My first church staff position was in a church of around 500 people. We had just built a new worship center and enjoying the newness and the extra space it provided. The preacher was a large overweight man and his wife a tall slender women. On each side of the worship center was an HVAC thermostat that controlled the entire room. I soon discovered you can’t leave those exposed in a church that size without everyone adjusting them to their liking. I would watch during the service as people would casually walk by the stats and quickly change the setting; like no one would notice?
I installed clear locking covers and that fixed that problem alright! Or so i thought. Then something new developed i had not planned on. Every Sunday as i entered the worship center the large overweight pastor would signal me from the platform to turn the AC down by giving me the thumbs down hand signal. So i would walk to each stat and begin to adjust them accordingly. Soon after the pastors wife would catch me to say that she and everyone else were freezing in the room. So i made my way back to the stats and adjusted them accordingly. This went back and forth for many weeks!
After complaints from the congregants and the battle between the large pastor and his slender wife, i decided to fix this once for all. The next Sunday as i entered the room i got the thumbs down, turn down the AC, signal. I smiled and went to adjust the stats as usual. Only this time i opened the clear cover and did nothing. The pastor would smile as if saying good job. Then the pastors wife would catch me and ask me to adjust it up to make it warmer. I walked up to the stats and opened the clear cover and did nothing. I simply left them both set to 72 degrees and never changed them again. She would then thank me!
Everyone thought i was customizing the temperature to their liking and the complaints all went away! The battle was over and yet nothing got changed!I left them on 72 from then on.
That will show them who’s boss!
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook