DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: For 6 months, a guy coworker and I have what seemed to be mutual attraction. He would regularly check me out, engage in intense eye contact, lean in, act really nervous when around me, looked surprised when talking to me – a bit like a deer in headlights, stutter a little and then recollect his thoughts. He’s super confident with other girls and guys, but not with me. He acts serious but flirty.
Anyway, I like him so I wrote to him back in January to say I was attracted to him. I didn’t hear anything, so thought I had got everything wrong. Then last week after a meeting he says he got my message and was sorry because he’d only just seen it and that he rarely checks that account.
I was shocked as it had been so long and I told him yes what I had written was true and he asked me didn’t I think it was strange that he didn’t reply to which I said I thought he didn’t care.
Anyway, he then said he had a partner. He didn’t say anything more. I have since found out he has had his girlfriend since January, but I believe he has been flirting with me a lot during that time. I get he has a girlfriend, but I’m also confused, as it seemed like he did like me, so what gives?
I kind of felt like he led me on to some degree. Up to two weeks ago, he was still showing signs of interest, he would regularly set up one to one meetings with me (when we are no in the same teams), linger to have a longer conversation and act a bit odd when I talk to another guy coworker.
Last thing I want is to come between him and his girlfriend. I guess I’m just confused as to why he even bothered with me. Now I also feel like it’s a bit awkward at work, like we say hi to one another and that’s it. We were friends before, but it was obviously more relaxed. Now it feels tense. Can you advise what happened here and why a guy would act like this?
Perplexed And Perturbed
DEAR PERPLEXED AND PERTURBED: The principle of parsimony – what is often called “Occam’s Razor” – states that when confronted with multiple possible hypothesis, you should select the one that requires the fewest assumptions, as this is the one that’s most likely to be correct. While this is more of a guide than a law or a mandate, it is useful when dealing with situations like yours, where there seems to be multiple possible explanations.
In this case, there are two possible hypothesis that stand out as requiring the fewest assumptions to be true: that he wasn’t flirting, he was just being friendly and what you were seeing as flirting was just him being him; or he’s the sort of person who’s just flirty but doesn’t necessarily mean anything by it.
Both of these are equally likely; people are notoriously bad at telling when someone is or isn’t flirting with them, especially if the other person is attractive. It’s very easy to let d--kful or c--tful thinking turn friendliness into flirtation, simply because the person wants the other to be flirting. There are also people who are just flirty because that’s how they roll and because flirting is fun. They are flirting without intent of following up on it, or expecting more than just the inherent fun of a flirty conversation.
Is it possible that he’s into you despite his having a partner? Sure; it’s hardly unknown for folks in relationships to be attracted to other people. People get crushes. And as I’ve said many times before: having a crush doesn’t mean anything other than “this person does it for you”. But was/is he leading you on? I highly doubt it, frankly. Remember what I said about “Occam’s Razor”? Well, there’s a related guide called “Hanlon’s Razor” that states “never attribute to malice what can be equally explained by ignorance.” While it’s certainly possible that he’s the sort of person who gets his jollies by backburner-ing women or giving them just enough attention to keep them on the hook, that usually entails more than just “having conversations at work”
it sounds like you’re reading more into things than are actually there. That includes the tension, by the way; I suspect that it’s mostly coming from you and the way you’re feeling is affecting how you behave with him, which is going to affect how he responds.
As it is, I think the simplest answer really is “there’s nothing here”. Seeing as how he a) “didn’t see” that message for damn near six months, b) told you he has a partner and c) has never made any move that wasn’t “talking to you at work”, I think it’s safe to say that you were misreading things. And if you weren’t and he did have a crush… well, that’s a distinction without a difference, because it seems pretty clear that he has no intention of acting on it.
So, you may as well just work under the assumption that this was all a wacky misunderstanding. Allow yourself to feel silly about it, mentally roll your eyes at him over it and just let it go. I think you’ll find the friendship comes back a lot more easily when you do.
Good luck.
Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com