Thanks, Tav -- I guess. Now I owe my wife an apology.

I believe the problem lies in the cell phone itself. When most phones can't find a signal, they search for one. This prevents the phone from going into 'idle' and decharges the battery.

The building I live in is bran new. It seems like concrete is the one blocking the reception. When I go into a stair well (where there's lots of metal that goes all the way to the roof) I get full signal, however when I'm in my room, with concrete floors and ceilings, I get none at all, inless I get very close to the window. So, the denser the walls, the less reception. Metal actually acts as an antenna.

I would recommend that your wife turns off the phone completely while at work.

So yes, buildings can effect battery life.

My wife teaches in a steel/cement, 30-year-old public school building that's built more than half underground. (It sort of resembles a very large bomb shelter.)
It is a fact that she and other folks in the school experience loss of cell phone battery power while their phones sit on, but idle.
They can't account for this. All claim the metal in the building is the culprit. They add that putting an "on but idle" phone in some of the metal storage cabinets (phones are in purses) somehow drains the batteries.
I know school buildings greatly affect cell phone reception, but don't think metal per se can drain a cell phone battery.
I tried researching this online -- that's how I stumbled onto this forum -- but came up empty otherwise.
Anyone have any thoughts, or better yet, any proof? Or is this the wrong forum in which to ask such a question?