the drunken voicemail, the press release revenge, and other stories of workplace romance gone wrong … and right

by Alison Green on February 14, 2024

Last week you shared stories about office romance gone wrong — and gone right. For Valentine’s Day, here are 10 of my favorites.

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1. The voicemail

I used to work for a pretty toxic consulting organization that had a culture that was all kinds of boundary crossing. There were a lot of workplace shenanigans around drinking and hooking up, but one of the worst was a guy who left a long, rambling, drunken message on his boss’s voicemail thinking he was talking to his “stealth” office girlfriend. Everyone knew these two were having a drama-filled affair, but this ratcheted it up to the next level.

2. The library patron

I feel like we could do a whole thread of public library patron advances! My favorite was a guy who started out by asking a question about books about STDs, which transitioned into asking if I had STDs and then would I like to date. (No. To both!)

3. The revenge

I used to work in a wildly licentious industry where every trade show, conference, meeting, lunch hour or, like, Tuesday afternoon was an eagerly seized-upon opportunity to step outside one’s marriage.

My favorite is the woman who was pushed out of her husband’s company after he cheated on her at one of those aforementioned events/their subsequent divorce, started her own company AND regional association in the same industry out of pure spite, handily eclipsed his business until he sold it and exited the industry entirely, and then issued an absolutely beautiful press release when she got remarried to someone else in the industry.

4. The flowers

Early in my career (female, mid-twenties) I got involved with a key business contact, “C.” He was a charismatic, successful business owner who came to town four or five times a year. There was no documented rule against seeing him but, I knew better than to mention it. It was casual; I was young. We had some fun times.

At work, I got a call from a florist saying they’d tried unsuccessfully to deliver flowers to my apartment and asked for alternate location. I gave them the office address, with no clue they were from C. Receptionist read the card. Questions ensued. Within the hour, C sent flowers to every woman in the office, thanking them for all their diligent efforts. I don’t think my boss was fooled, especially as I later learned, she also had a “connection” with C.

5. The push

Back in my library days when I was a page (general reshelving/fetching/desk duty), two more pages were hired at the same time, both mid-twenties. I noticed the two of them sneaking glances at each other. My supervisor apparently noticed as well. Suddenly, the two of them were always working the desk together. Or sent off into the stacks to pull holds together. One afternoon when there was a little street fair going on a few blocks from the library, she suggested they go take their lunch early and get a funnel cake while they were at it.

They were engaged within six months and married a year later. That supervisor passed away unexpectedly last year, and my friends have both said that they would never have gotten the courage to speak to each other if she hadn’t gently but firmly pushed them together.

6. The conspiracy

The research library where I worked several years ago had a person on the professional staff who’d been rather unlucky in dating. A few of us thought she’d be a good match for a regular patron, a very nice guy who my husband knew from his work, so we considered that as a personal reference. Every time this man came in, I’d develop an issue at the front desk that needed immediate hands-on advice from Librarian. If Patron started to leave before Librarian arrived, a co-conspirator would literally drag him out of the elevator, acting all excited about a new acquisition Patron hadn’t seen yet and just HAD to. We finally arranged enough “accidental” meetings that led to conversations, then friendship, then dating. They were married in that library over 30 years ago, and they are still happily together.

7. The dream

I had an enthusiastically matchmaking coworker who told me “I had a dream that you and Other Coworker were dating! Too bad it was a dream. But you know…”

She told him the same thing.

So anyway, Other Coworker and I been married for almost 23 years now.

8. The non-secret

My wife and I met at work when we were in our mid-twenties. We worked in the same office, but for different entities who were doing the same thing (think: working at the NFL office, one of us working for the Baltimore Ravens and the other working for the New York Jets). We’re complete opposites, which is probably why both of us found the other to be utterly fascinating — we’d genuinely never encountered someone like the other in our lives before.

We slowly orbited closer to one another until one evening we ended up being the last two at a colleague happy hour. Charming conversation, endless laughter. Sparks flew, hearts were captured. We started dating and secretly dated for months, and finally went public with our relationship on the day of our proverbial Superbowl, which was when our contracts at the NFL ended. Turns out two head-over-heels in love women weren’t as clever or secretive as they thought they were. Everyone knew and had been lovingly pretending not to. We were so excited about our secret they just let us have it.

Ten years later, we’re two head-over-heels in love suburban moms with a couple of kids, dogs, a cat and a minivan ;)

9. The overly friendly weirdo

I was 19 and in my first “real” job. I was seated next to an adorable but oddly quiet young man who, although polite, rarely spoke to anyone, and if I did speak to him he’d look at me like a deer in headlights. One day I realized I’d forgotten something and he politely offered to let me borrow one of his, which I accepted. He started talking more and more. I later found out that if we were both away from our desks, the hot topic of conversation was “why don’t they go on a date and get it over with already?” Truth was, I was still reeling from having been dumped very callously by my boyfriend and wasn’t looking for a relationship.

But he and I did gradually get more comfortable with each other. One day I asked him about that deer-in-headlights look when I would speak to him back in my early weeks of employment. “I figured you thought I was some overly friendly weirdo.” “Oh, it wasn’t that,” he replied. “I thought you were really pretty and didn’t know what to say.”

I’m still an overly friendly weirdo. He’s still very quiet. Next month is our 23rd wedding anniversary.

10. The teachers

I am a high school teacher who began dating another teacher at the school. We did our best to keep it under wraps, never really ate lunch together or spoke to each other too much in front of students or anything, but one weekend some of the students saw us at the movies together and the rumor mill began. We never confirmed it, but all of the students knew we were dating.

When Valentine’s Day rolled around, in our attempt to not draw attention to ourselves, apparently we walked by each other in the hallway without looking at each other or acknowledging one another. Some students witnessing this started spreading the rumor that we must have broken up. In my last period class of the day, I had students putting Valentine’s Day cards on my desk to make me feel better, and telling me they were so sorry if today was a difficult day for me due to my breakup. They were so cute. I didn’t confirm or deny anything, just thanked them for their concern. They were convinced we were no longer together for a while, but a few months later, I had an engagement ring, so the cat was out of the bag again.

We’ve now been married for ten years.

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{ 234 comments }

{ 234 comments… read them below }

        1. Snoozing not schmoozing*

          I’m the conspirator who wrote that. What I left out for brevity was that one of our board members was a friend of Patron, and a judge, and he performed the ceremony. It was an old library with a gorgeous reading room, including a no-longer-functioning fireplace, and it was a beautiful setting for a small wedding.

    3. Retail Dragon*

      That was mine! I was absolutely delighted to see Alison include it, thst made my morning (and so did your comment)!

  2. Hills to Die on*

    I’ve been wanting an alternative to dating apps. I guess I will go hang out at the library from now on.

    1. MsMaryMary*

      I’m an ebook/Libby person, but I’m also thinking I need to spend more time in the actual library.

