Getting a rise in the office

by KLINTON PORTER

So, single life is getting you down. The bars you go to have the regular faces and the saunas all know you by name. Where can you find love that is an untapped resource?

Well they say you should think outside the box. Surely this means the cubicle you work in. Yes, an office romance may be just the trick you have been looking for.

And I shall stop sounding like a commercial, but did you know that the workplace is number three on the list of places to meet people, after parties and bars.

Of course the success ratio isn’t the best but that doesn’t mean you won’t be one of those couples. Try to think of it as fate bringing you together -“ a same place, same time mentality.

To start an office romance is quite a delicate operation. First you need to find a target that is single. Then you organise a work function such as drinks, and invite them to come along.

While at the drinks function plant the seed by chatting with them through the night, picking up on the signals. If it appears to be a green light suggest a friendly dinner, minus the work people of course. Don’t say the word date. Again, a very delicate operation.

Dinner is the real test. At the end of dinner, like any date, it’s the goodbye that will tell you yay or nay. A kiss or follow up date means you’re in and your office romance is in full bloom. Otherwise that’s that and you go back as closer friends.

Of course if you don’t want to date this person, just have some fun, at the drinks function make a passing remark about sleeping with them. If they turn and seem interested off you go. If they turn their head with a horrified look, pass it off as a joke and speak to someone else.

Not surprisingly option number two is the most popular around Australia with 65 percent of people having flings in the workplace. Some of us are just too busy to get it somewhere else. It is a great moral booster and gives you incentive for going into work.

If it goes badly though, the gossip and awkwardness will be monumental, so you need to prepare yourself for that.

But why not try a little cupid at your place of work and the next time you are in a board meeting you might start to wonder if the stains on the table in front of you really are from the coffee.