Office Romance Is Kosher (at Least at the JCC)
In an article titled “Boss’s Memo: Go Ahead, Date (With My Blessing),” The New York Times reports that workplace romance, once frowned upon, is increasingly accepted. “That some people believe they can openly date co-workers without endangering their job reflects what those who study the workplace and several surveys suggest: the conventional wisdom about dating the heart-stirrer in the next cubicle is going the way of Wite-Out,” the Times wrote.
Now, this may very well be true, but the article’s lead anecdote certainly doesn’t prove much. The article begins:
Soon after word spread that Sarah Kay and Matt Lacks were conducting an office romance, Ms. Kay found herself in the office of the director of human resources. There was a time when such a meeting would have signaled a death knell for the relationship, and even jeopardized the employees’ careers.
Yet as Ms. Kay, 29, cheerfully recounted, the human resources director told her, “We’re just all really glad that you made a friend.”
It’s a dramatic way to start an article. (Will she be fired? Phew, the H.R. person is actually pleased. What a surprise!) What we learn in a few paragraphs, however, is that the two were working for the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. And it’s hardly as if, in a different era, JCC bosses would have put the kibosh on a blossoming romance between two young Jews. The icing on the cake is that the Times spoke with the couple’s boss, who just happened to be a rabbi and, of course, ended up officiating at their wedding.
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