According to RSVP, 28 per cent of us find lurve at work. Community newspaper group Quest ran the story along with a warning from a relationship psychologist not to have sex in the office.

Do you think anyone knows? Photo: News.com.au

Do people really not know that sex in the office is a dismissible offence? Really?

Other advice included not dating the boss or having a public barney at work with your co-worker turned partner. All pretty obvious stuff but as they say, commonsense is not that common.

There is nothing new in finding romance at work. In fact, before Internet dating sites like RSVP were invented, the Friday night workplace drinks were a common hunting ground for action.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with dating a colleague. We spend so much time at work it really isn’t surprising people find they’re simpatico with someone they see five days a week.

However, I think a few rules are in order to minimise the ewww factor for colleagues.

Single file please

At work, there is no couple space. You need to self regulate because bosses find this stuff awkward to manage and who can blame them?

I wrote a story a while back about how managers should tackle office romance issues. The case histories included a manager needing to have a quiet and awkward word with a couple who commandeered a meeting room to hold a domestic.  Another manager told me of having to talk to a couple that held hands during an All Staff meeting. And there was the official complaints that arose after a woman sat on her boyfriend’s lap in the break out room at lunch time feeding him surrounded by horrified co workers.

If you really cannot keep your stuff to yourself, one of you should get a new job.

Don’t over share – actually, don’t share

When we develop work friendships we tend to share stuff about our personal lives including the irritating habits of a beloved, their health issues or some awfully embarrassing event that happened to them.

And it’s not just women who talk. I have met pretty much all my best male buddies at work and just like my female friends they share info about the women or men they date especially when the end is nigh – stuff that doesn’t portray their soon to be ex-partner in a positive light.

Knowing stuff about a third party is just a fact of life in a friendship but when that third party is sitting across the pod from you – nah, it’s not right.

I see in mummy blogger land it is common to talk about a husband disguised only as “the shed builder” or “Mr bikie boots” but I don’t think we should see this as the new boundary of domestic discretion.

Even in out of work social circles, I don’t want to know personal details about one half of a couple that would mortify said person. I certainly don’t want to have that knowledge about anyone I work with.

You need to also be careful when disclosing information about yourself to work colleagues if that info automatically reveals something about the person you are dating.

Date outside the team

Relationships between people of a similar level in different departments or in different divisions of a company should not be a problem.

However, when people are in the same team or sitting in the same pod it can just be uncomfortable. Squabbles, domestic updates or a couple creating a power block will tick off colleagues.

When to go public

If you are too quick to reveal your new romance and it all goes wrong then you might get a little inkling of what it is like to be a celebrity. You’ve been dumped and everyone knows it.

Is it just me or is three months are bit of a milestone? A bit like the old fashion work probation, three months just seems to be the time when people either break up or become a real couple. You’ll have your own definition but a single, drunken encounter after the Christmas party should not be it.  Even when you are ready to go public, no big announcement is required. Just tell that person at work who can’t keep anything to themselves and let the news filter out.

Sometimes people never know about a work couple. It’s rare, but if this is you, congratulations.

Who you choose to date should be no one’s business – especially not your work colleagues. Don’t make it everyone’s business. Definitely don’t make it a disciplinary offence.

Most commented

64 comments

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    • acotrel says:

      06:52am | 03/07/12

      What about the situation where hubby is well up the tree, and wifey acts as his ears, and they are both dodos ?

    • Louie the Fly says:

      07:50am | 03/07/12

      Morning A.  Are you going to tll us a bit more - please?
      Much better reading than politics. 
      Just change the names - LOL.

    • gobsmack says:

      10:09am | 03/07/12

      I’ve seen that.  Hubby a Director, wife in charge of the typing pool (this was a long time ago).  She had enough airs and graces to make Mrs Bucket blush and, by all accounts, was a real tyrant.

    • M says:

      07:13am | 03/07/12

      “Sometimes people never know about a work couple. It’s rare, but if this is you, congratulations. “

      Or, as in the case in my office, only the couple thinks that nobody knows.

    • gobsmack says:

      07:50am | 03/07/12

      Reminds me of one of my first office jobs.

