Breakroom Temperatures, Preferred Seating, and Super Bowl Aggressions – Thoughts from February 11, 2026

My recent two-part article went into how I have OLD (obsessive-logical disorder). It’s not exactly OCD but is mental illness adjacent. I’m going to point out another time at work that my mind flips out. It takes place in a breakroom that I shortly discussed in one article. The breakroom has two major flaws. Being able to turn off half the lights is one flaw. The other flaw has to do with the temperature in the room. The hallway just off the breakroom is always cold, even in the summer. Inside the breakroom, the temperature is usually at least five degrees warmer.

When I first enter the breakroom, I often must prop the door open. This is understandable because I work at night. People in the morning want the room warmer because of the freezing hallway and offices. They’re getting a break from the cold. By the afternoon, I can already feel the temperature difference when the door is closed. Even if people are in the breakroom, I prop the door open so the cold from the hallway can start making its way into the breakroom. I prefer the table with the seat that faces the hallway, but that’s not the only reason I prefer to sit there. My main reason for sitting there is that my bad (left) ear is against the wall. If anyone sits in the other seats, I’m ready to hear them with my good (right) ear.

If anyone is sitting in my preferred seat, I sit unhappily in another seat until that person leaves. If I’m having my lunch, there is an extra anxiety that comes up. From my preferred seat, I can see the microwave numbers. This is where the temperature of the room is important. I have developed a lunch that requires 9:00 minutes in the microwave. Because of the basic microwave that they have in the room, I must turn the meal around halfway through warming it. That’s 4:30 minutes. From other seats in the room, I can’t see the microwave as well. If someone walks in front of the microwave, my head explodes.

As long as we’re discussing things that annoy me, let’s talk about the Super Bowl. I have talked about my feelings on the Super Bowl just about every year. Sports are not my favorite subject, but I’m going to talk specifically about how the Super Bowl being on television disturbs me. Because I always work on Sunday, I’m always at work when the Super Bowl is happening. Driving to work, I notice a greater number of A-holes on the freeway. Everyone seems to follow the aggression of the event taking place that day. I have two choices. I can either break miserably in areas where the game is on the television, or I can quarantine myself from all areas where the game might be playing.

This year, I lucked out, and no one was in the breakroom when I was having my lunch. It always makes me wonder why people work on Super Bowl Sunday if they care about the game. The television was on, but I turned it off by unplugging it. Even though the TV wasn’t on, I faced away from it. Suddenly, another employee entered the breakroom. She set down her lunch and asked me why I didn’t have the game on. I’m sure I said something about despising everything that football represents. It’s surprising that people put up with me, but they do. My big secret is that most people think I’m kidding most of the time. Much of the time, that’s true. On this day, I’m humorless. Later that night, a group of dudes was talking about guns and shooting. I don’t think that topic was a coincidence. It was a perfect end to an imperfect day. Thank you, Super Bowl.