Lights turning off in office

[Anonymous]

Just moved to a new office. The lights are on a 15 minute timer which means that all day long they're going off on me. I'm on a video conference call and they go off, I'm working on a document and they go off, and most annoyingly I'm pumping and they go off (fun to finish in the dark and not spill milk!). Waving my arms isn't enough, I have to go through my door to turn the lights on. Other coworkers are starting to joke about how I'm always sitting in the dark so I brought in a lamp. Work says there's nothing they can do about it. I've escalated it, but everyone says it's just their new energy efficiency measures. This is ridiculous, right?

[Anonymous]

It's a small price to pay for making a difference for the planet. Reorient your desk so that waving your arms is enough to set off the sensor. Or throw a bouncy ball at it

[Anonymous]

is it motion sensor or a timer?

If the former, there may be something you could put over the sensor to keep it thinking it should be active. We have an light like that and the employee puts a post it note over it when she's in there

If the latter, that's just weird. How do others handle it?

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Post it note.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I will try the post it note. It's a really tall ceiling. I will try throwing something at it as well. I'm in the dark right now.

It's on a 15 minute timer, but if there's motion within the 15 minutes it won't turn off. And by motion, I mean someone walking directly under the sensor. When I do my usual tasks at my desk it's not enough to keep it from going off.

[Anonymous]

Talk to the bosses, because this sounds unreasonable.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I just hit the sensor with a stress ball and that didn't work.

I have a light switch which I could turn off when I leave if they could disable these lights. 15 minutes is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I will try the post it note. It's a really tall ceiling. I will try throwing something at it as well. I'm in the dark right now.

It's on a 15 minute timer, but if there's motion within the 15 minutes it won't turn off. And by motion, I mean someone walking directly under the sensor. When I do my usual tasks at my desk it's not enough to keep it from going off.

Sorry, this is funny. I can imagine you on an important video conf. and the lights go off and you (discreetly) trying to throw something to activate the lights.

[Anonymous]

Oh and I couldn't get a post it note up there. It's probably a 12 foot ceiling. I don't have a ladder and standing on the tables and chairs didn't work.

[Anonymous]

Buy a cheap lamp.

[Anonymous]

Had this happen in an office as well. I could wave my arms at it (it was an old conference room converted into an office). But waving my arms every 15 minutes was crazy. Our building maintenance was able to come in and replace the sensor (like you it was in the ceiling and I couldn't reach it to cover it with a post it). It took them all of 5 minutes to do ...it took longer for management to get the reasons why I didn't like it.....in the meantime - bring in a light so at least you can see when it goes out.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I did bring in a lamp. It would just be nice to have overhead light at work. Staring at a bright computer screen in a dark room does hurt my eyes.

[Anonymous]

You need to move more. Get up!

[Anonymous]

Bring in one of those ceiling fan dusters that have an extendable pole and wave it in front of the sensor when the light go off.

I'm only half kidding. Maybe if your boss sees you sitting with a 6' tall swiffer next to your desk, he or she will realize how ridiculous the situation is.

[Anonymous]

I agree that it's ridiculous, but likely not much you can do if you've already escalated it. Is it only your office, or others? What about higher ups? Do they get the privilege of light for more than 15 minutes at a time?