Affairs of the office

Used to be that the company I work for was a den of iniquity. People drank, smoked and had sex on their office couches with people who were not their spouses. A lot of folks were pretty much staggering after about 5 p.m., ashtrays overflowed and the hallways reeked of cigarette smoke, and you had to knock really loud before entering an office to avoid the risk of seeing a couple en flagrante. Mostly the flagrante stuff happened between male bosses and female underlings. It was sexist and broke up a lot of marriages—and resulted in more than a few new ones.

It's much tamer these days, maybe because cubicles predominate and all actual offices have glass walls. There may be some drinking, but no one passes out at his desk anymore, and if someone wants a cigarette he has to leave the building to smoke. Frankly, it pisses me off. The smokers get to take time off from work several times a day and breathe some fresh air (well, it's all relative, since we're in New York after all) along with their nicotine, while I'm chained to my desk all day—but I digress. And there's a lot less tittering because there's apparently less to titter about.

But a few years ago, the tittering arose anew. Two people who shall be nameless were rumored to be having an affair. Both were married to other people and had children. The evidence, which was widely circulated and heehawed over: they were frequently seen leaving or entering the building together at odd hours, sometimes looking flushed and rumpled. They were together way more than their work duties required, and sometimes they seemed to be positively drooling over each other in public. Eventually both left the company for reasons unrelated to their alleged affair.

Now rumors have arisen about another "work couple." But the evidence in this case, again widely broadcast among the staff, consists mainly of the observation that they are never, ever seen together, proving they have something to hide and are as guilty as sin. This evidence is considered solid proof by those who offer it and many who receive it.

So I'm just wondering, if you wanted to keep your affair private, should you be discreet or hang it out for all to see?