I worked in a bull pen office when I was doing fire investigations.

I started work at 7:30. The secretaries came in a 8:30. Then the fun began. They were at the other end of a 60 foot room. The first order of business was to print the previous day's inspection reports, a job that took about an hour, it was automated, print the notice and envelope 10 inspectors about 10 reports each. Done by 10 or so. I always wore short sleeve shirts all day. The were always coming near my cubicle, playing with the thermostat, putting on sweaters, then taking them off, whatever. I usually left the office by 8:30 so didn't see much of the action but one day I hurt my ankle so I decide to stay at my desk. About 2 p.m. a guy with a toolbelt comes by, checks the thermostat, changes it. He then says to me 8 service calls since you guys moved in and I can never find anything wrong. They say the other end of the room is stone cold (where the women sit with heaters under their desks typing away...). I think for a minute and mention that we do get the east sun through our windows and they don't. Then it really dawns on me, I say watch this, and print 20 copies of the same page. The printer had a fan on the top and was about 10 inches below the thermostat. The thermostat started saying it was 70, 75, 80, 85, 90...LOL.

I moved the printer 2 feet and put a piece of cardboard over the fan to deflect it away, used a piece of duct tape. When he explained what was wrong to the Admin Chief who wandered by and how I figured it out and fixed it the guy says, ya, got a problem we send him to the scene, he gets a stool and sits there for an hour and figures it out. I mentioned that in the 5 months we'd been there I never stayed in the office and that no asked me.....

John Conley
Musica est vita