My father's thoughts on work romance.

I have a crush on a guy at my store. I don't really know the guy, but he seems nice enough. I'm entertaining the notion.

My father, reluctantly giving me advice about it at lunch today, first told me to consider that I could be terminated for sexual harassment. He said it was never a good idea to mix work and romance, even though he met my stepmother at his old job.

"The world is a different place now, Benjie," he said to me.

He also mentioned a story he once read about a guy in Atlanta who skinned his boyfriend alive and was subject to a weeklong police manhunt.

I was, like, "Dad, I just need to know how to ask someone out."

He told me to avoid him and wait for him to approach me. That way, my dad said I could turn the guy in for harassment.