Should they just go for it?

Back in the day, office romances were much more common. A ton of people met their future wife or husband at work, but that has changed over the past 50 years for several reasons. People’s social lives are much less intertwined with their work lives than they used to be. It’s much more common for employees to go to the office, do their work, and leave without ever taking time to socialize with their coworkers. Some offices have coworkers go out for happy hour Monday through Friday, and everyone is best friends, but that is more the exception than the rule. If coworkers can’t even find the desire to be friends with each other, there’s literally no way they’re going to date each other. 

Another reason coworkers are unwilling to date each other is that harassment policies can be somewhat unclear about what constitutes workplace harassment. They usually define harassment as making unwanted advances, but how are you supposed to know that the advances are unwanted until you make them? One employee might see unreciprocated flirting as harassment, while another might reciprocate the flirting, start a relationship with the flirter, and get married to them! It all depends on the person, and most employees would rather not risk their careers by flirting with coworkers if they think it might get them in trouble. 

The two coworkers in this story want to get together, but both of them have cold feet.