Your hands are shaking so much that your words per minute typing rate increases to never before seen speeds. Your teeth are chattering and sound like you’re playing the Castanets. Your breath comes out in huge clouds of condensation that immediately turn into snow. We’ve all been there: you’re working at the office and you realize that you’re slowly freezing into a popsicle, much like Jack Torrance at the end of The Shining (can’t spoil something that’s been out for ages).
With Autumn already in swing, some office workers are already feeling the ill effects of changing temperatures. Even if you’re the healthiest person around and walk around in shorts all year long, you can’t deny that Summer is over and, in the memorable words of the Starks, Winter is coming. To keep you smiling while you freeze, here are some of the best cold office memes that we collected from the deep, dark, and frigid places of the internet. Be sure to read on for Bored Panda’s full interviews with professor Eddy Ng from Bucknell University about how to resolve issues linked to temperature at the office and how temperature affects our productivity, as well as with Dr. Agne Kajeckaite from the Berlin Social Science Center about how low and high temperatures at offices differently affect men and women.
Scroll down if your scroll wheel isn’t ice-bound yet, upvote your fave memes, and be sure to share this list with your friends who are probably shivering as well. And to remind you that it’s not all about ice and Titanic jokes on planet Earth, check out Bored Panda’s post about the reactions Europeans had to the record-breaking heatwave this Summer.
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If you’re shivering at work right now, then I feel your pain: I’m currently wearing my thickest winter jacket at work, while some of my colleagues are in short-sleeved shirts and tights. In my humble opinion, it’s far better to be too hot than it is to be too cold. However, far from everybody shares my point of view, including some incredibly brainy individuals.
For example, The Economic Times explains that each time the temperature rises by 1 degree above 27 degrees Celsius (that’s 80.6 Fahrenheit), the productivity of manual laborers drops by 4 percent. So if it’s 33 degrees Celsius, their productivity would be around a quarter less than usual.
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Image credits: Redditor
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Image credits: bakercreek
But let’s return a bit closer to the office now. Bored Panda talked to Eddy Ng, the James and Elizabeth Freeman Professor of Management from Bucknell University, about battling over the AC and thermostat at the office. According to him, it’s possible to settle differences over temperature peacefully.
“Try negotiating! It's always easier to reach out and ask about someone's comfort first and then find a happy compromise,” Professor Ng suggested. “It shows that you care and your office mates will reciprocate in kind. They are less likely to willfully dial up or down the thermostat after you've had a friendly chat.”
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Image credits: Seasonal Memes
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The professor added that “some [office] spaces are cooler or warmer than others, especially when you are under a draught, or next to a sun drenched window” and gave some useful advice on what you can do about it.
“Switch cubicles or office space. There are now apps that allow you to regulate the temperature including getting a blast of warm or cool air for a few minutes. If you are perpetually cold, bring a space heater. If you are always warm, bring a fan. There are only so many layers you can peel off.”
“There are studies that suggest an optimal range of temperatures for productivity and work performance. For example, every degree increase above 25 degrees Celsius results in a 2 percent decrease in productivity,” the professor cited a different study about temperature and productivity. “Either extremes are counterproductive. What you do and how you do it matters. Workers need to be comfortable to be productive.”
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Image credits: infiniteblaze
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Time writes about a slightly controversial new study that further puts into perspective the thermostat and AC battles occurring daily in our offices. The study looked at “differences in the effect of temperature on cognitive performance by gender in a large controlled lab experiment.”
Here’s the conclusion researchers reached: “At higher temperatures, women perform better on math and verbal tasks while the reverse effect is observed for men. The increase in female performance in response to higher temperature is significantly larger and more precisely estimated than the corresponding decrease in male performance.”
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“In contrast to math and verbal tasks, temperature has no impact on a measure of cognitive reflection for either gender. Our findings suggest that gender mixed workplaces may be able to increase productivity by setting the thermostat higher than current standards,” the scientists wrote. I for one am all for setting the thermostat higher. Way higher. What about you?
Let us know in the comments below, how cold it is in your workplace, whether you’d rather be too cold or too hot, as well as how you discuss with your co-workers whether to turn the AC up or down.
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Image credits: Gordondel
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Image credits: Underdawg
Let us know in the comments below, how cold it is in your workplace, whether you’d rather be too cold or too hot, as well as how you discuss with your co-workers whether to turn the AC up or down.
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Image credits: Redditor
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