[forbidden fruit] mixing work and pleasure

Unusual for this blog to run two posts in a row on a similar theme but this one just couldn't be passed up.

It was the photo Sam Brett used which struck me first because it brought back memories of a spaghetti bar when I was visiting Melbourne and the lady at the time was wearing red shoes and red nail polish and the feet looked like that.

Call me an android but you know, I didn't appreciate it. Perhaps it was the rough way she did it, perhaps it was that I'm supposed to make the moves [unreconstructed male in this sense], perhaps it was … oh, who knows?

So, far from a turn on, it actually had the opposite effect and I tried to hide it but it all sort of petered out in the next few weeks anyway - not just over this, of course, but it was the start.

And what about the old chestnut: "Can a woman rape a man?"

Not one which often crosses your mind, I'll be bound and yet it's an interesting conundrum which I always wanted to put to the test. Fortunately, a wife at the time, given to sometimes doing things out of spite, waited until the day when I was as sick as a dog and then sprang.

There's a point in Life of Brian when his mother is asked: "Were you raped?" and she replied: "Well - at first."

So to Sam's point about mixing work and pleasure:

I must hear from a dozen readers and friends weekly who say they're facing a similar quandary: Do they pounce on their sexy work colleague, co-worker, boss or subordinate, or do they let it slide by the wayside?

Whether working in the same office or starting a business together, couples quickly learn it's often not the most pleasant situation - especially when it comes to handling prying colleagues.

Sneaky kisses in the office kitchenette? Clandestine winks during the weekly board meeting? Romantic lunches at the coffee shop across the street?

Clearly, in my situation it's right out because which of the dozen girls would you go with? How would you get the message to her anyway in front of the others, who are expecting such a thing anyway? And how could you go anywhere without being noticed in this town?

And finally, for what purpose? If one is halfway normal, there's your own sweetheart to meet, although forbidden fruit does attract some, I suppose.