Before you choose a work spouse, read this

Before you choose a work spouse, read thisBefore you choose a work spouse, read thisEveryone knows that choosing a work spouse is the most important, if notlage only, thing youll ever accomplish at work. In sickness and health,conference callsand team lunches, reorgs and mergers, picking your work spouse can greatly improve your happiness in the office. Or it can completely ruin your life. Here are 6 tips to keep in mind before you choose a work spouse.1. Lower your expectationsWhen looking for your work spouse you might be tempted to seek out someone who is good-looking or charming, but its better to focus on someone whos available. Its also better if theyre not on the same team because it will give you the opportunity to find out the gossip youre missing from other departments.2. Find someone who hates the same thingsPerhaps you both avert your eyes when the COO comes in wearing his bike shorts. Maybe you both crack up when the CEO mentions dongles or have a mutual disdain for that one annoying guy on the sales team. Whatever it is, there needs to be a bit of common ground on which to build your work marriage. Without that, youre just coworkers.3. Show interest by laughing at their jokesOnce youve made your choice, its time for the real work to begin. Youll need to reply to them often in group emails and on public Slack channels. Laugh at their jokes. Ask about their big presentation. Find out if their boss is as annoying as she seems. Express interest in who they are as a person and respect their Fantasy Football picks.4. Send out a request for proposalAfter spending time together at mandatory work events and picking up trash together at the companys required volunteer day, send them aFacebookfriend request to make it official. Send a like or two to your work spouses FB deutsche post ags and comment where appropriate. Now feel free to stop by their desk at least once a day and talk about your life outside of work, if you have one.5. Consummate the relationsh ip with a private Slack channelOnce your relationship has been established, bring it into the confines of a Slack channel where you can communicate many times daily and useGIFs/emoticonsto express what words cannot. Do remember that what you post in Slack is never really private but then again, neither is your work marriage. Its a public celebration of two people who found themselves in the same office and hate many of the same things.6. Never take your work spouse for grantedJobs suck so make sure you appreciate your work spouse. As a source of joy, your work spouse can make the workplace bearable when you hate everyone in the office. Knowing theres someone to save you a piece of cake after another painful coworker birthday party is what a work spouse does best. Providing a smile and a bit of humanity in an otherwise soul-sucking environment is just icing on that 4-day old break room cake.7. Realize it may not lastSadly, 50% of work marriages end in divorce. Divorce is an unfortuna te reality but they dont have to ruin the office environment. Let your work spouse move on and do your best to split any shared projects in an amicable way your projects should not have to suffer because your marriage didnt work out. Give your former work spouse space and try not to stalk them at company activities. If things get really uncomfortable, dont be afraid to make an awkward joke and then immediately start looking for another job.To sum up, work spouses are cheaper than therapy and more fun than unemployment. Treat them right and you might just find yourself looking forward to Monday. Okay, that might be a stretch.This article first appeared on Cooper Review.