Something on the side?

Workplace Affairs: Affairs with Colleagues are Dangerous

Work can be a dangerous place. And we’re not talking about breathing in the fumes from the photocopier or the scaldingly hot coffee from the coffee machine. We’re talking about the sexual subcurrents that flow through offices.

Firstly, assuming you work in a relatively modern environment, it brings us into close regular contact with members of the opposite sex. This can in itself be dangerous. If you find yourself working alongside some stunning creature from Planet Sex then even if you’re happily attached you can find yourself thinking unhealthy thoughts.

And then there’s the time. 8 hours a day, working knee-to-knee with someone on the same projects in the same space. That’s conceivably as much as you spend with your spouse. And you’re not just watching TV cosily on the sofa – you’re pursuing shared objectives, helping each other out. You might both hate your boss and laugh at a particular colleague. So naturally you go out to lunch together… start to lower your guard and discuss your home life. Maybe you’ve just had a fight with your Significant Other and just want to moan about it.

All the while, you’re getting closer and developing a bond based on personal knowledge, in-jokes and regular contact. Can you keep all that platonic? Sure. Lots of people do. But long before the perils of cybersex reared their head people were finding themselves ensnared in little honeypots of temptation by their co-workers.

Tips For a Workplace Affair

• Discretion! At least cybersex is confined a monitor screen where only an unguarded, over-the-shoulder glance would give the game away. Your office dalliance takes place under the watchful gaze of gossip-hungry colleagues. That means, more than anything else, not showing too much affection towards each other around the office.
• Communication! Your emails, phone use and more can be easily tracked by IT staff. And those guys are just dying to catch someone screwing around – if only to enliven their days. Do not start sending flirtatious little nothings by your day-t0-day work email address. If your IT policy is particularly zealous, don’t even use MSN or personal email accounts – you could find yourself having to explain while you’re using them during office hours in the first place.
• Don’t brag! You might be boning the single hottest chick (or hunk) in Accounts and feel justly proud of that fact. Boasting about it to your less fortunate colleagues might seem tempting. But you know what office gossips are like. Keep firmly and irrevocably schtum.

Do all that and you might – just might – get away with your affair.

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