      1. John Smith*

        I’ve had a couple of, ahem, “proposals” (all declined) in the library too but they certainly were not romantic or long lasting in nature. I didn’t think of myself as particularly attractive so thought it was everyone in the library just had low expectations. Turns out, unbeknown to me, it was a cruising area (a term and activity I wasn’t aware of at the time). My favourite tiny and quiet corner in the library was a cruising area!

    2. LunaLena*

      Seriously, interesting how many of these involved the library! It reminded me of one time, when I was 19, I was reading a book in the local library when a guy sat down opposite me. Every once in a while he would get my attention and show me something in the magazine he was reading, and I would just politely nod before going back to my book.

      Unfortunately this was not the start of a meet-cute. After 30 minutes or so of this, he suddenly blurted out “are you married?” And I, in my confusion of being jolted out of the book I was quite engrossed in (also it was summer and I had biked to the library in the California heat and was consequently very sweaty and disheveled, was wearing a very ratty old t-shirt, and really was not interested in him or being hit on that day), said “uh, no, I’m only 19.” He left a few minutes after that and I never saw him again.

      1. Elspeth McGillicuddy*

        SO many dudes asked if my book was any good when I used to sit in the university library and read. Unfortunately for them, I thought they were interested in the book… I figured it out about 5 years afterwards.

        1. DidntHaveAClue*

          The number of times I’d start enthusiastically discussing the book…

          I don’t interpret subtle well. Or not subtle, but not stated.

        2. Beth*

          If any of them had been willing to get into a proper meaty conversation about the book, that might have been a sign that the person was worth dating! As it was . . . self-selecting out of the pool, there.

          1. goddessoftransitory*

            Right? A guy who would listen to me gas on about my love for The Haunting of Hill House could have met his dream girl…

            1. A*

              Me, but with an hour-long diatribe about The Monk by Matthew Lewis, the greatest 18th century gothic/horror/soap opera/morality tale ever written lol

    3. Alex*

      Right???

      Working on my pickup lines:
      “Is your name Dewey? Because you have the sexiest decimals I’ve ever seen.”
      “Come here often? Must be why you’re stacked.”
      “Do you want to crack my spine?”

      (^^^reasons I’m still single)

      1. word nerd*

        My local library posted electronic Valentines cards with library-related messages today!

        I’d pause my audiobook for you.
        Did you return your books late? Because you’ve got fine written all over you.
        Mind if I check you out?
        ISBN thinkin’ ’bout you.
        We’re overdue to spend time together.
        Let’s go to a book club together.

            1. Delightful Daisy*

              I can totally relate to this comment. :-) My husband listens to snippets of audiobooks, not by choice.

              1. SimonTheGreyWarden*

                I’ll pull out an earbud at this stage of marriage, but pause? Man, idk, it better be important not just something he wants to read me from FB (that I saw on Tumblr three days before).

    4. DataGirl*

      There are at least two couples working at the library i work at, I’m new so I’m not sure if they meet before or after working there.

      In not so romantic library news, we have caught people having s3x in the library more than once, which is not cool.

      1. datamuse*

        I worked in a university library for almost two decades and this ^^^ was why all the study room doors had windows in them.

        That did not dissuade everyone.

        1. Ink*

          I’m pretty sure it’s turned into an arms race around here. The newer the library/renovation, the higher the percentage of glass study room walls. No idea how three fully glass walls, one regular one bc they need a place for the whiteboard and projector is working, though.

      2. Jill Swinburne*

        Oh yes, there was a little-used (for research purposes) section of the serials in our university library that was well-known for those shenanigans. It’s been remodelled now, and no dusty journals anymore, but they’ve no doubt found somewhere else.

      3. Sunglasses at Night*

        I worked at the main library on my college campus. Part of my job was to start at the top floor, and walk through all of the floors at least once during my shift (it was a tall library). So many people had sex in the stacks. It was a rite of passage.

    5. Anon and on*

      Library school, on the other hand, not so much. I think it’s 10:1 ratio of women to men.
      But it was a lot of fun. I definitely recommend it.

    7. Throwaway Account*

      I used to work in the public library. I had an older man, too old for me (I was past middle age), chat with me several times. We listen to patrons a lot! In the first convo, he told me a long story about a Calculus 4 book he read and how it made him feel confused and IDK, other feelings. Then he came out with, “that’s how your shirt makes me feel!” It was a normal work blouse with a print of large flowers. I was at a loss for words.

      He chatted with me multiple times, often while I was in the middle of helping someone else. I always found him confusing and hard to understand. Finally, one day my confusion showed on my face and he walked away in disgust, then came back and said, “if you don’t think I’m funny then just tell me to go to hell!”

      He never talked to me after that. I did not mind.

      Side note: everyone should watch the movie The Public with Emilio Estevez. That is the public library!

      1. Bow and Aro*

        Ditto the public. I think that for the average non frequent library user The Public and The Library Book should be required/watching reading.

        And as a librarian in a public library, boy to we have a lot of “suitors”. Luckily my library takes this kind of thing very seriously. The books are for checking out, not the staff.

        1. WhatTheActualFact*

          The Sex and the City movie (1) situated Carrie and Big’s intended wedding in the gorgeous New York Public Library. Sure ir didn’t happen there in the end but what a venue!

      2. LobsterPhone*

        Similar situation for me except I was around 20 and he definitely wasn’t. We had occasional casual chats about new books that had come in, general stuff…then one day he presented me with a letter all about how he’d noticed I’d included the autobiography of a former BDSM dungeon mistress in our new book selection and how he’d since spent a lot of time picturing me in that role along with lots of discussion about my physical appearance, what I wore to work, just a lot of generally unwelcome commentary. Fortunately I hadn’t had a chance to read it while he was in the library but when he came in the next time and I decided that I was just going to pretend it never happened, he never spoke to me again. I also showed it to my library manager assuming they’d have something to say to him but mostly I just got the general feeling that they thought I’d done something to warrant that behaviour and he was never spoken to. Thanks for your support, boss.

        1. cleo*

          I’m a law librarian now, but when I worked in a public library we had the same kind of thing happen a lot too. One guy used to serenade some of us. He particularly liked our AD, but when asked to stop, he’d resort to calling whichever female staff member he was serenading filthy names and get kicked out. Only to return the next day. Oh, and the amount of people we had to kick out for looking at p0rn on the public computers…

    8. Aerin*

      In his youth, Spouse hung out in bookstores trying to pick up girls. Whatever book they had just picked up was a natural conversation starter. It worked pretty well for him, although he made more friends than dates that way.

    9. Em from CT*

      My dad met his long-time partner at the library! He was volunteering, she was a patron. Sparks flew, and they’ve been together a decade.

    10. another librarian*

      Library staff members get a lot of interesting (ahem) proposals. Like the homeless guy who was hanging around our branch for several days, and then asked me if I would like to go home with him. I declined. This is just one example of many. After working in libraries for 15 years, there is NO WAY IN HELL I would ever date anyone I met in a library. NEVER.

    11. Kathy the Librarian*

      Library begins with ‘L’ and so does Love!
      I worked for a library and met my sweetheart when he started coming to the library. We didn’t start dating for almost 5 years after meeting (that’s another story) but we have now been together for almost 7 years!

  3. Jay*

    I was 24, and the most entry-level person at my brand-new job. They sent me around to get lunch orders from everyone. I asked one guy what he wanted, and he said, “I’ll have an alligator sandwich and make it snappy.”

    We just celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary.

      1. linger*

        In Mort, one customer makes the mistake of trying this line when Death is working as a short-order cook. Even before finishing the sentence, he’s served something that … he’d have to be cautious about biting into.

        1. Timothy (TRiG)*

          The same joke is used in a later Discworld book (Witches Abroad, I think) where Granny Weatherwax struggles to understand it.

  4. Brian*

    Me, as a 4th grade teacher:

    “I can’t believe that I am gone for ONE day, and THIS is the report I get back from the sub! I am so disappointed in you all. I’m going to be so embarrassed to see this substitute around the school.”

    I guess the sub didn’t think too poorly of me, as we’ve been married 20 years now (and she eventually took over that 4th grade).

      1. I've got the shrimp*

        I know! I am feeling so emotional about those sweet lil kids who were so empathetic about their teachers love lives!

        1. Kit*

          An improvement over some of the kids my now-spouse dealt with when he was student-teaching… They knew, in a vague osmosis sort of way, that he was engaged, but apparently knew nothing about me. As a graduate of that same high school whose youngest cousin was actually these kids’ peer, they could have resolved this fairly quickly by just asking around, but critical thinking wasn’t their strong suit. And the fact that Cousin and I were related was no secret at all – the first day Cousin saw him in the halls, Cousin went to say hi and realized halfway through that greeting him by first name was maybe not appropriate in the context… and Cousin couldn’t remember his last name, so he just sort of bluescreened. (One of the teachers who also knew about the connection witnessed this and used it to tease Cousin for the rest of the year. I did not blame her for this at all, it was hilarious.)

          Well, one day they’d wrapped the lesson plan slightly early and he was giving them opportunities to ask off-topic questions, and they latched on to the Mysterious Fiancee… specifically, my age, only they started by slightly undershooting and kept going younger from there, until they realized that it would be super gross for him to be dating someone their age. Then a bright spark asked, “Is she a cougar?” (I am not, but bless them for thinking it.)

          The supervising teacher was busy trying not to crack up laughing… and later got a lot of experience, because a few of the girls convinced their classmates that the wedding had happened over winter break, disappointing the kids who thought that they would get an invitation. Only one student did. (It was my cousin, who remained an untapped resource on the subject of my identity, but at least by the time our July wedding rolled around he could remember my new surname!)

    2. AJ*

      #10 reminds me of my own story… where my mom was the teacher, he was the student director, and I was the teacher’s daughter. Only the rumor mill at school put him and HER together. For six months my mom fended off gossipy students while waiting for him to ask me out. At one point her principal got involved, and mom, trying to be coy, said he was a great SON. ;))))
      Later in the week this conversation transpired-
      Principal: I’ve been thinking about it and I’m okay with you robbing the cradle. Go for it.
      Mom: P, I’ve told you everything you need to know about the situation.
      P: Yeah, yeah, I know. He’s like a son to you. But I think you could get over that with counseling!

    3. tjamls*

      I had teachers like #10. She was wearing her claddagh ring the opposite way in my freshman English class one day and seemed sad, so we all freaked out. They got married in my junior year. I hope they’re still together.

  6. I'm just here for the cats!*

    #4 the flowers: I would be Ticked Off if I got flowers and the receptionist read the card. Typically they florists will say who they are for without needing to read the card attached. It’s not like other mail that a receptionist might open because its their job (such as packages). She was just being a busy body.

    1. Nameless*

      Eh, if it was in an envelope I’m with you but many florists don’t enclose their cards and the message is pretty obviously displayed. (source: several years in the floral industry)

      1. Rainy*

        I send flowers to my husband fairly often and I pride myself on my ability to draft a card that will make even the most stoic reader go “Awww”, and the front desk person at his work, who is a giant Italian dude, always reads them and then tells Mr Rainy that we are “relationship goals”.

    2. FanciestCat*

      I agree it’s pretty easy to read an open card tied to flowers without trying but I’d argue a professional receptionist shouldn’t gossip. If there’s an ethics violation involved I’d take the flowers straight to HR, and if not I’d just quietly take the flowers to the recipient (or let them know they’ve arrived) without saying anything. If there wasn’t anything unethical about C hooking up with OP the receptionist should have just done the latter.

      1. RagingADHD*

        I don’t think telling the boss that her boyfriend is cheating on her is gossip. It’s doing her a solid.

        Even if the boss’ “connection” to C wasn’t exclusive, she probably has some boundaries about him being overtly using her job as his personal harem.

    3. Always Tired*

      As a former receptionist, the delivery guys usually just confirm they are at the right office, and dash off, making it so you have to check the card to see who the flowers are for specifically. That said, I would let the recipient know, and if it seemed the card should be kept private from the office gossips, I’d pull it and set it aside until the recipient arrived. I *might* have been enough of a busybody to mention to our OP that I was aware of C’s current/prior involvement with the boss, or at least a heads up that it could cause issue in the office.

      1. Armchair Analyst*

        I was imagining that it said the flowers were from C and the receptionist and the office had a policy not to accept flowers from him for anyone. But because the LW and the delivery person were pushy, the flowers got in the office and chaos ensued.

        Great story!

    4. AngryOctopus*

      Since the flowers were being redelivered, it’s entirely likely that the delivery person crossed out all the info on the envelope and wrote the new address over it so the name was obscured.

  7. Raine*

    Oh my gosh, I have a first-hand account *extremely* similar to #3, but on a small enough scale that I know it’s not the same. But the similarities amuse me enough that I can’t help but feel it must just be a logical sequence of events. XD

    1. Certaintroublemaker*

      So many sweet and lovely stories here, but I do love the deliciousness in the revenge in #3!

      1. Kay*

        Summer camps and restaurants, in my experience. I don’t know about cheating specifically, but relationships with coworkers are very common and normal boundaries are nonexistent. Even with managers and bosses. I once worked at a camp where 4/7 senior employees were dating (2 couples). And a majority of entry level staff too!

      2. Raine*

        My story comes from the convention vendor circuit – lots of travel, lots of new faces, lots of opportunity to ‘disappear’ for an hour or two.

    3. MigraineMonth*

      I think that spite is extremely underrated. There is no motivational technique that works better for me, and I can credit it for some of my most impressive accomplishments!

