Dating and work do not go hand in hand. Your personal life should be kept separate from your work life. Relationships at work, especially at a restaurant, can get messier than dirty tables. If you choose to date your fellow coworker at a restaurant, you’re bound to encounter one of these problems. These issues are reasons why you shouldn’t date someone you work within the restaurant business.
1. Public Fights.
It is incredibly uncomfortable and awkward to watch people fight. If it is a couple fighting at work, those feelings of discomfort are going to get multiplied by 100. It is simply human to turn and watch the argument. Suddenly, all eyes are on you. You realize everyone just watched you and your significant other fight over why you haven’t had a date night in a month (if you haven’t had a date night in a month, that should be a red flag). If you and your boo are that couple who fights at work, drop that person like a bad habit. Odds are those work fights will just get worse. (Also, spare your co-workers and customers the uneasiness of watching your public display of dislike with each other.)
2. People Come and Go.
Most businesses with part-time employees have high turnover rates. This is seen especially in the restaurant business. People wander through and work for a few months. You could fall madly in love with someone who decides to quit after two months, and then what? You’ve wasted your time on someone who decided to move to another city or take another job that requires him to travel.
3. Romance at Work but “Boresville” Outside of Work.
You can have great chemistry at work because you’re constantly side by side. Something about being in close quarters with someone can make sparks fly. Then, you start dating, but the relationship is kind of dull outside of work. You and your beau try to make things work because you have this great connection going on. After a few months, you break up, and once again, you’ve wasted time.
4. Does He Really Like Me or Does He Talk that Way to Everyone?
If you’ve worked in a restaurant before, you know it is like being one big family. You laugh together, eat together, joke together and yes, flirt together (cringe!). Everyone flirts with each other in the restaurant business, and most of the time, it’s harmless. Although, there’s usually that one person who makes you wonder if he’s serious. This is when you walk away. Don’t engage in that flirtatious trap. It’s not worth going through only to find out he was never serious, to begin with. Remember why you applied for the job in the first place. Make that money and pay your bills, love.
5. Gossip Girl is Alive at Work…XOXO.
“Gossip Girl here! Your one and only source into the scandalous lives of…(insert your name and his).” Restaurant workers crave drama and gossip. We can’t help it…we need it to survive. If you’re not comfortable with each and every one of your coworkers and their brothers knowing your business, don’t date at work. Odds are, if you do, you’ll become more popular than Serena van der Woodsen. (Unless you're sneaky like a little ninja and keep your personal life on lockdown.)
6. Not Everyone You Meet is Nice.
For some reason, the restaurant business can attract the not so loveliest of people. It’s a money-making business. If you’re what they call a “nice girl” or a “nice guy,” you can become the prey of the lowest of lowest people at work. If you get that gut feeling the person is a little sketchy, steer clear.
7. Stupid Love and Stupid Work Don’t Mix.
Once you enter the love bubble, it can be very hard to find your way out. Love makes you do silly, stupid things. You’re smiling constantly, petting dogs, loaning money and listening to sappy, love songs. Now, enter the love boat at work... you check the schedule multiple times a day. You try to coordinate your schedule with his. You find yourself picking up shifts that you normally wouldn’t because it’s your off day, but you do it anyway. Then, when it’s over between you two, what used to be normal feels like a stranger to you.
8. Jealousy Makes You Crazy.
At some point in a relationship, you’ll feel jealous. The little green monster of jealousy seems to come crawling out a lot more when you date someone you work with. The new girl, who gets everyone’s attention (even your man’s because he’s human), is going to drive you up the wall. At a restaurant, there are so many people, and you can’t possibly keep your eyes on your boyfriend (unless you have superpowers of course). Bottom line, there’s no place for petty jealousy at work.
9. Break-Ups at Work Are the Worst.
Now that you’ve been dumped or dumped someone, it’s going to be awkward. Sometimes, you just want space after a breakup before you try the whole friends thing out. Unfortunately, space is not easy when you work together…especially in a restaurant. Naturally, you avoid each other and quickly walk away. You try to drop shifts so you don’t have to work together. If the breakup is bad enough, one of you might even end up quitting. You should never quit a job because of a breakup.
10. People are Selfish.
Unfortunately, we live in a society driven by the word "I." The phrase "it’s all about me" is the mentality of many people. Sadly, this mentality can be seen in a restaurant. I’m not saying the people who work there are bad. We are there to make money, and that’s the priority. As Tom Cruise said in "Jerry Maguire," "Show me the money!" The problem is when you let that mentality drive all aspects of your life. It can push people away and ruin relationships.
