There is this great app called Tinder where you can make romantic overtures to people who are voluntarily there for that purpose, and do so on your lunch break!

And what if you match with a coworker?

My point was about spare time, not places to go to meet people.

Yup, because when I think "romance", the first thing that's pops into my head is "Tinder".

You know what's a lot more romantic than Tinder? Hitting on coworkers at the office when they're just trying to get their work done.

Oh wait.

It really just depends. I can literally count dozens of acquaintances who met their significant other at work, just in the past few years -- who are really happy together.

I mean, compare being at a place with like-minded people, people who likely share some of your interests, education background, etc. vs. swiping right/left for the 2-thousandth time so much so that you are fucking exhausted and questioning your self-worth after having been denied for months on end.

It's totally okay if you've started a romantic relationship at work. Just don't be an ass about it is all -- let HR know as needed, keep it professional, and all of the other obvious stuff.

As another anecdotal datum: my dad and stepmom met (and started dating) as coworkers, and they've been married (happily, as far as I can tell) for 25 years now.

Work-life balance is a choice. I'm not sure why you feel the need to apparently spend 16 hours a day at work, but:

- You don't need to be doing that

- You probably are not very productive working that many hours per day

Be damned the language barrier, I was writing the exact opposite: we live in a society in which we spend the most part of time either working/driving to work or sleeping. When so much time is devoted to an activity with implied social relations as it's the case of any office, finding someone of interest there can be normal. I'm not advocating that as I have been bitten in the past for that exact reason, I'm just stating that we spend too much time at workplace to ignore relations that could start there.

Work life balance isn't a choice for people who get lower salaries in America. The choice is do what the boss says or go hungry/homeless

For the type of users that browse HN, it is largely a personal choice.