      My immediate supervisor’s supervisor was his wife.  It was easy to get one or both of them off my back.  “But Jane, Tony said I should do it this way.”  Then they’d spend the next half hour arguing amongst themselves.

      The big downside of a workplace relationship is that you’re with your partner 24/7.  Even with the best partnerships, a bit of time away from the spouse is essential to maintain sanity.

    • Susan says:

      10:01am | 03/07/12

      I had problems working for husband with the wife needing to deal with the work payments and she was just slack and non-communicative.  I just had to raise that when my payments were repeatedly slow and late and even though I did it as mildly as I could, hubby got upset and effectively dumped me.  Good grief.  How about the wife was reminded that like everyone else earning an income from the company, she had roles to fulfill and should be doing that.  I hate being disadvantaged by a couple where one supports the ineptitude of the other and other staff are punished or disadvantaged as a result.

    • Emma says:

      08:01am | 03/07/12

      Its new policy at my work that you have to declare to your line manager every person in the same company you ever had more than a work relationship to. That does not only include your husband, if you work together, but every little affair you might have had. The line manager will then decide if there is a conflict of interest somewhere. We made jokes about this at work, but seriously, why do you have to declare if you had a little something with someone? Is the company really entitled to know?

    • M says:

      09:38am | 03/07/12

      I would tell them to get stuffed.

      What sort of company do you worjk for emma?

    • Susan says:

      09:57am | 03/07/12

      I’m not sure of technicalities but before I offered any information at all I would want to know where the information is stored and what privacy and confidentiality agreement the line manager has signed in order to guarantee that the information is absolutely secure.  I would raise this and I certainly wouldn’t offer any response unless that confidentiality issue was in place.  I would also want to know..“what if my line manager and I had an affair?”.  The company also has to accept that married people who’ve had affairs are unlikely to share that info.

      It’s absolutely reasonable if you are involved in hiring or on a hiring panel and I guess your company is trying to deal with both nepotism and disadvantage created by any prior romantic relationship.  You don’t want people paying others out for say bad breakups and you also don’t want favouritism.  But their solution is rather wanting.

    • gobsmack says:

      10:07am | 03/07/12

      Tell your line manager you’re having it off with the CEO.

    • Dave says:

      10:42am | 03/07/12

      Genius strategy Gobsmack.

    • Emma says:

      10:43am | 03/07/12

      M

      Between the two of us *aehem* I work for one of the big financial institutions. So I am sure they know what they are doing and its correct. And it makes sense, but it still is very invasive I think and I was very surprised when I read about it. It didnt concern me personally as work is the last place I have romantic or other thoughts. I never understood how people can fall for colleagues. I prefer to strictly separate it. I dont discuss too much of my private life at work either.

    • Jo says:

      10:44am | 03/07/12

      I’m with you M.  Especially in a large company (and if there’s a ‘line manager’ it’s not a small firm).  If they don’t like my work performance they can counsel me, but if they want to know what I’ve ever done and with whom I’ve ever done it they can get something stronger than ‘stuffed’!

    • M says:

      11:20am | 03/07/12

      “And it makes sense, but it still is very invasive I think and I was very surprised when I read about it. “

      I disagree Emma, if It’s not affecting your work performance then the company has no business in your business. There’s two engineers in my workplace who are bonking each other. She’s a 23 year old pom with a boyfriend back in England, he’s a 36 year old man with kids. It’s not affecting either of their work, so what business is it of the companies? Moral concerns aside of course.

    • Emma says:

      11:57am | 03/07/12

      M

      It depends on what you do for work. Finance is a bit delicate in that matter. We always have to be absolutely 100% compliant with a million rules otherwise the media attention and possibly legal repercussions are immense. Just think of your usual grandma that tells news.com.au that the bank has taken her home away, the house in which she has been living in for over 60 years. People love these stories. The grandma does not mention that the bank has spent ages trying to contact her and come to some sort of arrangement - not necessarily because they care about the grandma, but because they want her to be able to pay of her debt and because they dont want media attention. But if you now picture what happens to a bank when mortgages are granted as “favours”. The loss for the bank when the person defaults on the loan, the attention when it becomes public that a bank has done anyone a favour and treated people differently. That would be a nightmare.
      I know banks are not everyones best friend and people usually despise them but the pressure on banks is so immensely high. Everyone just waits for them to set one foot wrong and attack.