      “I know you can do it!” => +1 motivation
      “I know you can’t do it.” => +1 million motivation

  10. Genevieve en Francais*

    My high school French teacher and one of the math teachers were married to each other. It was the second, later-in-life marriage for each and they were just one of those adorable couples who clearly didn’t take each other for granted. They were adorable and beloved and Madame, in particular, was the kind of teacher who always had her students’ backs. She helped
    start the GSA, would “accidentally” leave out bottles of ibuprofen if girls had cramps, and let us watch pretty adult movies in French and would fast-forward through the violence and sex with a wink.

    Every other year they’d lead a trip to France for some students, and while I sadly, did not go the year this happened, the lore is that once, when the trip coincided with Valentine’s Day, Madame and her husband went missing for a bit. Husband was eventually spotted in the hotel lobby looking disheveled and gathering champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to take back to their room.

    1. Evil Queen of Dysfunction*

      I wonder if we went to the same school. Although at the time the Math teacher and the French teacher were just engaged

      1. Genevieve en Francais*

        Hmmm. If the mascot was a type of dog and you grew up in a mid-sized Midwestern city, then maybe!

        1. LimeRoos*

          So my Dad coached cheerleading at a dog mascotted mid-sized midwestern city, and now I want to know if it’s the same school too lol. Also cuz this story is adorable and hilarious. Thank you for sharing!

          PS. Arf Arf Arf Arf Woof!

    2. Evil Queen of Dysfunction*

      I wonder if we went to the same school. Although at the time the Math teacher and the French teacher were just engaged

    5. Frequent Lurker, Infrequent Commenter*

      OT of the (lovely) story but can I say how much I adore Madame for the ibuprofen? I send it to school with both of my uterus-having high school aged kids just for this and it gets confiscated regularly. Makes me furious. If the nurse gave ibuprofen, it wouldn’t matter to me, but they don’t!!

      2. I'm the Phoebe in Any Group*

        At my daughter’s high school, the nurse will only give ibuprofen if I bring a bottle up there. I asked if she would share it with other kids who needed it, but she refused. This is the same school nurse who refused to stock tampons, only pads because some families don’t like their menstruating teens to use tampons. I called up the head nurse for the district and was so pissedtI told her only one person gets to decide what goes inside my daughter’s vagina and that is my daughter.

      3. Anon4This*

        Strap in everybody, you’ve summoned the voice of cold hard experience, and she’s triggered:

        Many medically trained people get snippy about ibuprofen because it can cause stomach ulcers if not taken with food, and they don’t trust young people to go to the effort of eating something before they take it.

        As a previous young girl, I can confirm this is utter codswallop. When I was in pain I definitely wasn’t running the risk of adding new pain to my pain! Many adult women tend to block the horrors of their teenage years and can no longer relate to teens, I find. Encourage them to eat a cookie or a slice of bread before they take an ibuprofen and explain why, and they will whenever they can. Obviously pain relief wins out if they don’t have access to food because they’re children without full control over their lives, but they’re not f’kin stupid.

        Paracetamol aka acetaminophen aka Tylenol has less chance of being confiscated because it doesn’t cause ulcers, but it’s also less useful for cramps because it’s not an NSAID. Better than nothing though. Aspirin is an NSAID and again, it’s no ibuprofen but also it might not get confiscated.

        If you can get to a doctor, celecoxib is a good ibuprofen replacement because it’s easier on the stomach, but you do need a prescription. Luckily they prescribe it like you’ll be taking it all month, so I usually have some to share.

        Also, I’d just like to point out that “normal” period cramps should be about as uncomfortable as a blood pressure cuff. That’s what the nurse is probably imagining, hence the lack of sympathy. Anyone with worse cramps than is experiencing excessive pain and is within their rights to keep pushing medical professionals for treatment. Endometriosis is as common as diabetes, fibroids are almost as common, pcos can cause ovarian pain, and your normal monthly egg-forming cysts can grow abnormally big and hang off your ovaries and HURT every month right from your very first period.

        Don’t fall for the pain scale out of 10 trap, medical professionals are trained to assume everyone is exaggerating. It’s literally part of their training. Tell them what the pain prevents you from doing, and how often it jumps into your mind. Can you stop thinking about it for 20 minutes? 10? 2? Are you just concentrating on breathing and thinking of anything else is impossible? Does it reduce your appetite? Impede you from walking the dog for as long, or dancing around the living room like you would normally do? What do you choose to put off until the pain is gone? Don’t forget if it’s more uncomfortable than having your blood pressure taken it’s a real, genuine, honest-to-goodness medical problem with a root cause and treatments.

        Good on you all for protecting the children around you. You’re good people.

        1. coffee*

          Talking about how the pain impacts your daily life is so key, especially highlighting how it changes your behaviour. If your symptoms are worsening, include that in your explanation. How long you’re had the problem.

        2. Properlike*

          I love you for this. I agree completely.

          I also tell my daughter to bury the small cache of ibuprofen in her backpack. The district requires a signed note from a doctor for ANY medication of ANY kind, even OTC. I can’t even with this.

          At least the district has free period products in the restrooms.

          1. LJ*

            Is it hard to ask for a doctor’s note? I know I’ve had short notes written to justify buying certain recommended OTC products with HSA money (to help with a health condition). “Susie needs ibuprofen as needed for cramps” seems like a good note to ask for the next time they’re at the doctor’s.

        3. Pink Sprite*

          The 0 to 10 pain scale is useless for folks with chronic pain (and fatigue) illnesses/conditions/syndromes/whatever.
          I realize that’s not really what you’re talking about, but as a person with daily pain ALL OVER, it’s just not an accurate, appropriate, adequate, or reliable pain scale.

          /end rant

          1. BogusPainScale*

            I refuse to provide a number until I’m given an objective description of what each number means. I finally had enough when I got accused of lying because apparently I’d used half a number higher with a description of slightly less pain than on my immediately previous visit, but I had all sorts of issues that weren’t quite as blatant before that. I will describe the pain in as much detail as they will let me.

        4. allathian*

          Yes this. Of course, for some people, especially those with fatty tissue and cellulite on their upper arms, measuring blood pressure is painful, too. I really need to get one of those smart watches that measure blood pressure and to calibrate it using a cuff because I’m sure mine spikes by 10 points at least just from the pain. It hurts enough for me to yelp out loud in pain, and I absolutely insist on leaving my long-sleeve shirt underneath. It feels rather like one of those “Chinese pinches” that were popular when I was a kid where one kid would grab another’s wrist with both hands and twist. Stretching the skin hurts quite a bit.

          But yeah, I agree with you and I’m rather happy that when I was a teen, drug use in my school was so uncommon that people were able to bring in the medicines they needed with absolutely no supervision. I’m just glad that I managed with ibuprofen. My sister’s cramps were so bad that she started BC when she was 13. Until she started on those, she missed one or two days of school whenever she had a period and could barely go to the bathroom without help.

