Letters posted here are associated with the following article:

122
Letters
Friday, May 29, 2009 12:00 AM

Hot for married co-worker

She says she's loyal to her husband and wants to have babies with him -- do I have a chance with her?

The letters thread is now closed.

View:
Friday, May 29, 2009 08:15 AM

Can't think of a subject line

So, I'll just get into it.

You know, let's assume it's a real letter. It could be totally creepy, or it could be totally innocent--that determination says as much about the commenter as it does about the letter writer, given the limited information available. Let's also assume that the woman in qusetion is indeed happily married, and simply being friendly.

My "wild guess" is that LW may have some room to improve both socialization and emotional skills. He's obviously functional enough to hold down a job and have a conversation with someone. He has this very strong emotional response "... I stayed very calm and almost the same way I was before, but for a moment I got furious inside and kept that aggression inside and did not reveal the mood swing...." but 1) recognizes the emotional response and 2) understands that he can filter that response. All in all, that's a fairly decent level of self awareness. He's even taking the time to write for advice on the matter.

I think the LW is just a little lost in these feelings and needs some solid support and guidance to work through them and learn from them. There's definitely a great opportunity for growth here. And like someone else said, he could take note of the qualities he finds attractive in this woman and 1) work to realize them in himself, and 2) look for them in other people who are readily available for dating.

It would probably do the LW well to get some basic information on dating and relationships from some books. I'm think there are better examples than this, but something along the lines of "Relationships for Dummies" sounds like it would be a good place to start. I'm sure if LW spent some time on Amazon looking at similar books, he could find some very useful resources.

And I will just note, this line could have been lifted right out of any number of journal entries of my own (especially from senior year in high school and early in college), "At the end of the day I am not entirely sure about what she thinks of me" I know that uncertainty all too well.

If this guy is simply smitten with someone, overwhelmed with some new feelings, confused by the situation, but still a nice enough guy to have drinks with (from the perspective of an apparently decent girl), then I'd bet with a lot of practice and hard work, he'd make a hell of a good husband.

It would be awesome to see him write back in some years saying "Cary, I totally figured out the girl/relationship thing, am happily married, but now I need advice on..."

Friday, May 29, 2009 08:16 AM

Rabbit, anyone?

If this woman is newly married, she may be getting used to monogamy and feeling the need to get out a little. If she has been married a long time, she may be bored and in need of an ego boost. That doesn't mean she does not love her husband, so you have no chance, dear LW. Even if she goes home with you, I bet the outcome will not be what you hope. Your feelings are normal but you are setting yourself up for a fall. As a married person, any time I feel tempted, I simply watch "Fatal Attraction" and that does the trick for me.

Friday, May 29, 2009 08:16 AM

If she had any clue how you feel, she would not accept drinks from you.

In fact, she would not give you the time of day. Many women make this mistake from time to time--viewing certain men as safe, disinterested companions just up for a good conversation. How we long not to be "liked". Why can't coffee or a glass of wine just be coffee or a glass of wine? Why can't we laugh and talk about work and friends and then go home to the people whom we adore--but who don't necessarily get our worklives.

I can tell you how she feels about you. She likes you. She is fond of you. She enjoys your company. Right up to the point where you reveal that your feelings dwarf hers. At which point she will feel some vague regret over what was lost and then not think much of you at all other than to avoid you. Not unlike how you might respond if a man revealed similar feelings about you.

Friday, May 29, 2009 08:18 AM

Hairy bits

Another dead giveaway that LW is English.

Friday, May 29, 2009 08:49 AM

UH OH!

I find it weird in the extreme that that your first reaction to learning she was married was fury. That's stalker speak going on there. LET GO OF THIS IDEA! Everything about this relationship is wrong, stupid and you keep waiting for her to see the light and ditch the man she married, apparently because she loved HIM. Not YOU!

Stop now before the situation falls apart.

Friday, May 29, 2009 08:54 AM

India, not England... is my guess, if we're guessing.

India has strict relationship rules, generally speaking. And people there don't "date" in high school like we do in the west. So there's often very little in the way of understanding feedback and signals from someone they're interested in.

On top of that there's this romantic notion, supported by Bollywood, where pining longingly for a woman is the way to go.

So _hopefully_ this guy isn't stalker creepy material. Hopefully he's just on his way learning the relationship skills that the rest of us got as teenagers.

Friday, May 29, 2009 09:05 AM

Use the opportunity

You've got a crush on her. What attracts you to her? What does she represent that is lacking in your life?

Once, in my now-defunct marriage, I got a crush on a new guy in town. Not only was he hot, he was smart -- a college professor, no less. The fact that I found him attractive revealed that something was missing -- not in my husband, but in me. I was able to channel the longing in an appropriate direction by going to graduate school (and introducing Prof. Hottie to a nice young single friend who is now his wife).

I hope you can find the gap in yourself that this crush is pointing you to fill. Then fill it -- but not with her.

Friday, May 29, 2009 09:07 AM

....'for some reason...'

How naive are you, anyway? I see that others have mentioned this:

"She tends to be, for some reason, very loyal to her husband and even told me that she wants to have his babies."

It strikes me that loyalty and procreation are usual and customary attributes of marriage. Perhaps LW is one of those people for whom the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I wonder what he'd do if she suddenly changed her mind and really started coming on to him? My bet is that he'd run away, in a fit of immaturity. (Of which he seems adept.)

Most Active Letters Threads

740

The commendably missing element from Obama's speech

There was no pretense that human rights is our goal, or the likely outcome, in escalating the war
435

Do Obama officials know what his Afghanistan plan is?

What explains the completely contradictory statements from key aides on a central plank of the war strategy?
408

America's regression

It's almost impossible to find a nation with as many torture advocates as the U.S. has.
332

Palin: Birthers have "fair question" about Obama

Of Obama birth, the ex-governor says, "the public is still, rightfully, making it an issue" (Updated)
211

The poster boy for progressive self-delusion

Read Hayden's 2008 Obama endorsement to remember the way the left sold our centrist president to itself

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon