Expert explains why 85% of affairs happen in one specific location
If I told you that a whopping 85% of affairs all start in one specific setting, I bet you'd want to keep your other half far, far away from that place.
But when you find out that this fling-inducing location is the workplace, there's not much you can do to stop your partner from attending.
Regardless, you would hope that you have enough trust in the person you're in a relationship with to believe that they wouldn't do you dirty anywhere.
However, according to this dating expert, it should come as no surprise that a lot of people find themselves seeking solace in a colleague rather than their spouse.
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Dr John Delony, who describes himself as a mental and emotional health expert who also specialises in matters of the heart, reckons he knows the reason why workplace affairs are so common.
During a recent appearance on the Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman podcast, he revealed why people are willing to risk their career and home life for a bit of hanky-panky with a fellow employee.
Host Ken Coleman referenced a study which explained that '85% of affairs start at work and one in five employees confess to being unfaithful with a colleague', saying that the statistics left him 'truly stunned'.
"I thought, 'My goodness, that's high'," he told Delony. "At a lot of places, if you are having an affair with someone at work, you've created a real weird dynamic."
The adage 'you don't sh*t where you eat' springs to mind in this situation - but Delony says all logic goes out the window when someone is looking for something they're not getting at home.
Discussing why romantic entanglements among colleagues are so common in today's society, the relationship expert said: "We've created the loneliest generation in human history and we've taken that to our homes.
"We've asked our spouses to be everything. They have to be co-earners, co-parents, co-house runners.
"You have to be be hot until you're 95 and still sleeping together, you have to like the same things, go to the same things, eat the same things.
"No human being can bear the weight that unskilled modern marriage is putting on a single person - and so what you have is two people who are good at co-managing the house and you have absolutely no shared purpose or building anything together."
Essentially, a person's home life can often become mundane after a while, especially as if they aren't connecting with their spouse as they should.
Delony went on: "Then I go to work and me and two amazing women are working together on a project that's going to help 10 million people. Now we have shared purpose, we're talking about how we feel about things, we have a goal, we have metrics - I'm spending more time with her or him than I am with my spouse.
"And the time we're spending together is rich - we're laughing, telling jokes...oh my gosh, of course [affairs] happens at work!"
Despite knowing full well that you're gambling with pretty much every aspect of your entire life, he reckons people are willing to take the risk for the sheer buzz and excitement an affair brings.
"It's oxygen," Delony said, before asking: "How many of us go home, pull into our street and just [sigh]?
"Even when it's negative [at work], y'all are negative together. It's you two against the boss, you two against the customer, you two against the salesman."
On the other hand, if there's a negative atmosphere at home, most couples are on opposing teams rather than displaying a united front.
As well as this, your side piece at work might reckon you're the best thing since sliced bread, as they don't see the reality of living with the real you.
Delony added: "They don't see your snot rags by the bed, they don't see you not flush the toilet, they dont' see any of the stuff that makes you, you."
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Dating trends, Community, Lifestyle, Jobs
Olivia Burke