          My school had both the junior high and high school on the same campus, the school was fairly small with about 500 students in total and some 30 teachers on staff. I’m in Finland but my family of origin is bilingual so I went to a Swedish-language school to ensure that my minority language remained strong. The high school principal was married to the campus secretary, and one of the Swedish teachers was married to one of the math/chemistry/physics teachers.

          During my time at that campus, another Swedish teacher and the junior high principal got married. She wasn’t his boss because he only taught high school students. She hyphenated her name, and many students thought her new signature was so sweet. She was in her late 40s and as far as anyone knew had never been married before, and she signed her original name in smooth and flowing cursive, and her husband’s name looked like her ordinary handwriting rather than a signature for as long as I was at that school.

          1. Slartibartfast*

            Ask your MA to take a forearm BP reading, they should know how. Your forearm should be level with your heart .

        5. pandop*

          So, I find blood pressure cuffs, particularly the automatic ones, excruciating as a baseline (and my cramps were worse, so I turned them off – better living through chemistry for the win)

      4. OMG It's 2024*

        I used to be a teacher. At my and my kids’ schools, they allowed it but it had to be in its original (or prescription) bottle and left at the Nurse and the kiddo could go ask for it and would be given the “appropriate” dosage. Their reasoning was that they didn’t want kids handing out meds that might be damaging to other kids. I, for example, am deathly allergic to Ibuprofen, but the number of times I’ve asked for Aleve or Tylenol and been HANDED an Advil or Motrin, is mind-boggling. There’s a vague idea that all OTC painkillers are kinda the same. You should ask if you can have a bottle of ibuprofen kept with the nurse for your child’s use. Good chance they’ll say yes. Our school nurse(s) also dispensed school-provided Tylenol if girls came in with cramps, boys with a headache, etc.. but they had to have a permission slip on file. I know it FEELS silly to have it confiscated, but no kid should be bringing loose pills to school; it really could be a liability issue. Talk to the nurse.

        1. NameRequired*

          I had a friend who had a bottle of some sort of antacid that was kept with the school nurse, because she often had upset stomach (highly anxious, probably was already beginning to get an ulcer in HS as she was a VH achiever). But, our nurses, like yours would dispense meds, but it had to be out of their office. Kids caught popping a pill or giving a pill of any kind to another student were not tolerated. But I knew of kids who’d trade or share their ADHD meds with other kids, bring some of Mom’s Xanax to school, etc… There’s a reason schools don’t want kids bringing random, unknown pills to school and the school has no idea if the parents know or approve of them taking it, if they’re prescribed and to whom or what. I really don’t blame the schools for not wanting kids bringing meds w/o them being made aware of it. There’s a lot of nasty ish out there folks!

    6. Zeldalaw*

      What is it about this pairing? Mine was slightly different in that it was the French teacher and the chemistry teacher, but same idea. And also a mid-sized Midwestern city!

  11. Fluffy Initiative*

    Awww, as someone else who met their spouse while working together in a library, these made me feel all gooey inside! (And we will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this summer!)

    And I love #8, that the couple thought they were being so undercover about their relationship and their colleagues let them enjoy it. So cute!

    1. librarianmom*

      Libraries are the most romantic places on earth! I also met my husband of 41 years through my work as a page when I was a teenager!

  13. Rocket Raccoon*

    I worked in a bakery. One day I broke my pastry cutter and the guy who did the ordering drove out to a homegoods store and got me a new one.

    We’ve been married 14 years and he still buys me kitchen tools :)

    2. Ama*

      I knew my now-husband really liked me when I caught mono a few months after we started dating and he came all the way out to my apartment (two subway trains and a good hour ride away) just to bring me orange juice.

    3. Peon*

      Awww. I sew and I decided my husband was a keeper when he took me to a quilt store for a shopping spree. Knew I had made a good choice the first time he upgraded my sewing machine. 25 years later, I’ve had my machine upgraded 3 more times lol.

      Also, I met him when we both worked for a certain now defunct bookstore chain, so he totally gets my love of books and only complains about the number of them when we have to move them. His solution was to get me a Kindle and hire movers.

  14. Hot Dish*

    These are fantastic. #2 made me think of when I interned at a doctor’s office and one of the medical assistants told us that a patient getting an STD test had just asked her out.

    1. Sandi*

      The cute ones are nice, but yours and #2 both gave me a really good laugh. What is wrong with people?! Too funny that the medical assistant’s question came from someone who needed an STD test!

      1. Pucci*

        People who do this have a lot in common with those who hit on receptionists simply because they are polite ( and even if the receptionist is a scheduling bot).

    3. Dek*

      It’s not quite the same thing, but it does remind me of my bartending days when a customer had a letter with a copy of his license saying that he’d lost his license because of drunk driving, and since the license was on the letter could he use that as his ID and have a daiquiri?

  17. AnyaT*

    I love that these are mostly feel-good stories!
    Libraries seem to have overly heavy representation…if I am ever single again I know what field to retrain for!

      1. Dek*

        Huh. Somehow I’ve dodged that bullet for the past 14 years now… mostly. There was the guard who Figured Out my email address, but his out-of-the-blue email was very specific about how he had a wife, and wasn’t trying to Make A Move, he just liked smart girls with long hair…

    2. Critical Rolls*

      I suspect libraries are overrepresented in the commentariat. But it’s also true that the industry values niceness to an extent that might be detrimental to the workplace while increasing your odds of meeting someone decent to date (although the numbers very much favor a hetero man in the stacks).

    4. Frinkfrink*

      I used to work at a university library and after a survey revealed that the library was the hottest pickup spot on campus the outfits the women wore to study there made so much more sense.

      (They also all turned up in comfy sweats instead of the cute fussy clothes during the exam study periods!)

  18. JR 17*

    Oh gosh, #4 sounds like something out of a romance novel. Except in the book, obviously, the flowers were because he wanted more than the casual relationship and they’d go on to fall in love.

      1. Young, Dumb, But So Much Fun*

        Original poster here. It was casual; we were not exclusive as he didn’t even live in the same country. But finding out he was also in a relationship with my older, married boss (“B”) was a shocker. She and her husband had a strained marriage. I knew she was seeing someone on the side and had been at lunch with her when she picked out a gift for mystery man.

        To my surprise, months later “C” mentioned in passing this odd gift “B” had sent him. (They worked closely together and he thought the world of her. No question there.) But he didn’t understand why she had sent this item or what he should do with it. Lightbulb went on when he mentioned what the gift was since I was with her when purchased.

        I did ask him later, and he claimed their relationship was very short and ended the previous year. Not sure I believed that…

      2. JR 17*

        I almost commented about that part! Yes, in the romance novel version, the mean boss might have a crush on him, but it would not be reciprocated.

