We moved into a splendid new office building earlier this year. Last week a message went round, reminding people that it would be nice to keep it looking good for years to come, and, in line with general policy, no Christmas decorations are to be affixed to ceilings, walls and windows but "you can still spread a bit of Christmas cheer on your workstations and countertops."
So I've printed off the Guardian's Baubles and Desktop Snowdrift. It was a devil of a job cutting round Rudolph. I remembered halfway through that I was never much good at cutting out, even in Primary School. I noticed in time that the baubles included one dangly one and two round ones, so I have randomly but carefully arranged them in a Safe-for-Work manner.
This now makes my workspace one of the most decorated in the entire office. It seems that most people are simply not bothering. An ill-willed person would conclude that this is because they are 'boring bastards' but I prefer my interpretation: in previous years at various workplaces, one person, usually the person who wants everybody to conform to forced jollity, usually the person who makes everyone wear their cracker hats at Christmas lunches, goes round imposing Christmas decorations on the rest of their colleagues, who are too kind to object. Except for me - last year, someone (and I know who) hung a tacky banner directly over my desk that read "Merry Xmas". I was so annoyed I became Ms Irritability and did what I do best - went off sick for the rest of the year.
