AITA for asking my coworker to move a memorial from our shared desk?

A receptionist named Paul died unexpectedly last year. My coworker Nina placed his framed photo, favorite mug and a battery candle on the reception desk we now share.

At first the memorial felt right. Staff stopped, told stories and left notes inside the mug.

Ten months later, clients still ask whether Paul is on vacation or why there is a candle at reception. I answer the question several times a week. The notes have become dusty, and the mug occupies the spot where I normally place intake forms.

I suggested moving the memorial to the staff room, where people who knew Paul could see it without clients asking Nina and me to explain his death.

Nina said the front desk was where Paul belonged. She worked beside him for six years. I joined after he died, which she says is why I see clutter where she sees a colleague.

One morning I moved the frame and mug to a shelf behind us so I could spread out registration packets. Nina returned, silently put everything back and cried in the bathroom.

Our manager has now offered a wall plaque near the entrance. Nina dislikes that solution because it looks official and impersonal. She wants the ordinary objects exactly where Paul left his presence.

I did not throw anything away, and I still think a shared workstation must work for both people. But I moved a memorial while the person grieving was absent because I knew she would say no.

That method is the part I cannot defend with desk space.