Love in the Workplace? Heck Yes!

Dear Stanley,

Do you think there is a feeling of love in your workplace as there is in mine?

Signed,

Huggy Bear

Dear HB,

Of course I do! There's love all over the place here. I love the people who work for me, as long as they do a good job. They love me, too, as long as I treat them well, do not yell at them more than once a quarter, and give them the occasional raise and "work at home" privileges. I love my colleagues, too. In fact, I've loved hundreds and hundreds of them over the years, in a completely sincere and situational way. I am still friends with about three of them from 25 years of action on the battlefront. Those guys, I don't love -- I just like them a lot. And I've never actually loved a colleague in the way that sometimes happens in the workplace, not even at the office holiday party or the occasional boondoggle in Boca. Never got that lucky, I guess.

I'm sorry. You're question is both interesting and completely wacky. Of course there is high emotion in all places of work. All the human emotions are evident in your average business environment: Love. Loyalty. Hatred. Betrayal. Fast friendships. Longstanding feuds and resentments. But they are, one and all, utterly situational. There was this guy around here a couple of years ago in a very high position. Some of us adored him and swore to die for him. Others thought he was a total doofus and had no use for him whatsoever, and in fact dedicated themselves to his destruction. After a while, as these things happen, he left. And now nobody even talks about him anymore.

We come together to do this thing we do. We should enjoy it and each other as much as possible, because whither the context goeth, so goeth the whole emotional structure of the enterprise. That's why they call it Business.