‘The bright side is: she’s finally quiet and respectful of our shared space’: Colleague melts down and throws a tantrum after being told to remove desk decorations for fire inspection, accuses her coworker of betrayal, and refuses to speak

A woman in an office learned last week that nothing exposes a coworker's true personality faster than a fire inspection notice. Management sent out a standard request to take down cubicle decorations, but one employee decided this was not about building safety, it was about her. She ripped down papers and posters like they were symbols of oppression, crushed them into the trash, and punctuated the whole performance with drawer-slamming and loud sighs.

Her colleague, who had the misfortune of sitting beside this crisis on swivel wheels, chose the only rational path: retreat. By the next day, the incident had morphed into an interpersonal standoff. The furious employee accused her seatmate of "running off like a scared little cat," insisted she was deliberately trying to get her in trouble, and tossed in a cryptic line about knowing "how she operates." Meanwhile, family photos and even handmade gifts disappeared from her cubicle, casualties of her outrage.

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