It’s that time again where we shift from Summer to the Fall and Winter seasons. In doing so, many of us are in a rush to get to the holiday season. It could be because the media and merchandisers tend to speed up the holidays, or because we don’t care much about Fall—it’s about Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year. Anywho, this brings up a lot of office fodder and watercooler talk, as the holiday season can bring up a lot of problems/issues at work. So this week’s Cubicle Confessions is this:
How early is too early for Christmas music?
Reader Zee wrote in and said that she was giving her cubicle next door neighbor the side-eye because she began playing her Christmas CD’s in September. As someone who has went on record by saying that I am a proponent of enjoying the holiday season when it’s officially the holiday season (and not a day earlier–click here and here to read why), I responded by telling Zee that I understood her pain. But in an office, sometimes you have to put up with things you don’t like and holiday music before its time may be one of them.
Case in point—several years ago when I was working in an a corporate office, I started playing holiday music in my workspace right after Halloween. For me, Halloween ushers in the official holiday season, and therefore, Christmas music is fair game. One of my colleagues stepped into my office and told me that they thought it was too early to begin playing holiday music, which of course, made the both of us go around the office surveying people and getting their thoughts about it.
Is November 1st too early for holiday music in the office? If so, when is it “acceptable” to play it? Speak on it by using the comment section below.
For Christmas music, I would say the Monday after Thanksgiving at the very earliest is acceptable.
I still do not agree with stores putting out Christmas decorations as early as they do so this is part of the reason why. October is for Halloween, November for Thanksgiving and Christmas belongs in December.
Kevin, I’ve covered stores decorating for the holidays a lot on my blog. And most of my readers agree with you. On my social feeds, I am also hearing after Thanksgiving as an acceptable time. Thanks for commenting.
I love Christmas music as well (give “An Acapella Christmas” by Glad a listen if you haven’t heard them in the past!), but the workplace boundary is DEFINITELY the first Monday after Thanksgiving. If one wants to listen to it earlier, it’s earphone/headphone time…
Thanks for commenting, Wes. I definitely see a theme here amongst the people commenting here and on social media re: this post. I thought after Halloween was fair game but I see many of you don’t agree 🙂
I think the day after Thanksgiving is appropriate. I worked in office where our boss brought in all of his holiday CDs and we could check them out for our listening pleasure in our cubes (if we chose to do so.) He had a great collection, btw.
Val, that seems to be the consensus. Although I begin playing my music right after Halloween. I guess I am a tad bit early.