The Work Husband/Wife

They keep you company every time you go to refill your coffee mug, you escort them on cigarette breaks even though you don’t smoke, they find your copies on the printer and always walk them to your desk… it’s your work husband/wife. The “coworker” you will regularly spend 40 hours a week with. I once heard the subject discussed on a morning radio show while driving to work. It made me think of my then boss at the time. Her work husband was a guy in our department; both she and he were [in reality] married with kids, a dog, etc. At work however it was a different story. If you were a stranger just walking in, you would have thought the two of them were married, or dating, or something. They were always together. To the point where one couldn’t help speculate that maybe they really were having an affair. As soon as you saw one walk to the bathroom, or off to take a break, a minute later the other was sure to follow. Ok so not all of these “relationships” are to this extreme; but many people have formed them to some degree. How big of a deal is the work spouse? I wonder how the spouses of my former boss and the other guy in my department would answer this if they were flies on our office walls. I don’t know how I’d deal with this if my guy had a work wife. Can these relationships be innocent, the title not as threatening as it sounds?