Office romance is stupid

Right or wrong, in our society we often spend more time with our co-workers than our families and friends combined. Any time people spend that much time together there's bound to be people who become great friends, people who can't stand each other, and of course people who decide to date.

It may be a natural thing, but I'm telling you don't do it. I recently read a post from David Lorenzo, author of Career Intensity, entitled Office Romance is Like a Car Crash. He makes the point that THERE IS NO HAPPY ENDING:

In most cases the best you can hope for a marriage. If you marry someone from the office, the best case scenario will be that one of you leaves the company. This is tough because it requires a career change for one of the two parties.

In the worst case, you'll face allegations of favoritism or you may even be sued for harassment. Anytime you mix your personal life and business you expose yourself to claims of preferential treatment. People become bitter when they perceive the playing field to be unfairly tilted. This bitterness can often become an expensive proposition.

I never thought of it that way, but there really is no good result. Like he said the BEST case scenario involves marriage and one of you leaving the company - not exactly stress free. And how often does that happen? My guess is less than 1% (I couldn't find a stat and I didn't feel like spending any more time flipping through my Human Sexuality book from college or searching Google...and yes I took a sex class in college and it was awesome).

So over 99% of the time it ends badly - they either sleep together and call it quits or they date for a while and call it quits. Both scenarios absolutely suck. No one wants to spend that much time around an ex, especially one that can influence their career. What happens when one of them meets someone and the other one gets jealous? What if one of them starts dating another person at work?

When I first started my job out of college we had a really attractive administrative assistant. I had interned there previously so I felt comfortable asking a co-worker her deal was (i.e. was she single). He told me "don't shit where you eat" and walked away. I laughed, thought about it for a second, and realized that he was right, so I didn't. I realize it can be hard, but keep work and play separate. You've got enough to deal with without having to add that stress to your life.