I am the most senior person working (basically, manager on duty) because there’s an unspoken rule that our boss controls the thermostat when she’s in, and the keys to access the thermostats are in her office, so I can’t even do it sneakily. The stereotypical librarian cardigan doesn’t suffice here—I’ve taken to wearing leggings under my pants and layering almost as much as I do in the winter just to feel reasonably comfortable at work in late spring! I have even contemplated breaking out my fall boots to try to insulate my feet as best as I can. Is there any way the rest of the staff can rise up against her proclivity for icy temps? I’m really sick of having to drape a blanket over my lap like I’m an infirm grandmother in the Victorian era.
