I Gave My Husband a Workplace Performance Review

A lot of us have new officemates: our partners. Here’s how a relationship can thrive despite the closeness.

Anna Peele
Forge

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Photo: WestEnd61/Getty Images

NNow that my husband and I have been self-isolating and working together at home for more than two weeks, it’s time for a performance review.

Alex is a highly competent employee with problem-solving skills that make him a leader in the institution. He has a unique ability to work both holistically and with extreme attention to detail. Some skills Alex can work on are drinking tea less ostentatiously and lowering the volume of his constant, anguished sighs.

I already knew my husband was good at his job before coronavirus quarantine made us co-workers. I’d seen him answer emails and heard his stories about how he discovered and fixed some byzantine bureaucratic issue. But I had never actually worked with him. I’d never seen him manage down, or manage up, or use his clout to explain why something simply is not possible in this strand of the multiverse and have everyone accept his ruling as gospel. And it’s kind of hot.

But it’s also a major intrusion into my own job. I’ve worked from home as a writer for two years, always alone. And I’m worried about how we’ll come out of this when it’s over, whenever that is…

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Anna Peele
Forge
Writer for

Anna has written for The Washington Post Magazine, ESPN the Magazine, GQ, and Esquire. She lives in New York. @bananapeele + annapeele.com