We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community who have ever been a part of or a witness to an office romance/affair to share their stories. Their responses were WILD! Here's what people revealed:
1. "He was my boss (who was married and expecting his first child). We'd known each other for a while and had an incredibly strong connection from day one. We were friends first, and he was my mentor. He took a strong interest in growing me and promoted me several times within the office. It started anytime we traveled together and drank and only escalated from there. One night, he and I were drinking and wandering around a city. We cuddled on a bench and agreed that it was best not to move forward. The next night, things escalated, and we made out on that bench before returning to his hotel room."
"We snuck around the office and our spouses for two months and had the best/worst time. He even told me he loved me. I tried to end it before his child was born, but he promised nothing would change. Good joke. Not long after the baby was born, he became extremely distant and ended up ending things with me. It did not go well, and he is no longer part of the team."
—Anonymous
2. "I've actually had a few. I had a coworker-with-benefits situation for pretty much my entire three years at one place. He had a long-time girlfriend but was sleeping around. We had incredible tension between us, and the physical side was great. As he had a girlfriend and we worked together, things were kept secret, and we were both very happy. Neither of us wanted more, so it was a perfect coworkers-with-benefits situation. While I was a bit torn being the other woman, I figured if he was sleeping around anyway, it might as well be with me. PS: I also met my husband at work, but that played out very differently."
—Anonymous
3. "I walked in on my boss having a pretty intense make-out sesh with someone I couldn't discern because their back was turned to me, but they had long blonde hair. They didn't notice me, so I slipped out silently, despite the screaming in my head! Unfortunately, someone not-so-secretive stumbled in on them later when they were up to some more serious business, and the entire office was told. It turns out it wasn't a woman my boss was hooking up with, as I assumed, but his cousin's husband, whom he had dressed up like his assistant...for whatever reason you can imagine."
"The few weeks after the incident were probably the most awkward days I've ever experienced. It wasn't the 'hot gossip' as you'd expect; it was more a hushed secret that made you cringe whenever you heard it. Nobody could stop talking about it, so we were all just perpetually humiliated with ourselves!"
—Anonymous
4. "I work at an elementary school. Someone caught a kindergarten teacher bent over the principal's desk while her kids were in PE or music or something. The (male) principal was going at it from behind. The door was closed, but the blinds were just *slightly* open, and a person caught them. They didn't know anyone saw them until the district became involved much later. Shockingly, no one lost their jobs."
—Anonymous
5. "I (a woman) had what was supposed to be a throuple situation with another woman and her wife. We'll call them Laura and Megan. Laura and I worked together. Megan was out of town and said Laura and I could sleep together. It was the first time I'd ever slept with a woman. Well, I ended up falling in love with Laura after that night. Megan didn't like that and wanted us to stop being friends. We didn't want to stop, so we had an affair for a couple of months or so. Then, I learned I didn't want to be the other woman anymore, so here I am, single and much better off!"
—Anonymous
6. "This happened over 20 years ago for me. I started seeing a coworker while we were both married. It was fun until we had a work function, and our spouses were there. His wife started drinking and confided in me, asking if I had noticed him flirting with other women because she was worried he was having an affair. I ended it pretty quickly after that. AWKWARD!!!"
—Anonymous
7. "I (female) had an affair with a woman at work. It was super hot and fun at first. We would make out in my office, after work, and all that. We even had a threesome with a long-term partner of mine. She fed me all this stuff about how much she liked me, how I inspired her to write music, how I had her rethinking her life plan, etc. She lied about EVERYTHING. She said she had a brain tumor and kept notes about people she loved in case she had surgery to remove it and suffered memory loss. Any trauma I told her about had also happened to her, no matter what it was. It turns out she was with someone for seven years and living with him, so she was cheating on him with me. She ALSO had a secret affair going on for years with another coworker (old enough to be our dad), whom she immediately moved in with post-breakup from her live-in partner."
"She was leading on another coworker of ours by flirting with him and making out with him, only to tell me that he was obsessed with her and wouldn't leave her alone. She tried telling everyone I was obsessed and in love with her, but everyone knew that was BS, luckily. I left that job soon after that (for unrelated reasons), and she went on to continue dating the other affair. She cheated on him and immediately got engaged to and pregnant by a new guy.
She drove a wedge between my friends and me. She tried to sabotage my relationships with people she was also lying to, and she went out of her way to talk to and have sex with an ex of mine after I told her about our history. It was a super messy year, and thankfully it's over. I learned my lesson."
—Anonymous
8. "Right before I started working at my current school, a counselor and someone in admin were engaged. They had been engaged for about four years and dated longer before that. The admin guy jumped between the high and middle schools and apparently was hooking up with a science teacher in his middle school office. It was a decently well-kept secret since most of his and the other counselor's friends only worked at the high school, but one night, everyone went out for drinks, and the truth came out. The science teacher got wasted and confessed it to the receptionist behind the bar dumpster. The receptionist had no idea what to do and had no time to process it because the science teacher got up to do karaoke, confessed her love on stage, and started sobbing. The counselor found out over text and got dumped by her fiancé in the same way."
—Anonymous
9. "At the time, I was still in my early 20s. I worked super long hours and had developed a crush on a coworker in his late 30s. Things started easily enough. He gave me a home, and we started dating, but I soon realized he was still communicating with his ex (??) girlfriend of four years. He'd even answered her calls in the middle of the night. At one point, they went on a trip together for tattoos. Somewhere in this mix, he became incredibly manipulative and abusive. I left our job and felt I was safe to leave, but he proceeded to break into my home and assault me. This made me petrified to go back to work, let alone exist at all, and led to lengthy HR and legal conversations. Fortunately, I can work safely with him, and he is no longer in the picture, but I'm never dating at work again."
