Office Romance: Yay or Nay?

 Credit: BusinessInsider

Are you like Pam or Jim from The Office?

Most of us spend at least 40 hours a week in the office, or 80% of our waking hours. With the countless stories exchanged, small talk and occasional personal remarks, we get to know our colleagues better than anyone else.

It would be superfluous to state that office romances are not kosher -- when two singles spend that much time together and develop a strong bond, the rush of the heart racing is natural and common. There is also something inherently dangerous or taboo about dating in the office that makes it even more enticing. You are being watched, whether by your supervisor, fellow co-workers or even the security guard who canvases the building and frequently sees you two walking together. The thrill of doing something seemingly unorthodox gives the office romance a hint of vulnerability that fuels youthful passion.

Sometimes, the most passionate of relationships come with the most difficult demises. Stripped of the romance, you are just two co-workers who often need to cooperate on projects and communicate hourly about the job. A nasty breakup or conflict will heavily cripple both your abilities to carry out your professional duties. Just being in the same office may prove uneasy.

So where does that leave us? Abandon the romance?

Nobody can answer this but yourself. You know yourself better than anyone else. You know whether you are the type that can bounce back into a cordial professional demeanor after a split, or whether you are the type to go running as far away as possible in the face of discomfort. Assess your situation with the best possible objective view, knowing that things are never nearly as predictable as one may hope. For those who do decide to pursue the romance, here are three wise tips:
 
1. Keep work and love separate:

You will constantly run into each other in the office. Keep your co-workers and boss out of the picture. Do not get anyone involved by displaying your affection or attending company events as a couple. When you are in the office, you are there to work. Every hug or act of love in front of your co-workers taints their ability to fully judge you for your work alone. The last thing you want is for your co-workers to associate you as the “girlfriend” instead of the “professional.” In a world where office gossip is a regular part of life, do not position yourself so that you become the hot topic of discussion.

2. Communicate early on about boundaries:

Assuming you are both reasonable, neither one of you desires things to escalate into a sour breakup. Have the talk very early on about what you both want. Confirm with each other your abilities to resume a cordial working relationship if things end. Discuss all foreseeable or possible issues and how you would handle them. Discuss the unintended consequences, acknowledging that what you are doing comes with inherent risks and accepting them.

3. Communication again when things get serious:

If your relationship does become something serious, talk about possible options to distance yourselves as co-workers. Perhaps one could approach a supervisor as ask for more work in a different department, or seek officers further away from each other. Reassignment may allow for a position that allows some space.

For anyone currently facing a prospective office romance, we would love to hear what you think! Please leave us comments below!

5 Types of Annoying Facebook Friends

An answer to your Facebook friend woes

 
We all have those facebook friends whom we kind-of-sort-of want to defriend but our proclivity for annoyance won’t let us. For better or for worse, we love to email our actual friends “Did you see Jesse’s status? Talk about TMI” and then have lengthy conversations about the propriety of said information. Here is a look at five of the worst Facebook status offenders. We have included an appropriate reply for each friend in case you would like to send a passive aggressive message through your own status.
 
1.       The Over-sharer
 
As soon as you sign into your account you can find out that this person had salad for lunch, finished an eventful colonoscopy and hopes it will provide answers for their IBS or their boyfriend cheated on them with a stripper named Chastity. While I cannot imagine what brings someone to share such personal details, I can assure you that your Facebook friends do not care for a picture of the mysterious growth you are struggling to identify.
 
 

                
2.       The Wanna-be Model

This particular Facebook friend was told by a hormonal high school beau that she is breathtakingly beautiful. Next came the pretty pictures taken during the winter holidays. Mom caught some good light and WBM received enthusiastic feedback from her friends. This, coupled with the ex-boyfriend’s compliments assured her that she has what it takes to dethrone Adriana Lima. Thus begins a painful series of self-taken myspace-style pictures quickly followed by uncomfortably revealing, those-are-not-clothes pictures that you are pretty sure were taken by a porn director.

3.       The Political Fanatic

You know who you are. You picked up a nugget on a conspiracy site and now you are spreading “the truth!” It doesn’t matter what your views are – democrat, republican, independent, octopus. Repeating the same point in caps followed by 17 exclamation marks will not get anyone who is challenging you to an argument to change his mind. Or to respect you.

 

 4.       The One with the “Perfect Boyfriend”

Signing into Facebook on Valentine’s Day was like browsing 1800Flowers. “My boyfriend/fiance/ husband is so amazing he sent me carnations to my cubicle!” Thank you so much for posting a picture – we had no idea what carnations look like. Other banal statuses include “my incredibly sweet boyfriend just washed the car!” “How sweet is my hubby. He just started the dishwasher.” I think we need to have a lesson differentiating between romantic gestures and household chores.

 
5.       The Passive Aggressive “Mysterious” Poster

When you post a status like “I can’t believe you would do that” I know for a fact that you want us to fall all over ourselves asking about your plight. This particular friend relishes the attention that comes with mysterious posts. He/she also enjoys people fretting and asking “You’re not mad at ME are you?” The more people ask the more mysterious the responses. But once this friend realizes that the inquiries are petering out he/she gives up the pretense and spills the beans. Why not save time and web real estate and just tell us off the bat that you are devastated because your boyfriend got you the wrong order at Starbucks.

 

There is a sixth breed of Facebook friend. The I-complain-about-annoying-statuses-but-do-not-defriend. Most of us have been guilty of this one. Tell us what your Facebook pet peeves are!

Five Guys We’d Like to See on The Bachelor

After quite the whirlwind finale (see previous post for details), we are now dreaming of a better upcoming season of The Bachelor. Here are the top five guys in our book:

Adam Levine

source: wikipedia

Who says tattoos are bad? He can sing us songs every night over a candlelit dinner. Rather than awful reality show background music, the theme of the season can be Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved.”

Zac Efron

source: hollywoodreporter

High School Musical teen pop star no longer. Have you seen the previews for The Lucky One?

George Clooney

credit: People

Age is no barrier to beautiful men. If things don’t work out with Stacy Keibler, we would love to see this silver fox choose his wife in a crowd young and beautiful ladies.

Tim Tebow
 

 credit: Orlando Sentinel

Such a fetching fella (pun intended)…we can only imagine what kinds of adventurous group dates he would plan for the ladies. Unfortunately, according to recent news, Tebow has turned down the offer to be on The Bachelor.

Ronnie from Jersey Shore
 

Fist pumping through the night and using outrageous amounts of hair product. Since breaking up with on-and-off girlfriend Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola, it seems Ronnie is an eligible bachelor.

Who would you like to see on The Bachelor? Let us know by leaving a comment!

BachelorNation: Anyone Else Play Bengo?

 credit: https://www.facebook.com/TheBachelor

With the Bachelor season finale looming over us in less than 24 hours, we are gearing up for the “most dramatic season final yet!” (Thank you, Chris Harrison). Standing by for the big event are fake roses, expertly picked out cocktail attire and a stack of BENGO. Somewhere in a retirement community Bingo is wallowing in self-pity over this caricature. Bengo’s fields are hilariously Bachelor-esque: Ben staring off into the distance with inner monologue; “Are you nervous;” “Fallen for Ben” “My biggest fear” “Connection” and other clichés the franchise has capitalized on over the lifetime of the series.

At first it seemed like Bengo was a perfectly natural addition to our Monday night ritual. But after further reflection I realized that I am dismayed with the show and that Bengo is the necessary ingredient to keep my interest piqued. Over 16 seasons of the Bachelor there has yet to be a successful – never mind happy – ending. (Flip-flopping does not count. Sorry, Jason).  So forgive me if I am not buying into the concept of journey to true love or that these people “have never had stronger feelings for anybody else.” The women are always “incredible.” I am fairly certain that ABC gives the contestants a sheet with approved adjectives and phrases. Either that, or the Bachelors have had very poor communication skills.

In light of the poor results, it is no wonder that I look for entertainment in other facets of the Bachelor. Bengo certainly helps. But Courtney has been the true star of my Bachelor season. Say what you will, the girl is beautiful and endlessly entertaining. The other contestants complained about Courtney’s drive to win as if they came for the big sleepover. If I were Ben I’d want the one that wants me.

Courtney had a tough time on the show because she spoke her mind. Her mind, seemingly spiteful and venomous, presented a problem for the other girls. But not for me. Not because I don’t  believe in true love. I very much do. I just do not believe it can be found on the Bachelor. I think it’s time to stop pretending that we are watching this show because we are romantics and admit that this is a guilty pleasure. If we just embrace it for what it is – the drama we crave but hope stays far away from our personal lives –  we will all come to appreciate Courtney for the immense entertainment value she brought to the show and hope for a Courtney each season.

She was in it to win it and I respect that. Did the other girls not come to win? Don’t get me wrong, I love my girlfriends. But if one of them was going after my boyfriend I would deliver the kill-shot too.

 credit: Picktainment

Love Roundup - october

Engagement Rumors
Trace Cyrus + Brenda Song - Confirmed. Pregnancy rumors emerged a few months ago. while that is yet to be resolved, the couple announced on Twitter that the engagement is real. What else is real? The tattoo teardrops on his face.
Francis Bean Cobain + Isaiah Silva - Semi-confirmed? Daughter of Courtney Love and the late Kurt Cobain is getting married according to a recent Facebook status change.
Kaley Cuoco + Josh Resnik - Confirmed. The Big Bang Theory actress is getting hitched!
Frankie Muniz + Elycia Turnbow - Confirmed. Where has he been since Malcolm in the Middle? Courting Ms. Elycia, apparently. Congrats!

Fire and Woes
Alexa Ray Joel - After battling depression a couple years ago, the Piano Man’s daughter has confessed in an interview that she contracted HPV from her ex-boyfriend.
Michael Lohan - Lilo’s dad was arrested twice within a 24 hour period this week over domestic abuse claims by his on-and-off girlfriend. Why is he in the news? Because it’s amazing how a dysfunctional family is rich and famous for no apparent reason.

Trouble in Paradise - Breakups and Divorces
Kim Kardashian + Chris Humphries - Confirmed. They married in front of cameras and are now filing for divorce. Calculating all media rights, they each net $2k/hour. Not bad.
Ronnie + Sammi - Jersey Shore couple has called it quits. They’ve broken up before though, so we don’t really know what to make of this announcement.

Babies/families
Justin Bieber + Selena Gomez - Parents everywhere would flip a cow if these two young loves were pregnant. But the couple did in fact recently adopt a puppy. Baby steps. Pun intended.
Rachel Uchitel + Matt Hahn - Famous for being the other (far less attractive) woman Tiger Woods cheated on perfect Elin Nordegren with, Rachel is now pregnant with Matt’s child. The two wed in Las Vegas last month.