How to Handle the Office Romance

Editor's note: If you have a pressing business-etiquette question for Miss Conduct, please send her an email.

In case you ignored Miss Conduct's advice last week about office attractions and have indulged in that most forbidden of summer fruit, this week's column addresses the etiquette of office romance.

Power Plays

Office romance is an oxymoron -- and not just because this contradiction in terms usually makes you look stupid.

As a stalwart fool for love, Miss Conduct hates to be a killjoy (it's just too much responsibility), but all there is at the office is competition. Bring your heart into that arena and someone is going to take competitive advantage of it.

Your beloved might take advantage of your affection, your rivals might take advantage of your distraction -- and your boss might take advantage of your mistake by underpaying you, assigning you the crummy tasks, killing you with faint praise or otherwise thwarting your goals.

It happens all the time -- and not just to corporate spies but to everyone from politicians to yoga instructors. There's an old saying in Hollywood that "it's called show business for a reason -- it sure ain't show friend," and now that we're all globally connected, this wisdom holds in every field.

Heaven forbid one of the dewy-eyed darlings should be the director of something -- human nature and office politics being what they are, the rest of your working group will suffer when two of you get in a clinch.