Basic Trope: Someone's romantically attracted to their coworker, patient, etc. but doesn't want to pursue a relationship with them, as it'd be inappropriate.
- Straight: Alice has a huge crush on her coworker, Bob, but doesn't ask him out because that would be inappropriate.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice knows it would be inappropriate to date Bob, but she can't so much as look at him without thinking of how she'd like to date, screw, and/or marry him.
- Alice has a crush on Bob, who has a crush on the pair's boss, Carol, who in turn has a crush on one of her other employees, Dave. None of them feel it's appropriate to start anything.
- Downplayed: Alice knows that actually dating Bob is inappropriate, but she doesn't mind hugging him, holding hands, sending him flowers, etc.
- Justified: Bob is Alice's type and they happened to both be interested in the same line of work, and be unlucky (or lucky, depending on your point of view) enough to be assigned together. The workplace explicitly states that there shall be no romantic employee relationships.
- Inverted: Alice wants to work with her boyfriend, Bob, but isn't allowed to because her workplace doesn't allow couples to work together.
- Subverted:
- Alice talks about how she has a crush on Bob, but it turns out she meant a different guy named Bob.
- Alice appears to be leering at Bob at work, but she's actually admiring the view outside the window behind him.
- Alice mentions she's attracted to Bob and looks guilty, but then she walks up to him and asks him out in spite of the work ethic.
- Alice gets fired, meaning that she can now date Bob without feeling guilty.
- Double Subverted:
- The other Bob also works with her.
- She was looking out the window... at her other coworker, Dave.
- Asking Bob out was all in Alice's mind.
- But she gets a new crush in her new job.
- Parodied:
- Zigzagged:
- Alice mulls over dating Bob.
- Alice and Bob have a confusing, ambiguous relationship that sometimes seems romantic but sometimes doesn't.
- Averted: Neither Alice nor Bob consider anything more than a professional relationship.
- Enforced: The executives want the writers to add some romance between Alice and Bob (because they're the main characters or the most popular or everyone else already has a romantic partner) but the writers point out that it wouldn't work out since the two work together, so they compromise.
- Lampshaded: "Of all the men I could have fallen for, it had to be my coworker?!"
- Invoked: Carol trolls Alice by deliberately pairing her up with her crush.
- Exploited: Carol manipulates Bob and Alice into getting together in hopes they will violate a policy on workplace romance and get fired.
- Defied:
- Carol sees Alice blushing around Bob and decides to pair her with someone else.
- Alice decides she doesn't care and asks Bob out.
- Discussed: "What if I get a crush on my workmate?!"
- Conversed: "I'm in two minds about the Will They or Won't They? surrounding Alice and Bob. On the one hand, they're kind of cute, but on the other hand... he's her colleague!"
- Implied: Alice is occasionally seen doing things that hint at romantic attraction towards Bob.
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs: Alice tries to hide her crush, resulting in Cringe Comedy.
- Played for Drama:
- Played for Horror:
Back to Strictly Professional Relationship.
