‘Jiske saath vyapar karo usse kabhi na pyar karo’ may be life’s philosophy for some while being just another Bollywood filmy dialogue for others. The idea of office romance or dating your colleague is a risky terrain to traverse. It can either make your days bloomy or bring havoc in your personal as well as professional life.
A Redditor u/wafflesinmyhouse posted a similar question in the popular r/AskReddit community, asking people who’ve dated their co-workers to share their experiences and, well, people have lots to say.
1. “Married 23 years, two kids in college. Very much in love still.”
2. “A decade later, he’s asleep next to me right now. But as soon as we started dating we also started looking for different jobs. Maybe it would have been fine, but I think our decision to stop being coworkers allowed for a much healthier dynamic in the long run.”
– gwart_
3. “Didn’t work, but it wasn’t a catastrophic crash and burn at least.”
4. “The romantic relationship ended, but she’s now a very close friend. We still support each other and tell each almost everything.”
– bigirv10
5. “About 10 years ago I was seeing a coworker pretty casually. She started dating another coworker shortly after we stopped seeing each other. They got married, had kids, and he stabbed her to death about a year and a half ago.”
6. “Don’t get involved (in any way unless JUST friendship) with co-workers. Worst decision of my life. I’m sure it’s worked out for other people but boy if I could go back in time, I definitely wouldn’t have gotten involved.”
7. “Not only was she my coworker, but she was my boss. Married 11 years this October with 3 beautiful babies.”
8. “Divorced, would not do it again, Personal problems turned into work problems quite quickly with it not being unusual to walk into work and have other people asking me questions about private conversations we had had.”
– Dredly
9. “Dated my coworker. We tried to keep it a secret so we wouldn’t get passed up for promotions, but people notice things. Neither of us ever got promoted because it would cause an inappropriate power dynamic. Both of us had to switch jobs.”
10. “It just makes work weird… Do not do it… This ain’t ‘The Office‘, not everyone gets a Pam and Jim or Dwight and Angela, more like Michael and Jan…”
11. “Well I dated one coworker, we’re still together and very happy three years later! We are actively planning our futures together. However, I wouldn’t recommend this if you enjoy your job/career. After we let the company know they started scheduling us opposite eachother as if we were two immature schoolkids. Needless to say I’d had enough after just three months and quit, my partner proceeded to quit after another 7 months.”
12. “Great….until it wasn’t. Don’t shit where you eat..”
‘To each their own’, I guess. Would you date your colleague?