    • M says:

      12:12pm | 03/07/12

      Fair enough emma, I’m in construction and we only have to deal with the media when there’s an accident or an environmental incident.

    • JaneL says:

      12:30pm | 03/07/12

      Maybe its a big company thing. I worked for one overseas and 2 very high level managers were having an affair. They had to go and disclose it to the CEO of the company. Must’ve been embarrassing as hell for them. The problem is, as you say, a potential conflict of interest and also favouritism. Especially if they work in the same department or one reports to the other etc.

    • Emma says:

      01:17pm | 03/07/12

      Unfortunately, due to a huge rise in the number of grievances, harassment claims, psychological injury claims and common law claims against companies, it is their business.  It’s their business if you take too many days off work or look seriously ill or have a back problem for example, as part of promoting a healthy environment at work.

      Co workers associating with each other closely can go bad, very quickly and result in harassment claims or grievances.  To be proactive, your company is trying to prevent problems before they start by having as much information as possible upfront.

      Not to mention favouritism, conflicts of interest and possible negative work culture - people tend to be resentful knowing there’s a couple in their midst because it changes the dynamic of the workplace.  Couples do tend to be in alliance with each other generally so this follows through at work.

      In saying that, I would ask how/where the information is stored and try to protect yourself while giving personal information..

    • Susan says:

      02:04pm | 03/07/12

      Most banks and large financial institutions also don’t allow employees to play on the net half the day either.  They have firewalls up preventing it so not sure how anyone working in that field can spend so much time in forums during their work day.  How fair it is to an employer to spend so much of each and every day online and paying attention to Punch. Seriously.

    • hot tub political machine says:

      02:16pm | 03/07/12

      Yep, Emma if I was you and I didn’t particularly like the job. I would give them a response, first ford beging with an F, second word ends with one.

      If I really liked the job. I’d give them a one word response. No.

    • Alfie says:

      08:03am | 03/07/12

      Hmmm…words that moulded a young working life: “meet you in the stationery cupboard”

    • Mahhrat Powers says:

      08:07am | 03/07/12

      To me, I would expect you to service your colleagues (I thankyou) as you would your clients.  Unless you’re actually in the sex industry, sex isn’t a part of the services offered to most clients, because it reflects badly on the bottom line (I thankyou).  If your colleague is simply an “internal client” (I thankyou), then there’s a big NOPE there too.

      Always remember the P’s:  Poking the Production Programmer Provides Piss Poor Performance (and in the case of Syphilis, quite literally).

      The only exception is the Christmas Party.  What happens there stays there.

    • Matchofbris says:

      09:20am | 03/07/12

      You forgot to mention: don’t plaster it all over Facebook, especially if it’s an affair with a work colleague. Tacky shit, people.

    • Dan says:

      09:28am | 03/07/12

      Having been there, done that and bought the T-shirt with a soured workplace relationship (something I always told myself I’d never do) I can say with absolute certainty that if it ever happens again one of us will be finding a new job.  Even if your relationship is running smoothly, mixing work and play will eventually end badly.

    • ?? says:

      03:31pm | 03/07/12

      never again. i had to leave a job i really liked because i got involved with the boss and it went to sh!t (as it always does)

    • miloinacup says:

      09:31am | 03/07/12

      I haven’t had relationships but I’ve slept with people I’ve worked with before.

      Not worth it. Usually it’s the result of a drunken night out, the sex is god-awful and then everyone finds out one way or another.

    • I was jipped! says:

      11:14am | 03/07/12

      Oh yeah… I know that situation. So not worth it. And can I just say that men are bigger gossips than women. I said nothing about the night - as far as I’m concerned, what goes on tour, stays on tour - but he had called his work mate (who I sit next to) 5 minutes after I was out the door! And it spread like wildfire… if it was good sex, I wouldn’t have minded as much smile

    • Greg says:

      09:41am | 03/07/12

      I ended up Marrying a girl I met at work, and a good mate of mine started dating his works receptionist even though he was warned in the interview that he would be sacked if he did and 7 years later they are still dating so I guess love trumps all in the end.

