Cold Wars Waged At The Workplace

Employees Struggle To Find The Perfect Office Temperature

(CBS)  If you work in an office you've probably had the same battles as Michele Dickens and Pete Moreau, CBS News Correspondent Richard Schlesingerreports.

She's always cold.

"How many layers do you have on?" Schlesinger asks Dickens.

"Actually, three," Dickens responds.

For Moreau, he's always hot. "It's a little stuffy in here," he says.

And this is where the battle is fought: at the thermostat.

Several times a day at their Detroit-area public relations firm, either Moreau or Dickens sneaks in and turns the thermostat up or down.

"The conversation probably happens two or three times a day," Dickens says.

"I've had the temperature conversation with my co-workers and chances are you have, too," Schlesinger admits.

A study by an association of building managers found that unhappiness over the temperature in the office is the top complaint of people in the workplace.

Dickens' heater runs even in the height of summer.

Wiping perspiration from his brow, Schelsinger asks Dickens if she ever sweats or gets uncomfortable from her heated office.

"I'm not at all," Dickens responds. "Actually, I'm comfortable… My hands are freezing."

Dickens likes her office between 77 and 82 degrees. Moreau is more comfortable around 70. It's at least seven degrees of separation -- the new cold war.

"I want to say that there's a common ground, but there's just not," Dickens says.

"We haven't found any yet," Moreau adds.

It turns out there may be some common ground, in the floor of some modern offices.

Pointing to adjoining offices, Schlesinger asks, "Is it possible to feel like it's 72 in here and feel like it's 80 in here?" Tim Marshall, who sells air conditioning systems, answers, "Absolutely."

Marshall's company sells a simple system, new to the United States that sends cool air through these easily adjusted grates.

"You have sixteen different opportunities to move the air around," Marshall says.

And everyone can get his or her own vent.

The effect is more permanent and more honorable than sneak attacks on the thermostat.

"I'm perfectly comfortable in this room, how are you?" Schlesinger asks Dickens and Moreau.

"I feel great," Moreau says.

"My hands are freezing," Dickens answers.

But without the benefit of new technology, Moreau and Dickens continue their face off, with flip-flops and woolen socks as they and countless others keep fighting the 9-to-5 battle for air supremacy.