Worker finds a 4-foot blinking artificial Christmas tree taking over her desk, calls HR to get it moved when management refuses, and gets side-eyed by coworkers for ruining the holiday decor: ‘This tree took up half of my space’

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Etai Eshet • Editor
Dec 17, 2025 9:00 AM EST

Office holiday cheer takes a weird turn when a four-foot blinking Christmas tree shows up on someone's desk, and management decides the solution is not to move the tree, but to move the worker.  

The tree eats half the desk, pushes the computer into a corner with no legroom, hijacks the power outlet, and literally displaces work documents. Decor here is not subtle, nor is it about decoration. It's a squatter's rights situation with ornaments. The acting manager admits she put it there without asking, acknowledges the inconvenience, then basically says productivity can relocate so morale does not have to. Translation: the staff's feelings about their craft project matter more than the person whose actual job happens at that desk.  


The funniest part is the fake compromise. Instead of moving the tree two meters, the worker is supposed to bounce between empty desks and share a computer like it is 2004. All because last year, when the computer was broken and the desk was useless anyway, she said yes once. In office logic, one temporary favor magically becomes a lifetime consent form. Suddenly, using HR to enforce basic workspace function is treated like some kind of anti-Christmas attack, complete with coworkers pouting because their tree got demoted to a less central spot.  

So, as it turns out, calling HR wasn't going overboard, it was the only language management actually respected.

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  • AITA for calling HR to get a Christmas tree removed from my desk?

