I love when the office/lobby/break room/entire company is decked out - it’s so fun and cheerful!!
Fercryinoutloud - it’s a place of business, not a kindergarten classroom. Can we at least *pretend * to be professionals?
Meh - whatever. I don’t do it myself, but I don’t care if someone else wants to decorate.
This question was triggered by the Halloween Door Decorating Contest where I work. The Rec Committee is going to judge whatever areas are decorated in several categories, and the “winners” get an hour early dismissal. So people who spend work hours doing non-work are rewarded by being given time off. It irritates me to no end from a fiscal point of view, and moreso because we’re supposedly a highly-trained professional group of scientists and engineers who work for the Department of Defense with various other agencies of the government. Yeah, Trick-or-Treat - that’s professional… :rolleyes:
The same thing will happen at Christmas. 'Tis the season to be wasteful.
Actually, I’m with you. Work is work and I don’t like distractions or silly crap. I love Halloween big time and I think Christmas is cool too, but save the party-time funsies for your time off.
If it was just someone sticking a pumpkin in their cubicle, I wouldn’t care. If someone wants to hang garland from their partitions, have a ball. But just off the main hall in our building, there is a big sheet of batting hung from the ceiling and stretched out to suggest “cobwebs”, as well as something that talks to you if you walk by. While that may work at Spencer’s Gifts, it’s pretty tacky in a gummint building.
Well, I like holiday decorations, even for holidays I don’t celebrate. But spending work time decorating or getting off early seems strange to me. We used to get yelled at for decorating our trucks for the holidays, but we’d always point out that we’d spent our own money and done it during our lunch hour. But the foremen just didn’t like lights and garlands on phone company trucks. OK, the lit-up 2 1/2 foot Santa we strapped to the emergency strobe on the cab roof might have been a bit much.
I REALLY got an earful from my foreman the year we had an ice storm on New Year’s Eve and all the stuff froze onto the truck. It was almost March before we were able to get the last of it off…my foreman would whine to me that “all the other foremen were making fun of him” because some nut in his crew had done this. But it was fun, and everybody but management liked it…
A lot of times holiday decorations pave the way for holiday snacks. I am heartily pro-snack.
Taken by themselves, I think holiday decorations at work are okay in moderation. We have flowers in the reception area, and I think it is nice that they are usually seasonal in theme. Our office doesn’t go crazy with the decorations, but several people will put out a few holiday-type items. It’s much more on the side of “put a holiday basket or whatever on your desk or table, if you wish” and not so much with the crazy stuff on walls and doors.
There is another department where I work that has several people who sing (I mean they sing very well) and a few years ago they started this thing where every Halloween, they dress up in a theme and go “caroling” from office to office. It takes about 10 minutes to come listen to them, and then you go back to work. It’s memorable and they are very talented, and even if you hate it, it’s pretty easy to stay in your office – there’s no pressure to come listen. While they are missing a few hours of work, everyone else is missing about 10 minutes. I think the net gain is on the plus side – a few people miss a few hours of work, everyone else misses 10 minutes at the most, and overall, the reception is very positive and people appreciate the short break. I would feel completely differently if some yahoo decided every office was supposed to field a roving singing group. That would just be a waste of time.
I guess that is something I like about where I work – people are pretty laid back about a reasonable amount of holiday activities, but no one takes advantage and there’s no pressure or organization incentive to participate.
The holiday charity collection – that is another beast entirely.
Last year for Christmas they had a ‘decorate your area’ contest.
We hardly bothered. Sorry, you may want to foster team spirit but we’re trying to work and since most of us take the bus there is no WAY we are hauling decorations around.
I definitely fall under category 2. However, I (grudgingly) concede that such “festivities” can help raise (some) employee morale. I am entirely opposed to the woman who aggressively decorates her cube for every. single. holiday on the calendar. (I thought those came standard in every office, but it appears she doesn’t work at my current job, at least not on my floor. Thank Og.) However, I am definitely for edible decorations that consist of holiday snacks/candy/cakes/cookies/popcorn balls, or any other tasty holiday goodies.
Except for the 4th of July and Halloween, holidays depress me–well, the ones you decorate for. (Xmas, Easter.) Actually now I think of it, people don’t really decorate for the 4th, either.
So I’d rather not be reminded. Unfortunately not one person in any office I’ve ever worked in has ever considered my wishes.
I did once get told that “all the girls will decorate”–and I did not decorate. My attitude is, the day my boss tells me to “decorate” I will, but as soon as I’m done I’m polishing up the old resume.
We decorate for Christmas at my workplace, and it’s kind of fun…we take about 15 min and put up garlands on our desks and shelves. (We don’t have to supply our own–we have a box full of decorations that we bring out every year.) My boss brings out her nativity scene, and I’m kind of surprised that no one objects to that.
I don’t mind it, but the “winter holiday” ones at work annoy me. They put out this little faux Christmas tree, a menorah, and then these stuffed penguins. I think the penguins are supposed to distract us from the religious stuff. “Hey, is that a Christmas tre---- oooh, penguins!”
Okay, so it worked the first year. But I’m onto them now!!!
I kinda enjoy holiday decorations in moderation in my co-workers’ cubes.
The only holiday that our department traditionally decorates for as a whole is birthdays…lots of streamers, a banner and balloons a couple of feet deep in the bd boy or girl’s cube…and mmmmmm…cake!
See, that’s the thing. Regarding other posters who are into the food aspect of holiday celebrations: I can see why that would be one good point, but I’m not really into food, so distractions plus stuff I can’t or won’t eat means a no-win situation for me.
I have a Thanksgiving pilgrim turkey in my office. I put him there two days ago.
In my defense, I found him in a box and took him to work and was going to put him in a drawer but there was an empty nail because I took down a picture and… sue me! sob