        2. Young, Dumb, But So Much Fun*

          Yeah – that would make a fun romance story. In this real life story, everyone was a consenting adult enjoying life.

          Boss Lady was wonderful, a great mentor at work, and I admire her to this day. Our office was practically a script out of “Mad Men”. The guys were were high-flyer sales execs traveling internationally. Women were automatically thought of as on par with secretaries, no matter their true role. Unknown to most, Boss Lady was the cornerstone of the office – and not in a support role. When Big Boss retired and they didn’t give her his job, SHE left, and the division literally collapsed. (And it wasn’t because of Big Boss. He was basically the “face”, taking the accolades, while she did the work because it was thought execs from certain countries wouldn’t work with a woman in charge.) CEO had to go to her house and beg her to return as division head.

          Looking back, I think Boss Lady was in one of those situations where they were (emotionally) separated, working towards divorce, but living under the same roof until their child was a little older. Her then-husband put her through a lot, and I know she was much happier after he finally moved out (and in with his girlfriend).

          C was a charismatic playboy who made no promises and treated whatever woman he was with like a queen. I remember him fondly.

          Not every romance is the conventional happily-ever-after leading to marriage. Sometimes it’s just about having fun along the way.

    2. Young, Dumb, But So Much Fun*

      It WAS like something out of a book. We had fun together. We LIKED each other. It was a world I’d never experienced. Spur of the moment trips to Vegas. Couriers showing up at my apartment door with I’m-thinking-of-you gifts. (Couriers? Who the heck uses couriers?) Him being concerned about my life, and giving great advice. Eventually I wanted the opportunity to explore a more serious relationship with someone local. C was gracious and wished me well. We stayed friends for a few more years.

  19. So very anon for this*

    Surprised at all the library love – although maybe I shouldn’t be. When I was interested in a fellow student I started sending him anonymous notes, culminating in a trip to the reading room in the university library where he had to go from one clue to the next looking up information, finding books and was rewarded with home-baked cookies. I parked myself in the reading room to watch. He didn’t think to check who might be there checking him out. I lost courage, revealed myself a year later. It took almost five more years but we’ve been married now for 28 years. We’re bookish introverts (although not librarians).

    1. Owler*

      Wait a sec…he completed your scavenger hunt and ended up with homemade cookies and didn’t learn they were from you until a year later? What did he think between eating them and finding out??

      1. So very anon for this*

        He didn’t know what to think. He actually suspected a librarian for a while, a woman a generation older, whom he knew from another context (suspected motherly intentions, nothing more).
        He went through all his old letters and compared the writing but came up with nothing.

  20. Festively Dressed Earl*

    LW 6, I LOVE that story! Did the happy couple ever find out about the vast matchmaking conspiracy?

    1. Snoozing not schmoozing*

      Conspirator here! Yes, we clued them in once they started dating. We hadn’t been very inconspicuous in our efforts, although we stopped short of, “Tie him down! She’ll be here in a sec!”

  22. Rainy*

    The sweet ones of these are SO sweet (and the hilarious ones are SO hilarious)! Thank you to everyone who shared.

    By the way, if you ever wondered if the professional staff members at your campus job in college were *actually* throwing you together with some other student worker or not? We totally were. In offices where there are a lot of student employees, one of the professional staff’s favourite past-times is shipping the student workers and subtly (or not) creating opportunities that might throw their favourite pairings together.

    My sister, who teaches high school, says that high school teachers do it too.

    1. Genevieve en Francais*

      The aforementioned adorable French teacher used to LOVE it when her students dated and definitely encouraged it. Probably because we were all awkward nerds. She was a master at it – it felt weird or pushy, just good hearted.

    2. Performative gumption*

      I have done this once. I had a team member (let’s call him Largo) who had left to go work in another hospital but we still saw at regional meetings and conferences etc…
      The person who we hired to replace him was a lovely woman (let’s call her Dolce) and once at evening drinks at a conference confessed she really liked her predecessor (apparently he’s exactly her type).
      Anyway by this point Largo was a friend and Dolce was moving to another role at another hospital so I felt as I was no longer their boss maybe some gentle matchmaking wouldn’t be so bad.
      The next time Largo and I went out for dinner, he was as usual lamenting his single status and I mentioned Dolce and how much they had in common. He balked and was emphatic in saying no.
      Subsequently 2 other mutual friends of theirs also tried unsuccessfully to set them up. Largo was stubborn (maybe should have nicknamed him Ox).
      Anyway eventually they did get together 2 years later at a conference.
      They got engaged a few months ago!
      I of course take a smidgen of credit for this – bring on the Cilla hat!

    3. Anna*

      I used to be a student worker at a library and I now suddenly wonder if my then-boss was trying this with me and a coworker. We liked each other well, but never in a romantic way.

  24. learnedthehardway*

    Some of these are so adorable!!

    Mine was not. I worked a job out of university that was a nightmare in many ways, not least because the company owner had WILDLY inappropriate ideas about personal boundaries. Anyway, one of his shenanigans was to try to match make between me and an acquaintance of his WHO HE HAD A CRUSH ON. The acquaintance was straight.

    Anyway, NightmareBoss did his level best to throw CuteStraightGuy and me together at various different events (it was a small business and he combined personal and business events together, so I got to know a lot of his personal circle.)

    After being thrown together a few times, CuteStraightGuy and I had a side conversation in which we compared notes, figured out that NightmareBoss was trying to set us up as a way to pump each of us about details about the other, and agreed that while – under other circumstances – we might have considered dating, it was a no-go while either of us had any connection with NighmareBoss.

    We both separately told NightmareBoss that we didn’t feel any chemistry, which was the end of that.

      3. Michelle Smith*

        The original call for stories was for nightmares, not sweet, successful romances. If anything, it’s the happy stories that “ruined” the mood (I don’t actually think it’s ruined, I just think this comment is mean).

    2. allathian*

      Oh dear, boundary crossing bosses, yuck. I’m glad that you managed to put an end to that, some people might’ve kept on insisting.

  26. CeeBee*

    my 6 word love story – “Temporary Job led to Permanent Love”. We’ve been married over 27 years!

  27. Damn it, Hardison!*

    My husband and I are another library couple. I was working part time in a library while in library school, and my supervisor and had talked about seeing a movie together. She couldn’t go but suggested that a friend of hers from library school that I had met a couple of times might want to go. He did, and we’ve been married for 23 years.

  30. Slow Gin Lizz*

    I forgot about my aunt and uncle’s meet-cute story when this thread was posted last week. They worked in different departments at their large company and had both signed up to go on the company outing – a weekend camping and whitewater rafting trip. On the first morning of the trip, my aunt was trying unsuccessfully to light a fire to make herself a cup of coffee and my not-yet uncle drove up in his pickup truck and asked her what she was doing. When she told him, he handed her a cup of coffee that he’d just bought at the Dunkin’ Donuts down the street from the campground. (Why yes, we do live in New England, why do you ask?)

