You're Totally Her Work Husband: Managing Misconceptions in the Work-Spouse Relationship

Abstract

Jackson shut the door to his office, started up his computer, and read over the new job offer again. Two weeks ago he had been approached by Tyrone, the supervisor of a different department at Corp, about transferring from his current team to Tyrone’s department. He loved the team he worked with and his responsibilities there, and he could never have imagined in such a short time that he might actually consider transferring. However, over the past few weeks, Jackson’s day-to-day life had changed substantially; he reflected back on when things started to go downhill.

He had walked into the break room and was chatting with Jane, one of the newer employees on the team. “Hey Jackson—how’s the new project coming along?” Jane inquired.

“Oh you know . . . it’s going. We’re a couple of days behind where I wanted to be, which is going to end up costing us more money in the end as well, but it’ll all get done and be fine,” Jackson answered.

“Uh oh . . . behind schedule and over budget . . . what’s your wife going to think about that?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t have a wife, remember?” asked Jackson.