The one thing I can’t stand about working around computers all the time is how cold my office space seems to be. That’s all well and good for the computers, but I am always waiting for penguins to come walking out of the server room! Wearing a coat and gloves is not a practical way to dress for my job, not to mention a violation of office dress code policy. Now that it is warmer out, I think they’ve made it even colder, and I’ve finally had enough. I decided to talk to management. They were very supportive and listened to my complaints. They agreed to let me have a space heater for my workstation as long as I kept it low enough that it didn’t bother any other employees and put it on a programmable timer so that it was only on during work hours. Also, I had to purchase it myself and it would be inspected regularly by the maintenance department.
Well, that’s just fine, because I can make sure that I get something that works well—unlike the bargain basement quality stuff they usually buy for us here. This part, the part where I can go home and look online to find information on products and features reminds me why the internet is worth using. After a long day at work sometimes it can be hard to remember. Because let me tell you, there is a lot of information out there, some of it is completely useless. I automatically eliminated any fuel burning heaters, as I’m sure my coworkers would appreciate me not asphyxiating us all in my quest to remain at above sub-zero temperatures. You would think this would make my decision easier, but there are all kinds of electric heaters, too. I finally decided on an infrared heater because it basically works the same way as the sun: instead of simply warming the air, it radiates heat that the objects in its path absorb. Once the object absorbs the heat, it warms up. It doesn’t dry out the air around it and it seemed like it would be an energy efficient choice. I settled on a model after researching some must-have features and reviews. The whole process, from idea to research to purchase, took me about two hours. Order placed, I turned in for the night.
The heater showed up a week later and I brought it in to work. Whenever anyone asked what it was, I told them it was my own personal sun, which usually led to a conversation about infrared heating. My coworkers may or may not have been bored by the explanation, but oh well. It turned out that it warmed not just my desk, but the desks of several coworkers too. It seems that everyone else was cold as well, but that nobody was sure what to do about it. We decided to relocate the heater to a more central location where it would do the most good and have adopted it as the office mascot.