    I was the flower girl at their wedding in 1986 and they’re still happily married. And also I have no idea if they ever went on another whitewater rafting trip, but I doubt it.

      1. allathian*

        Yeah, me too! That’s the kind of romantic gesture I can enjoy because it doubles as simply a nice gesture for anyone, whether there’s any romantic interest or not.

        In general, I’m not big on explicitly romantic gestures and neither is my husband. I’d feel nothing but cringey with a public proposal, for example.

  31. K Smith*

    I LOVE THESE, thank you Allison! I’m having a crummy day (unrelated to V-day) and these really cheered me up.

    1. Throwaway Account*

      Many libraries have dogs the kids can read to. It is to help them learn to read in a non-judgemental space and it is amazing!

  35. Sweet Clementine*

    The overly friendly weirdo story could have been about me and my boyfriend! We met at grad school, everyone except us could see us together, and we got so many “what took you so long?” and “I assumed you guys were already together” when we eventually started dating (about five years after the conversations started, haha)!

    1. I Have RBF*

      My wife and I met at a science fiction convention. People had us pegged as a couple years before we realized we were. We’ve been officially married for 10 years, and had a DP for several years before that. They moved in with me in 1989…

  38. AG*

    #5 reminded me of my own parents. My dad had an army buddy, who went on to an office job. He helped my dad get a job in the same company. If I remember correctly, when my mom applied to a position in the same company, my dad’s buddy interviewed her. Then he started to invite them both to do stuff after work, the three of them, only to ditch them at the last second or dip very early.

    And here I am.

    ===

    And then there was the time 14 years ago when this new lady started to work in the same office as me. It took months of the other two ladies literally telling me “She’s into you. Ask her our already.” for the penny to drop. I don’t know what I was hesitating about. I can’t imagine not being with that woman now.

  39. Annie*

    For LW #2: Oh, working in libraries…My favorite one (not at the time), was when a patron came up to me while I was trapped at the desk and told me that he could 1) see my aura, which is nice apparently, 2) that I loved him, and 3) that we would be married soon. Umm, no. Thank goodness for a coworker assist!

  42. She of Many Hats*

    Somehow FB started recommending all these books to me, most of which were romances of all genres (Romantasy, Paranormal, Sunny/Grumpy, etc). There is a whole slew of office romance themed ones which are basically My Sexy Boss/Lawyer/Professor wants to Marry Me and all I can think is what a HR nightmare and these would make for jaw-dropping AAM letters.

    1. M2RB*

      Same! I have ended up in a workplace romance algorithm and all I can think of is, “NO! There is serious power imbalance here! Alison would have a heart attack!”

  43. AnotherSarah*

    My parents met as reference librarians at different branches of the same public library! They used to call each other with “questions” they knew the answers to. When I was born, my birth announcement was a new acquisition card-catalogue card : )

    3. RLC*

      An archaeologist colleague once told me their opinion that archaeology is a profession filled with what LW 3 describes. My quizzical expression when they said that led them to explain further, “what do you expect people to do at night at remote dig sites?” I dunno, maybe read a book, write a book, or play chess by lantern light???

    4. Catwhisperer*

      I was going to guess law enforcement. I was in an adjacent industry right after college and witnessed a LOT going on at conferences.

    6. allathian*

      Pretty much in any industry with long hours, high stress, heavy emphasis on in-person work (much harder to cheat when everyone’s remote even if emotional cheating is a thing there too), and company events where it’s acceptable to get drunk. Many affairs start when people are drunk, even if they subsequently continue when people are fit to work.

      In the past, the medical field used to be one of those with male doctors frequently dating female nurses. It’s less common now, at least in Finland, with stricter rules about not dating your supervisors. Here 70 percent of all medical students and residents are women, so that dynamic has shifted, too.

    7. Expelliarmus*

      I’m still wondering why the ex-wife remarried to someone else in the famously cheating-rich industry. I hope that doesn’t mean her new spouse cheated on her too!

    8. Zona the Great*

      Oh this is so common in my industry’s conference culture. I work in Transportation so all things traffic, engineering, planning, design, etc. I personally know several married men and women who go to the conferences strictly to F*ck around.

  45. Slap Bet Commissioner*

    My mom met my step-dad at work (to be very clear- my bio dad was well out of the picture at that point). After they had been dating a while, the company found out about it and decided that they didn’t want them working together. They were both high level and neither supervised the other. Since my mom was a single mother of a 4 year old, they thought they might get in trouble, from a PR standpoint, if they fired her, so they fired my step dad instead. My mom quit on the spot and they went on to start their own very successful company and got married a year later. Still business and romantic partners 30 years later.

  46. Karma is My Boyfriend and so is Travis Kelce*

    I cannot pick a favorite among the coworkers-turned-partners stories. They are all adorable! Makes me have faith in love.

  47. Ann the Neon Tetra*

    My now husband and I met when working at a large home improvement store. He was a department supervisor, I was a newly hired cashier. He never really spoke to me, he sort of just would stare and then leave. Someone was leaving my favorite drink on my register during my shifts though. I came back from covering a lunch on the other end of the store and a drink was there. My extremely creepy (and I cannot express how creepy) 60 year old man of a manager, winked and said “looks like you have a secret admirer” and then hugged me sideways around the hips (I was 18, fresh out of high school). I was horrified. I thought *HE* left it. Didn’t find out it was my now husband until a few weeks later after we had started dating. We still make fun of that on occasion.

  48. PotsPansTeapots*

    The last story made me think of two history teachers at my high school who got married my junior year. I hope their romance is going as well as the letter writer’s!

  49. Bookworm*

    Thanks for posting this. The world is a little scary right now (when is it not) so this was a lovely thing to read.

  50. Cinn*

    #5 is my favourite kind of set up. Arrange opportunities for friendship, and let them take it from there (if they want to).

  51. Bruce*

    Awww, most of these are really sweet! I met my wife through Match (after we both lost a spouse in our 50s), on our VERY FIRST DATE we walked by the brew-pub where a lot of her fellow teachers were hanging out… I’d just taken her hand and she was letting me hold it, and we were SPOTTED! Good thing we clicked right away, because she got asked some questions… <3 !

  52. Snow Village*

    Is it too late to add?
    I was working as a teaching assistant when the 3/11 earthquake hit in Japan. A day or two later a few of the teachers all got together at the school nurse’s apartment, because she was one of the few people who still had electricity.
    The science teacher kept making jokes about how she had a charger for a certain model of phone that she didn’t actually use, but I didn’t get it until the math teacher walked in.
    After opening the front door.
    With his own key.
    Turns out all the kids had known they were secretly dating, but none of the teachers did. They announced their engagement a week later.

