Is this racist??

[LogicalPreference]

Colleague has the day off and it's his birthday so I'm decorating his desk (my assigned task). He's a good friend and is obsessed with Bob Marley.

I wanted to make it more personal so was going to turn his desk into like a tropical warm theme with bamboo etc

A colleague just said to me that it's really racist.

Is it racist?

Outself and thethersend are a bit bonkers. Please don't ditch the bamboo because of them. And who was it that said you must have voted UKIP? That's plain nasty please don't listen. And please, in the interest of free speech and standing up to nutters BRING THE BAMBOO BACK.

Also as a supporter of BAMBOO all those pernickety naysayers analists from earlier were giving the Rastafarian Flag colours not the Jamaican Flag colours which are green, gold and black. Both will do for Bob though. Hope they don't ever decorate a desk for a non-Rasta Jamaican, they might just cause offence.

"Outself and thethersend are a bit bonkers"

Who's thethersend? If someone's been bringing my good name into disrepute, HEADS WILL ROLL.

Sorry only skim read, but wasn't BM's dad welsh?

Dragons?
Leeks?

Lupins have a similar leaf structure to canabis and have the added benefit of being a beautiful gift.

Get one of those!
(And bamboo. Which is not racist).

Loving the thought of a Jamaican/Scottish/Welsh themed hybrid desk now!

If it was me, I'd focus on the Bob Marley/Jamaica theme, rather than the tropical/bamboo thing.
Stick up some Jamaican flags, make a little beach by putting some sand in the lid of a printer paper box and stick a can of Lilt in it (as he's Muslim) or a miniature of rum if he isn't a very strict one - only do that if you know he drinks though, as that in itself could be seen as racist.
Problem I see with the bamboo thing is that someone pedantic, like your colleague, could accuse you of thinking that all hot countries are the same, which is more fuel to his picky little fire.
At the end of the day, I think there's too much good intention being wrongly labelled as racism, while actual, real-life racism seems to creeping in everywhere, which is scary. But also political, so let's not go there.
Hope your friend appreciates your effort and doesn't save Misery Guts any cake.

Offices are wierd places - things get distorted. The disapprover may be an isolated poor judge or reflecting the mentality across the office. If it's the latter then don't do it even though in any sane world it would be lovely and joyous and convivial.

Can I just have a little rant here?

Please?

What the actual fuck is this decoration of desks at work all about?

I have a colleague who does this. It takes her days to source the decoration, make things, put it all together.
And then the person comes in and cannot do any work because there is no space on this desk that had been turned into a minature Disneyland

She is well aware that I find it bizarre.

So on my birthday she wrapped every item on my desk. Individually.

My phone
My keyboard
My mouse
My monitor
5 pens
A highlighter
A stapler
A hole punch
3 folders

I wanted to kill her.

Anyway. Bamboo- fine. No racism there.

I suspect that when we thought the OP said "he's obsessed with Bob Marley" what she actually said was "he's very keen on pandas". That would explain the bamboo thing..........

Which otherwise, while not racist, is definitely a bit of a non sequitur........

Just to add my tuppence worth... My office (7 floors, over 2000 staff) do desk decorating!

Mainly for people's weddings, leaving to have babies, special birthdays etc. Then also it goes foil daft at Christmas and Halloween.

I fucking hate it.

China is not a hot tropical country...why would bamboo mean all hot countries are the same?

I have the same birthday as Bob Marley.

Completely irrelevant to this thread but I rather like it.

uterus I had exactly the same thought about lupins.

Actually a banana palm is good fun too.

It all seems wrong to me. When I were a lass you kept your personality out of the office. Everything was beige and controlled by the office manager, who usually wore beige.

Tantrums. That is a little bit funny.

It was not funny, it was bloody annoying

I've now looked up Bob Marley's dad, Norval and he was half-English apparently. Apparently Bamboo grows everywhere now including England and Jamaica.

Although I have only worked once in an Office I can imagine that a bit of desk decorating might brighten up some people's day. I can also imagine how it would really piss some people off. Can't the antis get little signs saying "No Desk Decorating Allowed" or "will be Clamped, Prosecuted then Shot". Just a thought.

Is it only me or does the vision of desks covered in mad hobby displays strike me as a bit Twenty Twelve or The Office, even??

unreal yes, this is something Sally would do for Ian, which would not really come off right and he'd try to be thankful and then she'd get flustered and awkward and remove the desk display and run away.

Absolutely Bue, or something that Siobhan, head of Brand, would bring in as a morale booster for staff.

I made the mistake of inviting three 3 and 4 year olds round to play on a damp afternoon with my older DC, while younger one is knackered and teething. This thread is keeping me sane. Please carry on!

Ok, what would your deal look like?

Er, desk. What would your fantasy desk dress look like?

Mine would be 4D, scented with memoirs of a holiday in the med. chill out music and a seawater water feature with little origami fishing boats each containing a connosseur chocolate.