—Anonymous
10. "My husband and I had just celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary with our kids. My department lead was this woman I was so excited to work with. She was cool, powerful, and absolutely gorgeous. One night, the two of us were working late on a project, and we shared a kiss. I had never done anything like this before and was almost too embarrassed to say anything. We avoided each other for a little bit until one night, we kissed again. Things heated up when we roomed together for a conference. We loved each other so much and were so happy together. Neither of us had ever been with a woman before, so this was new and exciting. This continued for almost a year until it was announced that she was transferring to another department. I was devastated, but we tried to keep it up."
"Shortly after, I told my husband, assuming things with her had fizzled out, and he said nothing. Cut to a few months later: She left the company. I never found out what happened to her. I can now say that even after being blessed with a wonderfully understanding partner who was willing to stay with me and has once again become the number one in my life, I will never feel as satisfied or excited as I did during my time with her."
—Anonymous
11. "Early childhood educator here. Males in our field are RARE. One year, our lone male teacher had not one but TWO workplace relationships that overlapped. Teacher #1 was jealous of teacher #2 (teacher #1 was caught cheating by the male teacher, and she kept trying to keep things going with him). Fortunately, everyone is now happily married to other people."
12. "I was never part of a workplace romance or affair, but I was the confidante for a coworker who was involved in a workplace affair. My coworker was in a long-term relationship, but they had a workplace affair with another coworker who was also in a long-term relationship. My coworker had wanted to end their relationship with their partner for a while and finally did. However, they had been having an affair for a few months. They also never told their partner about it. The other coworker involved has no idea I know about this affair, and they probably never will. I do not condone cheating, but I do understand that their secret is not for me to tell. I am happy my coworker broke up with their significant other since they seem happier now, but I do feel bad for their partner who was cheated on."
"It's a difficult situation that could get very messy quickly. That being said, I also had two former coworkers begin dating at work, and now they're getting married! Work relationships have unhappy and happy endings, depending on the situation. I've also had many husband and wife coworkers in the past, and they were some of my favorite people to work with. Personally, though, I would not start a relationship at work because if we broke up, I'd rather not see that person every day."
—Anonymous
13. "I was distracted and disengaged during my senior year of high school because of a workplace affair. My mom and stepdad met and worked together in the mid-'90s. I even babysat my now stepsiblings when they double-dated to their company holiday party with their respective spouses. They became friends who leaned on each other regarding their individual marital problems...until it was more. My stepdad's wife called my dad to blow the whistle on their affair, which was around the time of my high school graduation. As my stepdad was in management, he was terminated, and my mom suffered ongoing abuse from people in their department who didn't like them."
"After a long stint of me punishing my mom (about two years), we've come to terms with this. She should've left sooner because she was unhappy, but she didn't until things went too far with my stepdad. It's been over 20 years, and my mom and stepdad are happily married, though I did get married before them. I try to claim 'authority in marriage' over them, though mostly just for fun."
—Anonymous
14. "I took a gap year before college, and I worked at a cafe with a small staff who were all extraordinarily close. We had a manager (29F) and an assistant manager (30M) who shared a small closet-converted-into-an-office space. Sometimes, they'd disagree and wouldn't talk to each other for their entire shift. We all just assumed they were immature and couldn't get along. About a month or two after I started working there, the assistant manager started flirting with me, asking when I'd come hang out at his house, hugging me before he left for the day, etc. I was 18 and didn't think he was into men, so I kind of brushed it off. I thought he was devastatingly beautiful and didn't mind the attention. By the fourth month, he would openly kiss my head, hug me from behind, or pull me onto his lap in the office when we were alone. I knew he liked me, and I was fine with going along for the ride and seeing what happened."
"One night, about six months into working there, I went out for drinks with my (female) manager and two coworkers, and we all had a great night. My manager told me about her new situationship and how she would see him in NYC for the day. I thought nothing of it until I got a shirtless selfie at 2:00 a.m. from the assistant manager with the NYC skyline behind him. I confronted him about it the next day.
It turns out that my two managers have been on and off for a year. He quit and texted me, saying he hated my guts. The twist is that they stayed together. She stayed for another two months, scheduling me 11 days in a row and leaving a room if I walked in. Then, SHE quit with no notice and blocked everyone. Last I heard, they're still together. The company covered the whole thing up and blamed me. I quit before hitting my year mark."
—Anonymous
15. And: "It's happening currently at my government job. Two coworkers hooked up during a traveling event. He is married, and she 'gets around.' I knew about it early and advised them to keep it out of the office. Everything is super awkward. Neither of them are good at hiding it. After six months, everyone knows, but they blame me for snitching. I didn't, but now she is making my life hell, and he is awkward around everyone. He has become super flaky, and she has become an intolerable witch. The boss and management found out once they became the butt of all the office jokes. It's a problem because he tends to get assigned as a team lead. She feels she can boss everyone around, including him, when he is in charge. Both of them are currently looking for other work since management has made it abundantly clear that it's not okay and is in the process of legal action."
—Anonymous
DANG!!!! Have you ever been a part of/a witness to an office romance or affair? What happened?! Tell us in the comments or submit anonymously using this form!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.