There is an office romance in almost every office around the world.  If you’re putting in long hours and your social group consists mainly of co-workers, most likely you have noticed someone of the opposite sex in the office.  The office romance is a very difficult challenge to pull off successfully.  As most of us have seen, or experienced, things can go from good to horrible in a hurry.  With all of that being said, I’m going to give you my 5 rules for a successful office romance.

1. Don’t date your boss!
If you are going to have an office romance, rule number one is to not date your boss.  This is just going to end in disaster.  When you date your boss your work situation changes dramatically because it is hard to keep your work relationship and your work romance separate.  If people do find out about the relationship it is going to make them either think that you are getting special treatment from the boss, or in a worse scenario you are going to get more work to make it seem like there are no favorites.  It’s just a bad scenario.

2. Start it out quiet
When an office romance first begins it is important that both of you keep it quiet.  You should not be telling other co-workers, or even friends that have an acquaintance with one of your co-workers.  It is important that nobody knows about the romance at the beginning because if shit hits the fan – it is easier to go back to normal if nobody else is involved in the situation.

3. Decide on fling or relationship
If you’re going to have an office romance, you need to decide if it is an office fling or an office relationship.  There is a big difference because if it is just a fling, nobody has to know about it and you can both agree that you’re okay with stopping it at any time. 

If it is a relationship, you need to ease the rest of your co-workers into it.  My favorite technique is to start the rumor yourself that there is a romance in the office, involving you.  By doing this you are in control of what people are talking about in regard to your relationship.

4. Do have sex in the office (after hours)
Everybody wants to do this.  If you are going to get romantic with someone in the office, then you should fulfill the opportunity to get your ‘freak on’ in the office.  Need I say more?  No.

5. Have fun!
There are a lot of things that can go wrong with an office romance.  That is why when you decide to get involved with someone in the office you need to both agree to have fun while doing it!  Send each other dirty emails, and dirty instant messages.  Leave each other notes that only you will know what they mean.  Just because there are things that can go wrong, doesn’t mean you have to treat it like it’s really forbidden.  It happens!  So go ahead, slap their ass when nobody is looking and enjoy an office romance.