Let’s give them something to talk about

Romance is always sticky, but when students mix it with work or the classroom, dating can get even more complicated.

Some businesses have policies about dating on the job, but at USU the policy for relationships between co-workers is simple.

“There isn’t one to my knowledge,” said David L. Ottley, director of the Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Office.

Even without an official policy, dating at work may lead to disaster if sexual harassment occurs or if the advances from an individual to another are unwelcome.

“The problem is that if the relationship goes south, then it brings that dynamic and discomfort into the workplace,” Ottley said.

Some students say workplace relationships can make it difficult to keep your hands to yourself.

“Some people can keep it very professional at work, and others are, like, kissing at work, which is not appropriate,” said Natalie Cook, a senior majoring in journalism.

Though the USU policy does not dictate relationships between employees, there is a policy for management dating their employees. Commonly cited policy is #339, “Amorous relationships between a supervisor and an employee or between a faculty member and a student are discouraged.”

The reason is that the imbalance of power may cause one party to consent when they would not have otherwise done so, Ottley said.

Teachers are not allowed to have romantic relationships with students, consensual or not, according to USU policy.

“If, for example, the other students know that you are dating the teacher and you get an A, well maybe you did not ‘deserve’ that grade, or maybe you earned it, but how can we tell?” Ottley said.

So though it is against university policy to snuggle up to your professor, the University is mum on dating between employees. Most people have a rule about not dating at work, but sometimes they ignore their common sense.

Cook, who has twice gone out with people she worked with, said she wouldn’t recommend dating co-workers but smiled and said, “I would make it a rule, but I know as soon as I did that, then I would meet like the perfect boy and I would say ‘just this once.'”

She once started dating a guy before he began working with her.

“So, I did not really choose to date someone I worked with,” she said.

However, she has dated others from work before.

“At first it was really nice. I mean, you can carpool to work, and it is great working with someone you are so close too,” Cook said. “You never had to make time or sacrifice work because you already set aside that time for work.”

Even though Cook had a good relationship, sometimes dating co-worker can make everything complicated if they bring their relationships into the life of other employees.

“You bring your drama to work, and if it doesn’t work out, then it really is their business, because they know both of you and your relationship,” Cook said.

Sometimes it is only awkward if the couple makes it that way, though. At least that is how it was for Amber Skidmore, majoring in exercise science.

“I was working at the Buckle for about a year before he got there,” Skidmore said about the boy she dated at her job.

“He approached me at work and said ‘Hey we have math together.’ I didn’t even know that we had math together. So we started hanging out and studying, going rock climbing. We started dating without dating.”

One day however, Skidmore went to the back room and found her co-worker texting him at the same time she was.

“We had been dating him at the same time,” she said. “It never really became awkward, but it could have been if I had cared. I did get teased by all my co-workers for dating him.”

But some environments are more conducive to romance than others. One person who has never had any problem with keeping his love life separate from his work is Blake Terry, a senior in liberal arts.

“I work construction, and a lot of the guys I work with aren’t, um, girls,” he said.

-skjohnson@cc.usu.edu