Icy Hot

It seems that whenever I am in the office someone is complaining about the temperature. Holt just walked into my office a few minutes ago and complained it was way too cold. When I walked into her office early this morning, I couldn't believe how hot it was.

Generally, the whether one is too hot or too cold breaks down along gender lines: men sit in a room and sweat while women shiver. And it seems that no one is ever truly happy with the temperature.

The biggest complainer about this is Gobo, who constantly gripes that woman walk around his office in the summer wearing skirts and sleeveless tops, insisting the temperature sit at 78 degrees while he has to suffer wearing wool pants and a long-sleeved shirt. And generally I think he has a point--it tends to be easier to put on a layer of clothing than to take it off, and since women in most business casual offices have a lot more flexibility in the summer months than men, I don't have a problem keeping the temperature a few degrees lower and carrying a cardigan when I go into a conference room.

But it seems that maybe we are all complaining just a little too much. At least we are if you believe this Washington Post article. According to it, most people aren't truly bothered by a temperature difference of a few degrees, and the feeling of being too hot or cold is in large part psychological.

Of course when Gobo showed the article to people from work, not one of them believed that the study could possibly be right.