That is, avoid getting into romantic relationships with people at work. And for God's sake don't think of work as a cruising ground for members of the appropriate sex(es).
Sure, there's a chance both of you might simultaneously be two of the lucky ones for whom everything always goes perfectly, without any hitches or conflicts. But back in the real world, relationships have problems, and jobs have problems, and when one of those problems inevitably occurs in one domain, it sucks if it dominos over into the other domain.
In the ideal world, we'd all be eternally happy with our personal relationships, and eternally happy with our jobs. But if you suddenly become unhappy with one for some reason, it really sucks if you also lose the other because of it.
And also remember what Freewheelin' Franklin of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers said:
"Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."
I honestly think there's a huge amount of survivor bias in this mindset. I'm in my thirties and I know more married couples who met at work than those who didn't meet at work. And the ones who didn't meet at work met at school. Even had two senior managers at my first job break up their marriages (both with kids) to get together. As far as I know they got married and are still happily together.
I think you just hear a lot more of the wild stories of the ones that go wrong.
The thing is, most romantic relationships fail. If it’s someone you met online or even a friend of a friend, you likely won’t see them that often after you break up, which is decidedly not the case for a colleague. So while it might work out with a colleague, and the odds aren’t even that bad, more caution is warranted.
Of course, it’s probably not terrible advice to tell everyone in a breakup to treat their soon-to-be ex as if they will one day be your manager. It’s just not likely that everyone will be able to follow through.
Here's an important corollary:
Don't shit where you eat.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/don%27t_shit_where_you_eat
That is, avoid getting into romantic relationships with people at work. And for God's sake don't think of work as a cruising ground for members of the appropriate sex(es).
Sure, there's a chance both of you might simultaneously be two of the lucky ones for whom everything always goes perfectly, without any hitches or conflicts. But back in the real world, relationships have problems, and jobs have problems, and when one of those problems inevitably occurs in one domain, it sucks if it dominos over into the other domain.
In the ideal world, we'd all be eternally happy with our personal relationships, and eternally happy with our jobs. But if you suddenly become unhappy with one for some reason, it really sucks if you also lose the other because of it.
And also remember what Freewheelin' Franklin of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers said:
"Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETBgAc0WoAEEZMF.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Broth...