Work Husband and Work Wife

I used to watch these sitcom television shows where people would talk about work husbands and work wives. I thought this was completely fake until I heard some people at my job talking about it.

If you don’t know, a work husband or work wife is pretty much the title one receives when they spend too much time at work with someone of the opposite sex.

How it Starts...

So, Joe is married and he spends ten hours a day at work pouring over a project. He also has a partner that helps him named Jane. Jane and Joe know everything about each other because they spend 10 hours a day together. They’re very friendly and Joe feels more confident confiding in Jane then he does his own wife. Once he gets home, he has some dinner and heads off to bed with barely a word to his wife, just some generic conversation “how was your day?” “Fine, how was yours?” This would most definitely be considered a work husband/wife scenario. This kind of relationship is fine if you’re single, but from my viewpoint, completely inexcusable if you’re married.

How to Avoid It...

If possible, change project partners. If you’re able to get a man instead of a woman, or vice versa, then do it. Why tempt yourself? In this world of political correctness, segregation is so highly spoken against. “Women can do what men can do.” That’s correct, and I believe it to be completely true. That however, does not change the fact that by working with each other, you can create temptation. I’m not blaming women for this, I’m just saying this happens normally without anyone really noticing.

Think about how you met your husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend. If it started out as a friendship, then it was probably pretty platonic in the beginning. And that changed after spending time together. People think that merely controlling your “sexual tension” is enough; No, it’s not, there shouldn’t be sexual tension at work. It’s work. The only sexual tension that should be controlled is the tension that you have for your husband or wife because you’ve been apart for 8 – 10 hours. If you have any other kind of tension, you need to request a new partner or team, and you need to let your husband or wife know so you can fix it before it becomes a real problem.

How to Stop It...

Obviously it is clear that individuals are bound to forge relationships at work, but when it starts destroying their true relationships, then it’s time to draw some lines. How can this be done?

Stop sharing every little thing with the person at work; Plain and simple. This person does not need to know about issues going on at home. If you have marriage problems that need to be talked out, then bring it to your wife, or a marriage counselor. By talking about marriage problems with another woman, you’re pretty much yelling “I’m unhappy, do you want to make me feel better?” I’m sure sometimes this is the person’s underlying intentions without even realizing it.

Infidelity runs rampant through relationships, and it is so terribly sad to see. These people  who pledge to love each other for sickness or health, richer or poorer, and yet our divorce rate is 50%! One out of every two marriages fail in America, and every one of those marriages took the same pledge. There is no reason except for peoples' selfish ways. It may sound extreme what I suggest, but no job is worth a marriage. When you take that oath, you better be willing to live under a bridge and stay faithful rather than have a billion dollars and fail them.