# Dating coworkers **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dating-coworkers/610470 "2012-01-24T03:10:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dating-coworkers/610470/41 "2012-01-25T12:20:37Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I voted ‘other’. The option that was closest was #2, but what would concern me is not that we be of the same rank, but that we not be at different levels in the same chain of command. No dating your boss or underling, for example. This leaves open the possibility of a lineworker dating a manager in another department, for example. I suspect that cultural differences might tend to dissuade cross-rank dating, but outside of the same chain of command, I’m sure it happens. What he said. ---
**Author:** ![Kiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiber/32/317_2.png) [@Kiber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiber)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dating-coworkers/610470/42 "2012-01-25T15:44:55Z")
I did once. She directly reported to me. Now, after 12 years of marriage, I directly report to her. So, yep. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dating-coworkers/610470/43 "2012-01-25T16:21:58Z")
I dated a girl even though we were a different rank. She was a secretary. I dated the same girl even though we worked directly together. She was my secretary. I dated the same girl even though she was 7 years younger than me. All of my coworkers told me how foolish the whole thing was. Our youngest child will graduate from college this spring, just a few days after our 28th wedding anniversary. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dating-coworkers/610470/44 "2012-01-26T04:13:25Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I married my co-worker, but the job wasn’t terribly important to either of us, and we were both gone within six months. Yeah, a lot of people feel that way about marriage.😃 ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dating-coworkers/610470/45 "2012-01-26T04:45:21Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > I could make the reasons not to date people I work with into a Logic puzzle. The kind with clues like “the man who is boinking his own boss is not too old for me” and “the youngest staff member and his wife are both looking for full time jobs.” > > Clearly I need to either get a hobby or get some sleep. Maybe both. Unless someone really wants me to design this puzzle. I, uh… well, clearly it would be a better use of your time to get some sleep, but I must say there is a part of me that would really like to see this puzzle. Anyway. I don’t see anything wrong with it, so I picked #1, but then again my company is pretty fluid with regard to lines of management. My husband and I work for the same company, and did before we got married; during that time I’ve worked for him once and he’s worked for me once (both for a period of several months), and it all seems to have gone just fine. I suppose I might feel differently if our company were rigid and one of us were the boss of the other all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dating-coworkers/610470/46 "2012-01-29T13:45:33Z")
I’m married, but if I weren’t, then there’s no problem, not in my case. I work in a Fortune 10 company. Anyone in the chain of command is out, and probably people in my department, but c’mon, people in other departments? That’s like a different company. There’s a small risk that if things went bad we’d have to work together, but in my company, there are already lots of different personalities that we deal with and overcome. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dating-coworkers/610470/47 "2012-01-29T17:25:12Z")
I only did it once. I don’t regret it. It was with my last SO. I bet my daughter would feel differently. Her last job she fell hard for a co-worker and he used her trust to steal money from her register. She got fired. He’s still there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dating-coworkers/610470.md?page=2)