The Office Romance: To Have or Have Not?

I’m kinda partial to office romances. It may be because I met my husband at work and seven eight years later we’re still going strong. So it’s no surprise that I made an office romance something central to my first novel. But, with office romances comes the possibility that things can go terribly wrong. Even in my case, my hubby (boyfriend at the time) had a messy break up while still working together that luckily turned into happily ever after instead of what the hell was I thinking.

About a week ago I came across an article that gave tips to having an office romance. It had some very good advice such as being discreet, protect your reputation and don’t ask for special treatment. These were all rules that Kenyatta and Malcolm tried to follow in my novel. Malcolm really wanted to protect Kenyatta’s reputation because history taught him how easily an office affair can damage a person’s good name. He also didn’t want it to seem as if he was giving Kenyatta special treatment because of his attraction to her.

The discretion point is harder to achieve, in my opinion. No matter how much you may try to hide that there’s something going on, people always know. In offices large and small you can tell the ones who spend more time with each other than others. It’s bound to happen. For us working folks, we spend 8-10 hours a day five days a week around your co-workers. Even without romance relationships develop. I’ve tossed around the title of “work wife” or “work husband” for co-workers that I’ve developed more of a friendship with than just the work acquaintance.

The only time I’m strongly against office romances is when one are both people are already involved in a relationship. That’s cheating. Hands down.

Tell me your thoughts on the rules for an office romance? Do you think they’re worth having?