      As long as you aren’t stupid about it then work romance is fine.  There aren’t many better places to actually get to know someone than work.

    • Lauren says:

      12:58pm | 03/07/12

      Agree, I’m engaged to my work colleague, and we even work within the same small team.  Works just fine as long as you keep it private.

      And yes, several work people (outside our team) wanted to know who I was engaged to when I started wearing the ring, having no idea we were even in a relationship!

    • Blackadder says:

      01:26pm | 03/07/12

      I ended up marrying the first single receptionist that my company employed… smile

    • Meh says:

      09:47am | 03/07/12

      Advertorial RSVP much

    • Susan says:

      10:50am | 03/07/12

      Yes..and I have to say that Kate’s pieces often advocate some business, consultancy or another which is partly why I have dropped off interest. It’s a close shave between an advertorial and a plain old opinion piece and more and more the advertorial is coming through.

    • Kate Southam says:

      11:58am | 03/07/12

      Happy to tell you Susan & Meh that is not the case. No payment for the blog and not pushing RSVP - it’s a Fairfax company, The Punch is a owned by News Ltd. No advertorials on Cube Farmer either since posting my first piece in Nov 2008. What is happening is that as a traditionally trained journalist, I always credit a source even if it is an opposition company like this. However, we are now in a non-traditional media world so I will take what you say on board.

    • Georgina Goodenough says:

      09:49am | 03/07/12

      I am the union rep for one part of my work. My other half is the rep for another part of the same company. I find it reassuring to have him sitting there in conversations with management. Testosterone adds a certain gravitas to a situation that management might otherwise see as “the women complaining - again”. I check my tactics with him, another experienced male rep and an older woman who has also been around for a while. I do all the talking. Another family member, completely independently, scored a job there as well. They are very useful for “temperature taking” in industrial situations. You can trust family to tell you the truth. Even the closest of my colleagues have their own agendas, even if they are very similar to mine. I think, in fact Kate, you’re wrong.

    • SalC says:

      10:01am | 03/07/12

      Our boss was in bed with HR.  Literally.  Imagine the conflict of interest there, not to mention the bickering in meetings.  Awkward much?

    • Audra Blue says:

      10:19am | 03/07/12

      A friend of mine works in a govt dept (which shall remain nameless).  A couple on another floor, who were married to other people, were caught having sex in the men’s toilets on the floor where my friend works.  He didn’t know them personally but by the end of the next day, the whole building knew about it.

      Oddly enough, neither of them was sacked or moved to other divisions as far as I know.  So it just goes to show you that not everything is a sacking offence, even though it’s clearly written in Code of Conduct guidelines that it is.

      I dated a co-worker once a few years ago.  I was crazy about this guy.  We decided to be discreet about in case it didn’t work out.  We went to dinner at the pub one night during the week and were busted by a girl in my team who was famous for having a huge mouth.  We didn’t even see her there so we thought we were safe.

      By the time I arrived at work the next morning, I had everyone saying, “I hear you and Joe are dating now.”  We weren’t actually dating, it was just dinner between two friends.  I was mortified and couldn’t help asking how they found out.  I confronted the blabber mouth and she said, “I didn’t know it was a secret”.  Well, it certainly wasn’t after that!

      Everyone knowing really didn’t help out relationship.  It started well enough with us both being ultra secret agent careful.  No meetings at work.  If we accidentally bumped into each other, we pretended like we didn’t know each other.  Anyone who mentioned us a couple received confused looks from both us and a quick change of subject.  It limped along for a few months and then ended.  I think he got tired of everyone asking how things were going between us.  I was really annoyed too because I liked this guy and thought something special would happen between us, but the gossips didn’t give us time to find out ourselves.

      So now, my rule is that I wouldn’t date a co-worker, much less have physical intimacy with them at work.  But if I did end up dating one again, he would have to be something truly spectacular for me to break my rules about it.  Ultimately, it would be discreet and it would never be a person in my team or on my floor, but someone who isn’t associated with my day to day job.

      If I couldn’t trust him to be discreet about it, I wouldn’t start anything in the first place.  You can generally get a feel for someone’s ethics when you’ve been working with them.  I don’t discuss my private life at work anyway, so there would be very little chance anyone would find about it.  And if they did, it certainly wouldn’t be from me.

