[QUOTE=Robot Arm]
What about these stuffed animals?
[/QUOTE]
Thank you thank you thank you! So very cool!
My GF and I won’t celebrate Valentine’s until Saturday. In my own loving way, I’m going to give her lyme disease. Hey, it’s better than giving her syphillis, right? It’ll go well with her Sigmund Freud action figure.
I also ordered red tide for myself. I think I’ll name him Rudy. He will go well with Larry the Lobster. 
I have a number of stuffed animals in my office. There’s a duck in a bunny suit which is the office crystal ball. You carry it around (his name is Duckbunny) and ask it questions and the answers eventually become clear! Well, it works for me and my boss anyway.
I have a pig on my monitor, and I have a little bear dressed like a Mountie that was sent to me by a Canadian customer. One of our corporate giveaways is always a monkey in a company t-shirt, so we all have a few of those, in different t-shirt colors.
I have a ton of stuffed animals and I am Damn proud if it. Childish or not I don’t care! Every November Bobo gets me a bear for our anniversary. When we first started dating is when I got my first bear and I’ve gotten one every year since. As for work, hell yeah I have stuffed animals. I have 3 Camels on my computer, two on top of my monitor and one sitting on my computer. I also have a pig on one side and a TY Dragon on one of my speakers. My computer sits on my desk since it is one of the “District” kind of puter’s. I work in a school and the kids like to see them. I even let one Kindergartener hold my Pig while he was taking his temp. because he was scared. No I’m not a nurse but a Clinic Aide. The teacher’s aide had brought him in and showed him how to take his temp. He was cute! So my stuffed animals will stay, along with my lotion and my Gary Patterson Calendar and my many pics drawn by our students given to me and one my son made. They are on my board next to my desk. 
[QUOTE=nongoog]
Okay, someone please explain this phenomenon to me, because I just don’t understand.
Why are SO many women incapable of doing their jobs without a teddy bear sitting nearby?
I hate, on principle, any and all women who feel the incomprehensible need to stuff their cubicles full of teddy bears and other needless cutesy items. I’m not against making your desk/cubicle/office comfortable. I have no problem with personal items, a picture of your kids or some tchotchke your cousin bought for you in Egypt, or obviously “girly” type things like hand lotion or a calendar with flowers on it- I’m talking about INFANTILE STUFFED TOYS that sit idiotically underneath your monitor like some stupid mascot and practically announce your immaturity and unprofessionalism to the entire office.
This represents, to me, the sort of completely unnecessary frou-frou that keeps the gender divide alive in the workplace. Do men’s cubicles have stuffed toys? Not that I’ve noticed, no. When I walk by a desk and see a stuffed animal, it makes me want to vomit. It looks like a seven-year-old’s workspace. It makes it nigh-impossible for me to respect you as a businesswoman.
I work in the financial industry, as an executive assistant, and I am a little sensitive to the fact that 99.9% of analysts, associates, and managers are men and all the women in the office building are assistants. Personally, I have no desire to become a high-falootin’ financial analyst. I am happy with my well-paying but intellectually-sterile assistant position while I work on my writing in my free time, writing with which I hope to make a dime (or more) someday.
That being said, however, I am resentful when women stereotype themselves as sentimental and unprofessional in such an obvious way as bringing stuffed toys to work. There are male assistants, too. Guess what? Their cubes, sans stupid stuffed animals, look about a million times more polished than the women’s. Stuffed animals look ridiculous. There’s no place for them in a corporate environment. Sure, no one’s going to say anything, but it’s still a little absurd- and, I have to admit, when I walk by a cubicle with a stuffed animal, I imagine that the person it belongs to cannot be very bright, at all, and I dismiss them- and I imagine that this is a reaction that many managers and clients have, as well, to women who somehow come to the conclusion that the daily accompaniment of their favorite stuffed toy is more important to them than the outward appearance of professionalism.
Obviously I am talking about a corporate, somewhat formal work environment. Women who work in a small home-grown office in Montana may have all the stuffed toys they like, what do I care? But an investment bank in midtown, where clients pass through 24-7 in suits and multi-million dollar deals are brokered, and somehow, I seem to be one of the only female assistants who cares enough to keep her desk presentable? And these stuffed-toy afficionado-women are adult women! middle-aged! 30s, 40s! Really. Grow the fuck up!
Nearby stuffed animals make you look like stupid, gum-chewing, nail-filing, stereotypically immature and incompetent “secretaries” instead of legitimate, responsible, and competent office professionals. It embarasses me on your behalf.
I wish I could cartwheel through my entire floor and toss everyone’s stuffed animals into the trash. I hate my gender! That is all.
[/QUOTE]
Hey - if no one objects to my bulletin board covered with pictures of Suzy Parker, Dovima, Carmen, Anne Slater & Nan Kempner, I don’t have a beef with their stuffed animals. I also have a desk calendar that features a different handbag every day; I have female executives from all over stopping in to view the day’s offering.
VCNJ~
I’m not much into cutsie stuff, myself…in fact, I hate it. But, I must admit, I do have one Beanie Baby on my desk. He has an American flag on his chest, and I got him after 9/11. He’s kind of like my mascot, now.
I think there’s kind of a fine line to draw with office decor. A toy or two can be kind of fun and cute (and I’ve known plenty of guys who have had them…one friend of mine had those little green army men on his desk), but sometimes it seems like overkill. I knew a guy who had a full-size Mr. Potato Head…he just seemed like he was trying to hard to be wacky. You know, like “oh, I know I’m a boring account manager here, but in real life I’m FUN! Woo hoo!”
[QUOTE=glee]
I liked Dung Beetle’s story about the computer guy throwing a stuffed bumblebee and the retaliation of hiding a little plastic alligator.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks! His plastic alligator can smoke a cigarette too. 
[QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen]
DAMN!! I came to post that I had stuffed microbes on my desk!!
I can’t believe someone beat me too it… or even had seen these before!!!
This is why I love SDMB. It’s like… you get me, right here.
[/QUOTE]
We sell them at the science center gift shop-just little beanie type versions, not the gigantic ones.
I love stuffed animals (yeah, you’re so shocked). My favorite is a plush stegosaurus that has a mult-color tie-dye pattern and when you squeeze him, he squeels. My best friend got it for me when we were in high school. I also have a huge Siberian white tiger named Sasha. When I got him for Christmas, Buffy thought he was real and kept going up and batting his paws, trying to get him to play.
I also collect Barbies and other fashion dolls, and I have an Obi-Wan action figure on a Utapaun varactyl. (The lizard he rides while persuing General Grievous.
I wouldn’t bring any to work, though-wouldn’t want anything to happen to them. And ANYONE who has a problem with stuffed animals, or the fact that I like them is cordially invited to kiss my sweetsy-cutesy ass.
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle]
Thanks! His plastic alligator can smoke a cigarette too.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve got an 18" tall plastic dinosaur that stands on my deck right by the steps. It is battery operated and makes a Scary Dino Sound when you walk past it. It’s *just * the best! I love how it scares old people.
I’m confused. You’re a highly paid executive assistant now? Weren’t you a broke college student in the thread where your boyfriend didn’t give you a present?
Who me?
What happens if you have all of the following decorations on your desk:
A cut stuffed duck
A Newton’s Cradle
A Mr. Potato Head - I have plenty of kids come to the office and they need to trash something
A beautiful full-color Backyard Bird wall calendar
What does that make you, a guy or a girl?
I dont’ see why I have to conform 100% to what someone else thinks is the norm.
I work for a great bunch of people - they love me and I love them. As such, they give me presents. I LIKE presents. They have given me a scooby doo action figure - it’s “Shaggy” and you twist a nob on his back and when you push the button, his arms and legs all shoot out of him. It’s hard to explain. I have a squirrel made of wood, an M&M Official Candy of the New Millennium Dispenser, a gargoyle, aVoodoo Doll from New Orleans (there was a conference - they went) and, yes, a stuffed animal. It’s a groundhog - one girl I used to work with gave it to me - we were having a spate of rough days - so she bought it to commemorate our “groundhogs days” - days after days of the same old shit.
Oh - and here’s a picture of my electronic stapler. That was a present too.
nongoog, get over yourself.
Upon preview - crazyjoe - COOL! I had forgotten about that!!! Good call! 
[QUOTE=Spoons]
Well, I’m a man, and my desk once had a complete set of Muppet Babies Riding Vegetable Cars that McDonald’s had as a promo many years ago. True, my admin assistant got them for me on her frequent trips to McDonald’s, but they were kind of fun to have. Didn’t make me look like a totally work-obsessed geek.
That was a few years and a few jobs ago and I still have them. And they’re still fun.
[/QUOTE]
I hate you passionately. I used to have a couple of them. They’re gone now, along with my childhood. :mad:
I have a stuffed pony on my desk that my neighbor gave me when I was sick. It’s a desk identification device (as well as being fuzzy). When students come into the bullpen (TA office), the first thing they see is a room full of desks with computers that all. look. alike. Then my students see my pony and home in on my desk.
She’s also been the victim of a Scrabble Champyonship battle between me and the trophy holder. I hid his trophy, he hanged my pony from the blinds.
No, Kal - her.
Male attorney here, and I have Family Guy stuffed and poseable figures on my desk. Also more than a little Simpsons’ stuff around, though little can be seen under the threatening-to-fall-and-kill-me piles of papers that really really really need to be filed.
Having them here cheers me up. I rarely have clients in my office, but when I have, they haven’t mentioned anything. If I thought they would, I would put the toys away while they were here.
[QUOTE=villa]
Having them here cheers me up.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, this is really important. I don’t like oodles of stuffed toys, either, but I feel very uncomfortable with personality-less desks. Yuck.
A bunch of people on one big case were all given customized Mr. Potato Heads by a client as a celebration of a victory. You see a lot of them around the office too.
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle]
Thanks! His plastic alligator can smoke a cigarette too.
[/QUOTE]
After one enjoyable school trip. the pupils gave me a keyring with some sort of Japanese TV creature attached. It flashes a light every time I move it. :eek:
[QUOTE=nongoog]
I work in the financial industry, as an executive assistant, and I am a little sensitive to the fact that 99.9% of analysts, associates, and managers are men and all the women in the office building are assistants. Personally, I have no desire to become a high-falootin’ financial analyst.
[/QUOTE]
I have 2 lovely teddy bears wearing little “Bear Stearns” t-shirts, with bond terms on the back–Bear Stearns uses them sometimes instead of the lucite deal cubes.
Filling the office with such glurge is one thing, but one or two seems harmless enough.
I’m male. For years, Gumby used to sit atop my monitor…actually, he sat above my desk before anybody had monitors, but appropriated the most excellent butt warming device that came attached to a genuine 8 MHz non-AT PC.
Gumby was actually a pretty popular guy around the office. He used to get kidnapped and held for donut ransom, he would turn up in holiday themed post-it note costumes (cross dressed for gay pride week once, in fact)
