Work and Relationships

Last night I had an interesting conversation. I was talking to a friend about some of the more inappropriate things we had heard about law clerks doing. (always fodder for an interesting conversation. It’s astonishing what young, intelligent, highly boozed professionals are capable of.) Anyway, I offered up a story I heard about a summer associate who was sleeping with one of her supervising attorneys. This led to a whole dialogue about work and dating…

At some point in one’s life, I think it is natural to be attracted to a coworker. If nothing else, the sheer amount of time spent doing your job is going to weigh in favor of it. Especially people who work long hours (i.e. lawyers, doctors, brokers, etc.), and who spend the short hours of the day they do have off sleeping, boozing and having myocardial infarctions. This is of course a dangerous game. Gone are the days when businessmen could have blatant affairs with their secretaries and not face censure. I think in the 50’s that sort of thing was a right of passage, something to talk about in the executive washroom. (Here I always imagine some sort of walnut paneled room full of old white guys who smell like scotch.) Back then men wore hats, aftershave, and their assistant’s lipstick on their collars. Hilarious.

Now though, the specter of harassment and propriety are always present. I honestly don’t know how effective that sort of thing is. People are pretty obvious about going after what they want anyway, they are just more likely to get burned for it post factum. I think the only effective policy is discriminate against attractive people during the hiring process. Maybe somehow try to limit the amount of hormones running through the business.

In any case, I have come to the following conclusion. The old saying goes, “don’t shit where you eat.” But what if you eat for twelve hours a day? Where are you supposed to shit? That’s right people… In your pants.