OMG, I'm actually warm! At work!

Since our department joined the other county departments in the new building about six years ago, we've been complaining about the lack of heat. Because only one or two people like being cold, the rest of us are freezing to death. We've tried everything, going to the meetings, writing letters to the head of the maintenance department, wearing heavy sweatshirts, everything. (And do you know how stupid we know we look wearing heavy sweatshirts in the middle of the summer???) But it's that cold in here. Even the public, when people come in to the building, complain about the temperature.

We're in cubes and, essentially, we're at the mercy of the boiler and thermostat, which doesn't work right half the time. It's been right around 63-65 degrees in here and, yes, that's too cold for most of us. Plus most of the time the vents are circulating cold air and it's just plain nasty. Maintenance did install electric registers in each of our cubes (two in mine), with our own thermostats for us to control, but the heat goes up into the air and dissipates. We don't get any heat anyway.

So....one of my co-workers came up with the idea of clear plastic sheeting as a ceiling, basically a paint drop cloth in a huge size to put over our cube walls. We installed it over his cube and then we did mine, using clear packing tape to tape it to the tops of our walls. We were very careful how we did it and nobody can see it when they're walking down the hallway...you really don't know it's there unless you open our doors and walk in. Then it's pretty apparent, of course, but hey, we deal.

And the result? Our cubes are at least 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the building. Now instead of the heat rising up and dissipating, it stays in our cubes and we're nice and toasty. We keep our doors shut, so the heat can't get out that way. And people keep coming into our cubes for a few minutes just to warm up a bit. Everyone has said how nice and warm it is. And my plants are going crazy since it's warmed up in here; my African violets love the heat! Word got out to the maintenance department and now they're considering putting drop ceilings over our cubes, which is want we wanted from the beginning.

If I had a bathroom in here, I'd never have to leave my cube. I already have my fridge under my desk, so I'm good to go.

Rick came in the other day to see what it looked like (he was with my when I bought my "ceiling" and he was not happy).....he called our cubes "plastic trailer trash". We just said, fine. But we're WARM plastic trailer trash!

And our other co-worker is making a trip to Lowe's for his own "ceiling".

Good job! Hey, whatever works, right?!? I know how you feel though. Whenever I go into the office I FREEZE and so does the girl at the desk beside me. Everyone else just whines and complains though, so it's always far too cold. One of the many reasons I love working from home!

Good thinking !!! Larry takes the train into work everyday and is always complaining about how cold it is in the summer and how hot it is in the winter. Either toooooo much air conditioning or toooooo much heat. :lol3: Well, now you can wear summer shirts in the winter with just a sweater in case you get

Glad it works ---- I don't know which is worse:  being too warm or being too cold.  At least when it's cold you can do something about it, but when it's too warm it just makes you sluggish.

As I said before "come on down"  - the guest room is ready.

I hate being cold. I wouldn't care what it looked like as long as it kept me warm.

That's the thing. We were so tired of freezing to death that we were desperate for warmth. And like I said, we were very careful when we put it up, so that nobody would see it from the hallway....the only way it can be seen is from the inside of our cubes. And we don't think it looks bad at all. Honest.

I had been wearing sweatshirts and, again, I don't care how it looked. But now? I can dress the way I'm supposed to dress, which is business casual.