Work Spouse

[AOII Angel]

I had a work spouse in residency. He even was mistaken for my husband frequently and vice versa. We were really partners in crime, and I miss him so much. My husband and his wife weren't the least jealous of our relationship since we were much like siblings and completely platonic. We even shared hotel rooms on trips to conferences and board exams. He lives across the country from me now, but we text each other ridiculous things about residency.

[DrPhil]

33girl, I too dislike the phrase "work spouse."

If it's platonic, why can't someone simply be a helpful colleague or work buddy. Calling someone a work spouse makes me think the behavior is in line with the emotional and/or physical bonds that spouses should have.

And then there are people who actually do have nonplatonic emotional and physical bonds with co-workers.

Even a work crush is okay if you are single and as long as you don't violate company policies. However, when you're in a committed relationship, you need to watch your emotional and physical interactions with people whether at work or anywhere else. If the person is simply helpful at work or you joke with each other, that's a platonic work buddy. AOII Angel had a work sibling, not a work spouse. Saying work spouse makes it unnecessarily strange.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

33girl, I too dislike the phrase "work spouse."

If it's platonic, why can't someone simply be a helpful colleague or work buddy. Calling someone a work spouse makes me think the behavior is in line with the emotional and/or physical bonds that spouses should have.

And then there are people who actually do have nonplatonic emotional and physical bonds with co-workers.

Even a work crush is okay if you are single and as long as you don't violate company policies. However, when you're in a committed relationship, you need to watch your emotional and physical interactions with people whether at work or anywhere else. If the person is simply helpful at work or you joke with each other, that's a platonic work buddy. AOII Angel had a work sibling, not a work spouse. Saying work spouse makes it unnecessarily strange.

My husband called him my work spouse because people always thought we were married. I can't tell you how many people mistook him for Mr. Angel or Mr. Angel for him. It became quite a joke. Of course we did not have that sort of relationship, but people mistook it for that which can start lots of trouble if you don't keep an open dialogue with your real spouse.

[sanjiyan69]

I had a work spouse at my last office job. We actually become really good friends and we worked well together until she got let go right on her 90 day review. We still keep in contact via text and FB. At my current job, I do not have one.