“They promised me a flex space with wifi, coffee, tea, fruit, access to printer and meeting room. They never mentioned that in six years, almost to the day, they’d add a baby to the list.’’ – Paul Tyler, Joes & Cos user

Conventional wisdom may be that office romances are a no-no but what if you work remotely? And in fact, there’s even evidence that workspace romances are more likely to result in marriage than relationships that start in any other way. Do you agree?

And just consider these high-profile couples who met through their work: Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, among others. These romances have not happened if they stayed in and worked from home. Just saying.

So with love in the air—and around the cubicles this Valentine’s Day—we’ve asked a Joes & Cos user how they met their significant other. Here’s a story of Paul Tyler, and how he met his wife when the only thing he needed at that time was a quiet corner and a cup of coffee.

Annette and Paul

It was August 2014. One Brit needed one workspace in central Copenhagen. