Dating at Work and with Coworkers
The best place to meet women is somewhere you go every day anyway. So what fits that description more than your job?
You may already be attracted to a woman at work, but you might not feel completely confident about asking her out.
Making a work relationship personal has its own pros, cons, and issues. Here are a few:
Pros: You’re already there, you work with women, you already know who they are and have an excuse to talk to them occasionally – what could be simpler than asking one out?
Cons: There may not be very many women at your job, or at least not women that you’re interested in. If either one of you has a stressful job, you might be too stressed to make a good impression no matter what you do.
There may even be a company policy against dating coworkers. And, if you have a bad breakup, there’s no way short of quitting that you can avoid each other. Because of that, you’re always going to have a little fear in the back of your mind.
The women you’ll meet: Women you already know a little something about. They are mature enough to hold a job, and you can figure out a little more about them by observing them at work.
The relationship you can expect: Friendly and casual. Neither of you wants to have a bad breakup, so you might stay in it a little longer than necessary even if you both agree you should break it off. You both ought to be able to date other people, but not other people that you work with.
What to avoid: There are a lot of hazards to a workplace romance. You don’t want to trigger a harassment suit, so if you’re her boss or vice versa, a relationship isn’t a good idea.
Don’t come on too strong, and always be politically correct for the people you work with. You don’t want to say something to her that you wouldn’t want your boss to hear. Don’t be rude, ever. You’ll never get away with it.
The bottom line: Dating your coworkers only works between equals, so definitely don’t try it if either of you is the other’s boss. Check your company’s official policy about dating – it could be that they don’t care, or that it’s absolutely forbidden, or somewhere in between.
A workplace romance is best when you already know and respect each other, and your relationship has grown naturally to the point where you are friends outside of work as well. That way, if you happen to break up, it’s less likely to be ugly.