Friday dilemma: Working with your partner

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by The Punch Team

27 Jul 12:36pm

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Filed under: Friday Dilemma, Relationships

23 comments

An anonymous Puncher writes: “My wife and I are co-hosting a prime-time television news program and I have no idea how it’s going to work out. HELP!”

Mrs News….

Well, actually, there is no anonymous Punch reader. But we reckon there could be a Friday dilemma, or at least talking point, in Sydney newsreader Chris Bath and husband Jim Wilson anchoring the news and sport components of their prime time news broadcast together every night.

Channel 7 staff are calling them “Mr and Mrs News”. I’m sure that’ll be the lead sentence in 7’s marketing campaign around it. Whaddya reckon? Is working with your partner destined for confrontation and confusion? Or is it just a logical extension of well-oiled relationships that already work everywhere else?

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23 comments

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- simonfromlakemba says:
  
  01:18pm | 27/07/12
  
  You mean Jim WIlson?..
  
  Reply
lolly says:

04:19pm | 27/07/12

I was just about to write that
- fml says:
  
  01:18pm | 27/07/12
  
  Don’t really mind as long as they have a tiff on air.
  
  Reply
- Mahhrat says:
  
  01:23pm | 27/07/12
  
  The thing about workplace romance isn’t the risks to the two lovebirds but everyone around them - especially when one is manager and the other part of the team being managed.
  
  That shit just never ends well. Fallout, favouritism, you name it.
  
  Reply
- subotic says:
  
  01:27pm | 27/07/12
  
  I’d take a Bath with her…
  
  Reply
LoveFest says:

03:56pm | 27/07/12

Me too. But not with you.
- Chris says:
  
  01:28pm | 27/07/12
  
  Like most people I don’t live in Sydney and have never heard of Jim Wales (I vaguely remember Chris Bath from late night TV). Still, I used to work with someone who was then my boyfriend and I can tell you that we barely did any work at all and basically spent our time goofing off.
  
  Reply
- SKA says:
  
  01:52pm | 27/07/12
  
  I used to work with a boyfriend… it was a nightmare. The gossip going around the office was a killer - everytime I talked to him at work, it was almost always about work stuff, I’d get back to my desk and have emails saying “saw you guys talking…” - was so irritating particularly because our jobs actually did require us to talk regularly - I needed his sign offs on tasks. Where it gets really bad is if the relationship ends. Then you are stuck seeing eachother everyday.
  
  Reply
- Testfest says:
  
  01:54pm | 27/07/12
  
  That’s not a dilemma.
  
  DON’T DO IT. That is all.
  
  Reply
- Zeta says:
  
  01:59pm | 27/07/12
  
  Actually, Jan and Wayne Skylar are the only married news team.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeyqS9BDPds
  
  If Channel 7 is trying to steal Adult Swim’s audience with this stunt they had better try harder.
  
  Reply
- Kika says:
  
  02:01pm | 27/07/12
  
  Whilst I met my husband at work, he left soon after we starting seeing each other. But because everyone knew him and me it was still like an office romance, especially during the courting phase. It was really awkward. No, I wouldn’t like working with my spouse. It would drive me nuts. You see each when you get home. In bed. On the weekend. Then all day at work. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
  
  Reply
- Sancho says:
  
  02:08pm | 27/07/12
  
  I worked with my wife for nearly a year, and it was great.
  
  People will often say there’s no way they could work with their spouse, and I’m unsurprised when those ones end up divorced or in affairs. If your partner isn’t your best friend and someone you want to spend time with, how did they end up as the partner you plan to spend your life with?
  
  Reply
RB says:

02:36pm | 27/07/12

I agree, Sancho. My wife and I spent many years working together in various businesses. The experiences we underwent together forged deeper bonds of understanding between us.

She is now working from home and I am back in the workforce as an employee. We miss each other and are seriously looking at buying another business in which we can operate as partners so that we can again spend our days together.

Sounds corny, now that I’ve written it – but it’s the truth!
Sancho says:

03:35pm | 27/07/12

True love FTW.
Phil S says:

04:39pm | 28/07/12

I agree, I’ve worked with my partner with no problems. We still work in the same building, but not the same room (wasn’t our choice, I think some people got a little worried working together would be a problem). It is all about your partner being your best friend too. And it brings us closer together because we have more things to talk about, more shared experiences, and we can actually fully comprehend what the other talks about because we work at the same place. I think i’d find it incredibly annoying trying to explain what I was working on to someone who had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

There is very little part of the every day where we aren’t within a few hundred meters of each other. And as far as I’m concerned, that is fantastic! As you say Sancho, when you can work like this for years, you know there is no way you will ever get sick of each other!

I think people who can’t stand working together are going to have problems in the future. It means you already know you get sick of the others company, and really, how do you expect that to translate into a happy, shared life experience?
- pa_kelvin says:
  
  02:20pm | 27/07/12
  
  My wife and I run a small business. She looks after the office side of things while I look after the on-site work. Works well….......Most time.
  
  Reply
- miloinacup says:
  
  02:27pm | 27/07/12
  
  My sister and her husband work together. They are currently in the process of seperating and the gossip around the workplace is insane. Whenever she talks to another guy the rumours start that she must be sleeping with him and THAT is why they are no longer together. Same goes for him and any woman he speaks to.
  
  Personally, while I’m not totally opposed to working with a partner, I would probably avoid it if I could. I love my boyfriend but it’s good to have my “own” thing going on that doesn’t involve him.
  
  Reply
- Richard says:
  
  03:20pm | 27/07/12
  
  What’s the problem? I’ve worked for my wife since I married her 49 years ago.
  
  Reply
acotrel says:

06:09am | 28/07/12

Yes, All you have to do, is do what you are told and shut up ! Just recognise that women are often right. And they can multi-task, like putting their lippy on while answering a mobile phone and driving at the same time.
- Sad Sad Reality says:
  
  05:21pm | 27/07/12
  
  Her next Bath better be in the Fountain of Youth if she thinks this gig’s going to last. Just sayin’.
  
  Reply
AdamC says:

11:53pm | 27/07/12

These topics on the Punch just wouldn’t be the same without your bizarro comments, SSR.

Just sayin’ ...
- Dictation says:
  
  05:23pm | 27/07/12
  
  Playing up in the office when everyone has gone home on fridays, oooo -wahhhhh,naughty
  
  Reply
- Dave says:
  
  07:42am | 28/07/12
  
  I work with my long term girlfriend and we find it strange when one of us isn’t at work as we are so used to spending nearly all our time together. While its good that we do spend some time apart, just to ensure we aren’t completely co-dependent, it works really well. The only times it has been awkward was when she first started working and I was her supervisor when she was an intern (we had been together for 4 years) and I occasionally had to pull her into line. If anything, I was probably harder on her her more than anyone because I didn’t want our relationship to affect our work, but also because I expected a higher standard from her, knowing her so well.
  
  Reply