    1. Bruce*

      Nothing like a major catastrophe to clarify what really matters to you! Though they may have already made the decision and were just waiting to go public :-) (On the serious side I knew people who were on the edges of that quake in Tokyo, I hope your town was not in the center of it.)

  54. Rara Avis*

    #10: My husband and I met while working at a girls’ Catholic boarding school. I was just out of college, a dorm parent, and the girls were ALL up in my business. One evening he and I went to walk on the school’s track. Unfortunately there was a big sister/little sister scavenger hunt going on with seniors and frosh running all over campus. Rumors flew; I kept saying, “No, not dating.” Right about the time he asked me to date, saying, “What if the girls are seeing something we’re not seeing,” they stopped asking. So we were able to stay under the radar until we got engaged a year later. Married 27 years.

  55. I don't mean to be rude, I'm just good at it*

    We were the first department to transition to a brand new skyscraper. The building was so new, the passenger elevators were not yet certified, so we had to use the freight elevators.

    My luck, I was in the freight elevator with 2 other co-workers (m/f) when the lights flickered and the elevator stopped. After being stuck for an hour or so, the two co-workers suddenly developed massive feelings for each another and for the next 2 hours they sucked each other’s faces while totally ignoring me.

    We were finally released and a group of C-Suite suits were there to greet us and act concerned (HAH!). I looked at my boss, smiled and said, “I quit”.

    I lost track of the lovebirds but they were still married 15 years later.

  56. The Wee Demon*

    the tl;dr for my story: get fired, get husband.

    I dropped out of grad school with my MA after deciding a PhD/academia was a lost cause. Was considering getting a job at the org I’d abandoned for graduate school in the first place, for a little higher pay (thanks to the MA), because it was the easiest thing to do and I was flailing in my mid-20s, had had a series of crappy boyfriends, moved around a ton, been single for ages and happy-ish but low-key looking for that Forever Person.

    While traveling for something else, I stopped in at a work party with my old colleagues, and met Extremely Handsome New Employee on a scenic rooftop at sunset. New guy was getting on gangbusters will all my old friends from work, they egged us on. Stalked him on social media, struck up a convo. Figured this was as good a reason as any to apply for my old job back. Got the old job back. Then was DEVASTATED to discover, on my first day back, that my Extremely Handsome New Employee Crush and I had the same birthday. THE SAME BIRTHDAY. This, I knew, could only be a sign of disaster, that I had thrown my whole career and academic track away for a crappy old job I knew I didn’t like, and of course it won’t work out with this guy, because who marries someone with their same birthday???

    I got fired from that job (for crappy reasons I should have gotten a lawyer about, but here we are). Extremely Handsome New Employee Crush (who was at that point Extremely Handsome New Employee Boyfriend) grew a hilariously patchy protest beard in solidarity with me when I was canned, even though he hates facial hair — but he knew our old (well, my old) bosses would see it every day and know it was because of the crappy way I was treated. He quit the job as soon as he could, never looked back. We both have amazing, if imperfect and occasionally irritating, careers now and a trade-off agreement of mutually supporting each other while we try new things professionally.

    We’ll celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary, 14 years together, this spring. He no longer has the hilariously patchy beard. We still have the same birthday.

    2. Wolf*

      Ha! One of my closest friends married a woman with the exact same birthday as him – day, month, and year. They went on to have identical twins so they now have two birthdays in a house of four people.

  57. Kate*

    My husband and I met at work! We were both teaching in Japan, different schools in the same prefecture. We ended up sitting at the same table at a conference and discovered a mutual love of karaoke. We started going to karaoke together every Saturday. Then dinner, then a coffee shop where we’d sit and talk until they kicked us out 20 minutes after closing. It didn’t take long before my friends started referring to him as my boyfriend. I protested that he wasn’t, but they insisted that he was, we just hadn’t figured it out yet.

    Anyway. We had a karaoke DJ at our wedding and had a First Duet instead of a First Dance. (Sonny and Cher, I Got You Babe.) Married 14 years, together 17. I bought him a home karaoke machine for Christmas this year.

  58. Jane*

    I met my BF through a friend at work. Who was going through a nasty divorce, and needed a financial professional to help her sort things out. She somehow thought we would be a good match, put us in contact, and we’ve been together going on 5 years now. I had been single for a VERY VERY long time, and was resigned to the fact I probably always would be. But hey, things happen when you least expect them too!

  60. Aerin*

    Dating at The Mouse went one of two ways: apocalyptic breakup with fallout worthy of any teen drama, or happily married. There was no middle ground.

    So when Spouse and I started dating, we kept it quiet at first. We were so good at it that people kept crashing our dates! But it only took a couple of months to get serious, whereupon we stopped hiding it and blew everyone’s minds.

    There was an unofficial policy that couples were never put on the same train at the railroad because they would spend too much time being schmoopy at each other. But Spouse and I worked so well together that they usually paired us up on purpose. (Whenever there was an extra conductor we would stand next to each other on the train and be schmoopy, stealing kisses in tunnels and such. But then the train would pull into a station and we were ALL BIZNISS.)

    We didn’t stay at the park for very long, but we’re still together 17 years later. I know of at least two other married couples from our cohort. (Spouse officiated one of those weddings.)

  61. Clymene*

    In college I worked in a hotel, a notoriously incestuous place to be. I found out the front end manager was cheating on me with another hotel employee when he picked her up for their Valentine’s Date while I was working.

  62. Allison*

    Speaking of library patron dates, a gentleman once wanted my help finding books to help his brother get out of trouble for sex with a minor. And then he asked me out. No thank you!

  64. overcaffeinatedandqueer*

    My mom was a high school teacher and would sit shy students who liked each other together or have them work on projects.

    At least two marriages resulted.

    1. Emily Byrd Starr*

      I was going to ask how she knew which students liked each other, but then I remembered that teachers always know!

    1. Expelliarmus*

      Not even just sitcoms; that one gave Downton Abbey energy, when Molesley accidentally broadcast his proposal to Phyllis throughout the house.

  66. Elizabeth West*

    Finally had a chance to look at this; it’s been a busy week. And *sigh*

    I’m happy for everyone who meets someone at work since like, we’re all there 40+ hours a week. But I can’t afford to lose or leave a job over anyone no matter how hot he is. With my luck, it’s just not worth it.

  69. SimonTheGreyWarden*

    Too late but here’s mine:

    I was hired to teach a class to adult learners. I was in my early 30s. It was an 8week class and I had basically no time to prepare, but luckily it was in my field so I winged it. One of my students always laughed at my dumb little jokes and paid attention during the boring parts. A couple weeks after class ended, he found me on Facebook. We chatted overnight and he asked me out (not creepy, we are the same age). Three years later, he proposed to me in the same classroom we met in because I was back teaching that same class (though not to him).

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