Puzzles: workplace air conditioning

While I was editor of ComputerUser magazine, we moved to nicer corporate digs. In the pre-move briefing, building management told us the air conditioning replaced entire building's air supply "every 30 minutes." After the move (and in most other buildings where I have worked), I found the air conditioning in the men's room to be not only less robust than the halls and suites, but noxious odors remained for hours. (Ladies, you don't want to know what men do in men's rooms.) When I asked if the AC could be stepped up in what would seem to be the most important place, management said it couldn't be altered. Why is that?

I am generally of the opinion that anything can be done, if we want it to be done. So the real answer is that management often is not willing to put forth the effort it promised to deliver in order to get you to begin making payments.

I say this because almost everyone I know has experienced being chilled to the bone by workplace air conditioning at various times of the year. While it is laudable to have a facility manager in the first place, one hopes not only for more efficient building design and management, or for building managers who can carry out their jobs with minimal competence, but for management that can actually deliver a comfortable, humane workplace day in and day out. Soldiers on the field are paid for accomplishing the objective, not for missing the target nearly as often as hitting it.