How can I deal w/my coworker complaining about the office temperature all summer?

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Jillian

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I am the sole full time office person at my work. There is a lady who is in her 60s who does some accounting for us for 1.5 hrs every day after her full time job. She is done with her other job for the summer and will be working 30 some hours a week until August.

I am one of those people who is always cold. I do not have central air at home and I grew up in a house without even an air conditioner. The heat does not bother me at all. Of course now that it's been in the 90s in the midwest, the AC is on. I keep it set so it's not freezing (the thermostat is right by my desk and my boss does not care what I keep it at). I will even turn it off in the afternoon until the other lady comes in. I have a vent directly above my desk and when I'm doing computer work all day and not up and moving, I get very cold. I wear a jacket all day at my desk.

When I'm freezing, this coworker of mine is hot. She belly aches all day long about it being "stuffy." How can we compromise? Me moving my desk is not an option b/c I need electricial outlets and phone jacks and there are none on the other side of the room.
 
get some fans and put around the room and it will make the room feel better hopes this helps. I have fans in every room in my house it circulates the air and makes it cooler without changing the temp. Hope this helps.
 
Air conditioning does more than cool the air. It also keeps the humidity down. That's a good thing, because humid air really does feel stuffy and uncomfortable.

Is the vent above your desk the only one in the office? If there's another vent, perhaps that one could be partially closed, or perhaps there's a way to direct the air in another direction by installing a vent of a different design.

If altering the vent is not possible, I would go with the fan idea. Get her a nice desk fan and let her arrange it however she wants.
 
You say you're always cold
You say the temperature is in the 90's
You have the air conditioner on
You say you get very cold and have to wear a jacket
Seems to me like you're the difficult one.
It's very rare to see anybody wearing a jacket at their desk in midsummer = especially not all day
It is NOT this lady's fault you "always feel cold" - why are your disrespecting her and making her feel unwelcome.
I hope you won't feel bad if some youngster decides to disrespect your mom in the workplace, complaining about her belly aching all day simply because she feels hot and uncomfortable
 
Wear heavier sweaters, it is much easier to get warm than it is to get cool, and she should not suffer because you love heat. In my building, which was new when we started, the A/C was out of control and the temps were always around 55-60 and it was really cold; we all just wore layers of clothing and we were fine.
 
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