I have absolutely no problem with my co-workers.
I want to make that clear right now. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the humans that I interact with on a daily basis. However… I don’t want to be friends with them. It’s nothing personal, I just don’t like having close interactions with the folks who determine my paychecks every week. That’s why I was not very excited when my boss told me that we were going to have a big work retreat last month. Great, I can’t wait to see how uncomfortable this is going to be. It turns out, it was extremely uncomfortable. Especially the indoor air temperature. When we arrived at the rental house I was surprised by how enormous the property was. The building seemed to stretch on for miles. And then… We realize that there was only one thermostat for the entire residence. This means, we had one basic indoor air temperature control for the eight bedroom house. This means, every room wound up being a different temperature thanks to the diverse air quality, insulation, and drafts coming in from every window. It was impossible to actually establish one set temperature throughout the entire space. Some rooms were burning hot and others were frigidly cold. Either way, it was uncomfortable. I spent the entire retreat alternating between hiding beneath warm blankets and stepping outside to cool some of the sweat off my body. I didn’t see my co-workers very often with all of my temperature regulation efforts. Maybe I should be more grateful for the single central thermostat.