It seems sooner and sooner in the fall, retailers are window dressing for the holidays, radio stations are playing Harry Connick Jr. and Duke fans are going to greater lengths to stuff it in the face of their "less than' co-workers...like this guy!

Based on its context, I suspect this retina-burning tree is compliments of, like, Dale, from accounts receivable. Dale is probably a Duke grad from North Carolina stuck in some Midwest city crunching numbers for a middling office supply company.

Dropping hints as early as Halloween that he had "something big" planned for his desk once compliance OKed Christmas decorations in the office, Dale set this up with an excruciatingly wide grin on his face.

Those sitting at Dale's quad grimaced upon the unwrapping of the tree. One detests Duke, another detests Dale, regardless of where his college athletics allegiances lie, and the third simply detests any level of office decorations for the holidays.

We all know the guy (or gal) that overdoes it with the desk flair. If you have a Dale in your office, I allow you to vandalize his or her decorations.

Every office needs an office grinch, and no office should have a Duke Christmas tree.