    • Gollum says:

      02:00pm | 03/07/12

      Conversely, Audra, I really liked a colleague. We got on famously, flirted outrageously with each other. Regularly took her to lunch. Bought her flowers. Invited her to places outside her work. Was introduced to her parents and siblings. She wore no rings and had no ‘personal’ photos etc. adorning her office cubicle. Colleagues thought we were the perfect couple - we had the same life goals etc. Then one colleague quietly mentioned all may not be what it seemed…I just thought them silly.

      Months later, at the work Christmas party, she rolled up with her boyfriend…!!! *sigh*

      I then had the honor of becoming the laughing stock of the department. I couldn’t find a hole big enough to hide in for months afterwards. I sure as heck learnt a big lesson there…

    • Audra Blue says:

      04:47pm | 03/07/12

      Gollum, sorry to hear about your experience.  But didn’t you at any time, ask her if she was single?  That’s one of the first questions you ask directly or someone close to the person before you even have coffee together.

      But if she could lead you on so heinously, you’re better off without her.  Imagine what she would do to some other chap behind your back?

    • SKA says:

      10:43am | 03/07/12

      The worst thing about dating someone you work with is having to see them every day after you break up. It makes it so much harder to get over the relationship - even when it was an amicable ending (mine fortunately was). And of course, office gossip is a nightmare. Doesn’t matter how professional and discreet you are, some people will always find it exciting and harass you about it. The other bad part is sometimes there is less motivation to organise to do things together or even just touch base with messages and calls because you already saw eachother all day, every day at work (forget the fact the only conversations at work you have are about budgets, products and deadlines so nothing at all personal).

    • Em says:

      11:36am | 03/07/12

      Ugh, that’s just pissing in your own pool.  Not good.

      I won’t work in the same company my husband works. Apart from needing my space, the whole changing from husband/wife to professional relationship behaviour would be too freaky.

    • hot tub political machine says:

      11:40am | 03/07/12

      I find the idea of dating a colleague utterly baffling. I’m married to someone from a different profession so no chance of us working together – but had I met that uber special someone in my own workplace the solution would have been simple – get a new job.

      Also, people sharing personal details about their spouse to their colleagues….this is not “just a fact of life” as the author puts it. This is shithouse behaviour toward your spouse.

    • Emma says:

      11:42am | 03/07/12

      I dated a colleague, after a drunken Christmas Party Hook-up. We did nothing couply at work in fact we tried not to see each other at all. He broke up with me completely out of the blue, and i was devastated. The weirdest part was that now everytime he sees me he runs away, he broke up with me how can it be awkward for him?

    • M says:

      12:14pm | 03/07/12

      Dunno, but it just is.

    • Audra Blue says:

      12:59pm | 03/07/12

      Sounds like guilt on his part.  Maybe he did something morally bankrupt behind your back and that’s why he ended it?

    • M says:

      01:19pm | 03/07/12

      You know Audra, men have emotions besides the usual ones of hungry/horny.

    • TheRealDave says:

      02:01pm | 03/07/12

      We do M???

      The only time I hide from an ex, Emma, is when I am out and about with my missus or missus and kids and I see one of them, not very often at all mind you, and I hide ‘cause 20 years later they aren’t as svelte as they used to be….and I aint as drunk….

    • Inky says:

      02:20pm | 03/07/12

      I’ve broken up with a girl and found it awkward to be around her. In fact, I’d be awkward around most of my exs, regardless of how the breakup occured. There’s only one exception so far to that, and that’s because we became friends again some time after the breakup.

      So yes, more than just hungry/horny.

    • Audra Blue says:

      10:27am | 04/07/12

      “You know Audra, men have emotions besides the usual ones of hungry/horny.”

      M, that’s music to my ears.  Every time I try to figure out men, I fall flat on my face.  So I’ve stopped trying. Maybe if I eat all my veggies and I’m a good girl, I might find a man like you’ve described and we can go skipping off into the sunset together.

      Until then, I’ll keep putting my energy into my job.  At least earning money isn’t a heart breaking mystery to me

    • Kaz says:

      11:47am | 03/07/12

      In a past employment situation the work gossips spread nasty rumours about me having slept with several men in the company - all of which were totally untrue.  One man I was supposed to be sleeping with I didnt even know personally.  At least if you are really dating someone in the office and everyone knows, it limits the lies.

