‘We would share looks across rooms, kiss in elevators when we managed to find alone time.’

“Two summers ago, I was a caterer with my ex-girlfriend at our university.

“We started dating before we got those jobs. By the time we were working together, we had been dating for over a year.

“It was honestly one of the best times of my life. We would share looks across rooms and kiss in elevators when we managed to find alone time. Sadly, not a very salacious or dramatic experience. Our boss knew we were dating and didn’t have a problem with us working the same events.

“We’re not together anymore, but working together really didn’t have anything to do with our breakup.

“The biggest challenge of working together, honestly, was maintaining the balance of social circles. Many of our coworkers were also friends, some mutual, some not, and many were privy to the fact that we were dating. So if I was working with a friend, I had to be aware of the grapevine.” —anonymous Business Insider employee

‘We didn’t keep it a secret, but were as discreet as we could be about it.’

“I met my fiancé nearly five years ago when we were working together for a fast-growing daily-deals startup in Chicago.

“When we met we shared a cubicle. Our department had just moved to a new office and space was tight. We had a lot in common and quickly became good friends. It’s worth noting that we did not begin dating until months after we no longer shared a cubicle and both of our roles had changed a bit so that there was less overlap in our work. We worked together for about another year and a half at the same company after we began dating.

“Generally it was totally fine. We were both keenly aware of the prevailing attitude that it’s often a bad idea to date a coworker. And also that it could have the potential to be really bad news if things sour. But none of that was a problem for us.

“We didn’t keep it a secret, but were as discreet as we could be about it. Nobody really cared, and it wasn’t necessarily atypical in the young, laid-back startup environment. The biggest challenge was somewhat unexpected, though in hindsight seems obvious: It made it harder to unplug from work. You wind up talking about the same stuff a lot of the time, which can become a bit of a drain.

“Anyway, now we’re getting married, so it worked out great. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend anyone date a coworker, but it’s worth the potential pitfalls if you first build a great work friendship, are both generally chill people, and are confident enough it can turn into something long-term.” —anonymous Business Insider editor

Curated by Erbe
Original Article