The Case of the 7 1/2 Foot Christmas Tree

'Tis the Season to be dumbfounded. Ok, so my fellow coworkers and I, really three of us decided that we needed a new Christmas tree for the office area.

We raised $15 and I offered to throw in extra to get a nice little tree that wouldn't cost much more to decorate. Well my coworker had a conversation with our floor's daily gambler which led to the phone call I received yesterday.

"Hey, could you bring and hand truck to the back of the building, I have our tree."

"Our tree... a hand truck?" I replied.

"Yes, it's 7 feet tall."

"Hold on..."

My coworker wasn't at her desk. 7 feet tall? So I grabbed the kart and went downstairs. Let me tell you, the tree wasn't 7 feet tall. It was 7 1/2 feet tall. Our ceilings are 9 feet high!

I bring the monstrousity upstairs and immediately smelled years of cigarette smoke. What's happening here?

I brought the tree up to the coworker and she was surprisingly enthusiastic. I was deflated. Are you serious? This is a tree for your home, not the workplace. 7 1/2 feet tall, 4 feet wide of Christmas jeer. "Lets give it back right now!"






"Is it really that big?"

"It's the Andre the Giant of fake trees, and it stinks."

"Let's at least try to put it up, maybe it's not that tall. Plus I don't want to disappoint Linda by giving it back."

Ultimately, it took her 20 minutes to put up a quarter of the tree. It took our boss coming from his meeting and saying, "Maybe I have a smaller tree in the attic I could bring in," for my coworker to take the monstrousity down. Today, we have a 4 ft tall Christmas Tree and more than enough decorations.

Moral of the story: when raising money for anything in the office, Yard Sales and Jingle Bell Rock sized Christmas Trees are off limits. I think I'll take a half day. 😒