    • Rowdy says:

      11:53am | 03/07/12

      You should never get your meat at the same place you get your bread and butter…...here endeth the lesson.

    • RG says:

      12:26pm | 03/07/12

      Is the lesson not to shop at supermarkets?

    • renold says:

      12:02pm | 03/07/12

      Worked in the Adelaide Casino, lots of couples there and as a Government Casino Inspector we had access to all surveillance camera’s…things we saw, I can write a book about it.

      Best report from a security guard who had to “attend” a romantic interlude was referred to as the couple having annual sex instead of anal.

    • M says:

      01:16pm | 03/07/12

      You never know, they could have been married.

    • Gymmer says:

      07:13pm | 03/07/12

      My friend is about to marry the guy she met working there!

    • renold says:

      08:02pm | 03/07/12

      @Gymmer

      Old colleague of mine met his wife there as well. Plenty of new couples who met there

    • TheRealDave says:

      02:03pm | 03/07/12

      Never, under any circumstances, date the Quix Snacks chick.

      Just don’t.

    • ibast says:

      04:49pm | 03/07/12

      Given that the quality of the Quick Snatch chic went from Stunner to Three Toothed Shocker in about 3 years flat, there’s not much chance of me ever hooking up with one.

    • Ashlee says:

      02:09pm | 03/07/12

      I met my fiance when we were both working at Woolies nearly 7 years ago, we were 20 at the time. We were in different departments but being in the same store it didn’t make much difference.

      At least when you date someone from outside the work place, the gossip is practically non-existent. We had people commenting on our relationship all the time, we even had the manager accussing us of doing things we never did at work such as making out, which was actually what two of the nightfillers liked to do!.

      We also had one day where we were both working in the same department but he was in charge. I didn’t really like being told what to do by my boyfriend (yeah, I’m a bit bossy). I’d never do it again unless it was the only option to put food in my mouth.

    • ibast says:

      02:45pm | 03/07/12

      “couple who commandeered a meeting room to hold a domestic.  Another manager told me of having to talk to a couple that held hands during an All Staff meeting. And there was the official complaints that arose after a woman sat on her boyfriend’s lap in the break out room at lunch time feeding him surrounded by horrified co workers. “

      Whilst these things are not common in the workplace I’m struggling to find any heinous crime here.  The problem seems to lie in the mind of the observer only.

      Can someone explain what problems are caused here?

    • Al says:

      02:56pm | 03/07/12

      Work + Prosepective partner = Hel no! I realy don’t need those problems.

    • Chris says:

      09:49pm | 03/07/12

      Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode in which George has sex with the cleaning lady on his office desk. Getting sacked the next day, he says, “I’ve worked in a lot of places where that kind of thing happens all the time.”
      In my case, as a school teacher, I’d find it very hard to get anything going in the workplace. There are just too many eyes and too many gossips.

    • Out In The Cold sub human says:

      10:03am | 04/07/12

      Here & now, there is certainly no love to be found here; Just the love to hate.

      The place is filled with disgruntled staff, stacked in 2mts of floor space and sterile pod. I’m feeling sick agin
      Managers are paranoid, bullying, micro managers that don’t trust employees.

    • Bill says:

      11:53am | 04/07/12

      Workplaces are set up to make a profit, not to be a social scene. Love gone bad can be very expensive, either same sex or both sex or both, in time and money and unwanted public exposure. It can be very human to turn from love to hate at the drop of a lover, and if both parties are important workers everyone gets their time wasted and the profit suffers. So any company which wants to avoid the cost of love gone wrong will have some risk aversion policies. Too many people see their paid workplace as their whole life and fail to notice that they live on a wonderful planet full of interesting places and people, Most of you should do less paid work and do a lot more unpaid work exploring the planet.

 

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choice ringside rantings

From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go

Tim says:

They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]

From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go

Kel says:

If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]

Gentle jabs to the ribs

Superman needs saving

Superman needs saving

Can somebody please save Superman? He seems to be going through a bit of a crisis. Eighteen months ago,… Read more

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