Its cold today. It is winter in my part of the world, and it often gets cold for extended periods of our winters. The Weather Network says right now in my city it is -25C, with a corresponding windchill of -32C. I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit. I don't care.
However, the point of this isn't to say its cold out. Its cold out for lots of people in lots of places around the world, so the fact that winter is cold here in the northern hemisphere is not interesting. What is interesting, however, is that it is cold in my office.
The furnace has stopped working and the mercury is plummeting at work. And for those of us who work in nice climate controlled offices, when the climate controlling equipment fails, it is a shock. Now the Air Conditioning failure in the summer is an annoyance. You get a little sticky, a little uncomfortable, you gripe a bit, then move on. The tech comes at a leisurely pace, makes his repairs, and soon all is back to normal.
It is a very different scene when the furnaces go down. EVERYTHING gets cold, and fast. Everything you use, touch, sit on to do your work becomes uncomfortable. And with that discomfort comes another phenomenon- hostility. My co workers are all losing a tiny bit of patience with each other, as none of us are used to working indoors. It is making some of us a bit snippy. Nothing major or overly- dramatic, but it is an interesting illustration of how tiny discomforts affect the collective psyche, and not for the better.
The repairman was here, and claims the heat is back on. So far, I have yet to notice any improvement.
The second that I started to read about the "repair man" I was intrigued ! what was he wearing, was it a tight pair of dockers? slacks? over-alls that make you wonder what is underneath? SAD, next time you introduce a sexy new character to this blog (presumably), lets not be stingy on the details !!
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