    Office worker wearing a Santa hat looks stressed while reading papers at her desk, as coworkers work behind her in a Christmas-decorated office.
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    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I work in the twilight zone, just kidding but sometimes it feels like I'm not... this is one of those times.
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  • So I (30F) went into work today and saw a Christmas tree set up at my desk.
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  • Not a cute little Christmas tree desk ornament, but one of those artificial Christmas trees measuring at least 4 feet tall with decorations and lights.
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  • This tree took up almost half of my desk space resulting in my desktop being squeezed into a corner where it's uncomfortable to use without straining my back because there's drawers underneath the desk in that spot so no room for my legs, the lights are constantly blinking in my eyes and force me to only have one thing plugged into the wall at a time to accommodate them, and all of my documents were missing to make room for it.
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  • I spent the first 30mins at work just trying to locate them. Over the course of working at my job, I learned that confrontation gets me nowhere so instead of trying to find out who put it there and why, I simply approached my supervisor with my concerns about it being on my desk only for her to say she had the same concerns but that they were dismissed by the acting department manager (the actual manager is currently on vacation), and that she would raise the issue again and have them move it.
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  • Office Christmas decorations crowd a shared workspace as a large Christmas tree takes up most of a desk, forcing an employee to work uncomfortably from a cramped corner while coworkers celebrate nearby.
    via DC Studio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Well an hour goes by and the tree is not only still on my desk, but the acting manager called me into her office to have a chat.
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  • She started off with the normal pleasantries and making small talk but then quickly jumped to the topic of the tree.
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  • She apologized for putting it there without asking for my permission, but then made it clear that despite the inconvenience it's causing me, she would be instructing my colleagues that the tree is to remain where it currently is and instead suggested that I should just sit at another one of the free desks (there's several in the department, but they don't have computers) and work from there as well as share a computer with one of my colleagues until the holidays are over because she didn't want
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  • Again, I don't think confrontation is beneficial, so instead of trying to argue my case myself, I simply left her office when dismissed and immediately called HR.
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  • HR was understandably confused when I explained there was a Christmas tree on my desk, and I'm not sure what was said but within 10 minutes of the call being over the tree was removed from my desk and placed on another (less central) desk.
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  • Here's where I might be the AH; I allowed them to put the tree on my desk last year.
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  • I only work from the office one day a week as my I position is classed as a "field officer" at my job and I spend 4/5 days a week outside of the office and then come into the office for that one day to document my week, do reports and update my progress online.
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  • Last year my work computer wasn't working towards the end of the year and it was taking forever for the replacement to come in, so when they asked for permission to put the tree on my desk "because it has the best view", I agreed.
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  • At the time the desk was empty because of the broken computer and I spent more time at one of my colleagues desks instead because I was using their computer to update my work.
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  • That arrangement was uncomfortable and inconvenient, but unavoidable, so I saw no harm in allowing them to use a desk that I wasn't able to use at the time.
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  • So this year my colleagues assumed I would be okay with the arrangement again and set up the tree without asking me.
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  • So can I technically still get my work done with the tree there? Yes. But it's inconvenient for both myself and whichever colleague I'd have to impose on whenever I need to get online, which if last yr was anything to go by, would double the time it takes for me to complete basic tasks before their deadline due to wasting half the time just waiting for a colleague to be done with their own work.
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  • So AITA for calling HR to get the tree removed? I don't feel like I am but some of my colleagues have been giving me the stink eye after having to move the tree.
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  • NTA. Effective-Several Your desk, no matter what they should've asked you.
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 I agree and so did HR
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  • DrVL2 It sounds like there are empty desks elsewhere in the department. Why did they not use one of those?
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 Because apparently my desk has the best view, which is admittedly true because while it is a corner desk, it's central in the sense that it's the first you see when you walk into the department because of it's location in relation to the door. So it would actually be a good spot for a Christmas tree to draw attention, but considering it's a work place I feel like my ability to do my work trumps hearing "oh wow that's a pretty tree" when people enter the room.
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  • Hot Blood2962 This wouldn't have been an issue if they asked. They assumed and let themselves and that's people problem they don't ask questions anymore
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 I agree. If they asked it wouldn't have changed my answer, but it would have saved them the time they spent setting it up at my desk
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  • Used Clock_4627 OP, please stop feeling like the AH. Your circumstances were DIFFERENT last year. Things have changed. And that supposed 'Acting' Manager needs to get her own act together. People are in that office to WORK, bottom line, not to look at Christmas decorations.
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 I know I'm not the AH, but a part of me still feels like I am because the reality is I'm only in there once a week and Christmas is in 2 weeks. Realistically I'd only have to put up with the tree one more day before it's gone
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  • Jay100012 Not sure why you took the time to go through all of that. Grab the tree by the base and move it to another desk yourself. Problem solved.
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 Ngl I was tempted to
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  • Usual-Canary-7764 I have seen these kinds of managers. Hell some have managed me and others have been my colleagues. If OP picked that tree and moved it...they would be painting a bullseye on their back and that manager would spend a considerable amount of time trying to paint OP evil. Depending on their pull...OP invariably always lost when I watched such situations. OP was right to try going though the right escalation channels
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 Yup! She's known for being problematic so more often than not people bypass her and go up the chain of command because there's rarely ever a solution outside of what she wants that she's willing to entertain. She sees taking initiative as insubordination if she doesn't like the outcome. While I feel like I'd probably be supported by my boss if she were here, she's currently not and upsetting the AM would mean making myself a weekly target until she's back. At least this way if
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  • PreparationPlus9735 I love Christmas decorations too. But a 4 ft tree on a desk in use is WILD lol.
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 I guess because I spend 4 days of the week doing home visits with my patients and then turn up once a week with a role far removed from my colleagues they don't seem to think that I'd care about my desk being taken over
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  • ynotfoster Did you explain this to the acting manager? "At the time the desk was empty because of the broken computer and I spent more time at one of my colleagues desks instead because I was using their computer to update my work." If you sat there agreeing with the mgr then called HR, then you will look like a back stabber and may have burned a bridge.
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 I did. When she called me in and said they assumed I'd be fine with it because I allowed it last year, I explained that the reason I allowed it was because the computer was broken at the time and I had to sit elsewhere regardless so I didn't see the point in saying no. She accepted my reasoning and said that it wouldn't happen again next year, but doubled down that they would not be moving it this year. And tbh it's not a bridge I care to keep intact. The acting manager is nor
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  • UnburntAsh NTA - let them put the tree on one of the empty desks.
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 They ended up doing exactly that. I think they just preferred my desk because it's central and admittedly a very aesthetically pleasing spot to put it with the layout of the department.
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  • Dry-Clock-1470 Plenty of free desks? This is madness. NTA This is damn close to hostile
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  • OP Salt-Habit-8951 Right? There's 4 free desks.
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workplace discussion christmas employment issues workplace-stories hr christmas tree coworkers
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