Office Mate: Your Employee Handbook for Romance on the Job by Stephanie Kisee, Helaine Olen

Product Details

Synopsis

The greatest pool of potential mates isn't online, or in a bar, or at the gym. It's on the job. With more than 40 percent of American employees logging over 50 hours each week, where else are people going to find time to look for a date? Work-based romances develop gradually over months and years, allowing people to get to know one another instead of rushing to judgments based on first impressions.

Office Mate teaches readers how to make the most of the office dating pool, offering specific dos and don'ts on what to look for in a potential paramour, how to handle the romance day to day, and how to protect a career if the relationship goes sour. Stephanie Losee and Helaine Olen's practical guide is useful even for those with no eligible candidates in their current nine-to-five gig, with tips for readers on how to expand their professional networks to jumpstart both their love lives and careers. With fun "Instant Messages," fast facts, first-person Water Cooler Confessions, and Famous Dates in Office Mate History, this hip handbook gives singles everywhere the green light to take that office flirtation to the next level.

Deborah Bigelow - Library Journal

Controversial though it may be, workplace romance is flourishing. Both Losee and Olen, contributors to internationally known newspapers and magazines, met their husbands on the job. They here maintain that the office serves as the village of the 21st century, and they offer rules and suggestions for dating coworkers. Some of their dos include being oneself, taking no for an answer, and discussing the worst-case scenario early in the relationship. Among the don'ts are violating sexual-harassment laws, fighting in the office, and dating a married person. The authors deal honestly with the prevalence of office romances and provide helpful advice for keeping them aboveboard. Recommended for all libraries.

Biography

Stephanie Losee is a frequent contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine and Northern California Public Radio. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, the New York Post, and Child. She's been married for 16 years to a man she met when they both worked at PC Magazine. They live in San Francisco, CA.

Helaine Olen's work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Variety, the Washington Post, Salon.com, Working Woman, and the Chicago Tribune. Her essay for the New York Times's "Modern Love" column, "The New Nanny Diaries Are Online," was included in the anthology Modern Love. She too has been married for 16 years to a man she met when they both worked at a publishing house. They live in Westchester County, NY.