Before the holiday season kicked off I sent out a memo to all of the tenants in an office building to remind them that real Christmas trees were not permitted due to fire safety regulations.  Only artificial trees could be used for decoration inside the building.

Later that week when I visited the building I couldn’t help but notice a trail of pine needles that ran along the sidewalk and right up to the front doors.  The trail continued into the building and up to the elevator doors.  Inside the elevator were even more pine needles.  I took the elevator up one floor at a time until the doors opened onto the continued trail of pine needles that I followed right into a tenant’s office.

I talked with the office manager who claimed they didn’t have a real tree in the office since they were all aware of the rules.  I pointed out the trail of pine needles and she was surprised to see it too.  We followed it and at the end found a group of young men had set up a Christmas tree in the middle of their small shared office.  It nearly filled the space between their desks and they could hardly move around it and they were laughing hysterically over the situation.  The office manager did not think it was funny at all.  She apologized and said she would make sure they got rid of it right away.  I could hear her telling them off as I left.

A little later as I was leaving the building I watched a decorated tree come flying out of an upper floor window and crash down onto the ground in an explosion of ornaments and branches.  I ran over and looked up just in time to see the laughing guys slam the window shut.  Unfortunately for them their office manager also had a view out of nearby window and saw the whole thing happen too.  The look on her face did not bode well for them.  I’m sure I had a similar expression!

Later our maintenance supervisor sent photos of the laughing guys cleaning up the tree crash site.   They  were still all smiling and laughing about it and posing for photos by the trash cans.  The whole thing was ridiculous and I’m glad no one was hurt but I also kind of admired the spirit of those stupid laughing guys.  They were determined to have some crazy holiday fun even if it meant getting in trouble and cleaning up the mess they made in the process.

I hope you all enjoy some crazy holiday fun but please don’t piss off your landlord in the process.  She’s got enough to deal with without making you clean up afterwards.