Work is the new home away from home. On average more waking hours are spent at work than they are at home. So it’s a very good thing when you can find a work place that is comfortable and friendly, and overall tolerable.
What makes a work environment a place that you don’t hate being when you would rather be somewhere else is the people who share that place with you and who are there with you in thick and thin. They are your second family and that can be and it can be bad.
Families argue fuss and fight. It’s natural for anybody who is familiar with each other to feel comfortable being on their worst behavior as much as they are on their best behavior. Family also feels okay about sharing how they feel about each other without holding back. In other words, things can get too close for comfort.
But sometimes this closeness evolves to a whole other level that no longer feels very comfortable for anybody except two people. The two coworkers who are hot for each other.
It’s never a good idea to mix business with pleasure when it comes to your work space. It’s a golden rule of thumb. But even the most conscientious people find themselves in relationships with their coworkers. The majority of these relationships end badly. After getting down and dirty with each other, it is difficult for one or both people to pick up where they left off professionally. One person usually leaves the office or company completely. But for the people left behind, the gossip about the relationship serves as lunch time entertainment for months after the scandal breaks.
Making it a point to just not get involved in the first place is the safest bet when it comes to this kind of office bonding and fondling. Unfortunately keeping ourselves out of the party mix is not always enough to shield us from the drama that comes with it.
When two of your office mates become mates in real life, it gets really weird, really fast. They may think they are hiding it well, and that nobody can tell what they’re up to, but everybody knows. All the shared lunch breaks, the inside jokes that only they are in on, and the late nights they dutifully put in together at the office, paint a clear, but ugly picture.
These people usually have mates at home that the rest of the staff may know. And by having an obvious fling at work they are indirectly bringing everybody in the office into it. Not only is this uncomfortable, it’s unprofessional, and irritating. Since these two now think of work as an eight hour date, they usually do not pull their own weight in the office, and their coworkers have to pick up the slack, or share in getting the flack from the boss about the work not being done.
They have the choice of where to hook up and with whom. But their coworkers have no choice but to be in that office for eight hours or more, and the last thing they want to endure is being forced to double date with their coworkers.