Fake It till you Make It

On a recent Friday night at the pub, conversation turned to “If you could do anything, what would it be?” Without a moment’s hesitation I replied “Act”. Surprised at both the speed and randomness of the answer, my friend probed a little further.

I was always envious of my younger brother, who moved schools after GCSE’s to attend a Performing Arts school. We had both joined Am-Dram groups outside of school, taken roles in plays, and both possessed an inclination towards the creative. For my brother, his creativity was more lucid whereas mine was more pragmatic [read “safe”]. While he was still “figuring it out” and finding his niche, expectation denoted that I would choose a more “academic” route.

WORDSMITH NUMBER-CRUNCHER

Fast forward a few years and I am a Financial Broadcaster interviewing banking bigwigs on any number of topics from private equity to the price of Gold. I spend my evenings desperately researching how likely the SNB are to raise the exchange rate floor from 1.20, and my days trying not to throw a blank when an interviewee mentions a term not covered by my Investopedia-sponsored home schooling.

But somewhere amidst this fear of being “found out”, I realised that I was acting to a certain degree.

1. Interview questions: CHECK
2. Big Girl high heels that remind my brain it’s show-time: CHECK
3. Entertaining financial anecdote: CHECK
4. Knowledge of high-yield derivatives trading: ..Sure!

ACT AS IF

This idea isn’t uncommon within the Journalism industry. Ever noticed how one journalist will adopt several prefixes to their “Journalist” title in one week?

But we all do it constantly. At that very important job interview, we pretend to be the person we think our prospective employer will want to hire. Once we get the job we then have to continue to be that person, at least until the probation period is over!

I’m not even saying it’s a bad thing. If we take active steps to imitate something for long enough then, ultimately, those steps will lead us closer to that “lead role”.

Until then, just keep acting Dahlings!

Poking the Payroll

Switzels Matlow, the sweet-making firm behind Refreshers and Mr Chew, have claimed that of the 500 staff who work at its Love Hearts factory in Derbyshire, 122 are in a relationship with each other.

The cynic in me can’t help but think that this conveniently timed announcement just ahead of Valentines Day smacks slightly of a last-ditch PR ploy to sell these pastel-coloured, cellophane-wrapped declarations of edible PDA.

But then it is also a fact that 40% of people have admitted to having a relationship in the workplace, with a staggering 84% of 18 to 29 year-olds stating that they would date a colleague. This figure drops off to 36% for survey participants over the 30 mark – Presumably because they already pinned down that bloke from Accounts, let him put his pencil in her sharpener in the Stationary cupboard, then caught him making out with the slutty secretary at the Christmas party during in their Twenties.

THE COUPLE THAT PLAYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER

Image courtesy of specialagentkate, Flickr.com

An article by Gary McClain and Deborah S. Romaine suggests that the likelihood of a relationship taking place at work increases with the level of commitment the job demands. This perhaps might explain why the bar industry is notoriously incestuous. The long, unsociable hours at work surrounded by over-sambuca’d, over-sexed customers have encouraged many after-hours relationships to blossom.

There’s also the notion of shared experience. Who can understand you better than someone working within the same company as you? Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie infamously met on the set of ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’, and magazines are constantly touting celebrity couples who met on the set of this or that film. When I first heard about Harry Styles and Caroline Flack my first thought was..OK well yes my first thought was the age gap, but then it struck me ‘Well, where else is he going to meet someone?!’ Plus there’s something very attractive about a person with a skill. Where does someone portray their skill-set more so than in the workplace?

DON’T POKE THE PAYROLL

Either way, the pitfalls of entering into a workplace romance are obvious. While it’s all going great, you’re the company’s hottest couple. But when it goes wrong.. [Insert crying in the toilets/Being passed over for promotion/Co-workers gossiping about you story here].

Just ask John Prescott. In 2006 police were forced to investigate a complaint that the then-Deputy Prime Minister had broken the law by having sex with his secretary in his Whitehall office during their affair.  Some companies have even introduced policies regarding inter-office dating, particularly managers dating subordinates.

Perhaps the best office romances are the under-stated ones; the relationships that slip under the radar so that when they do end, the collateral damage is minimal. The Big Bang Theory co-stars Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki dated in secret for two years, allowing them to maintain a professional relationship when the romance reached its mutual end.

This being said. If anyone does wish to exchange Love Hearts, as one couple at the Derbyshire factory are purported to have done before they got chatting in the work canteen, then don’t look at me.

Been there. Done that.

HAPPY LOVE DAY!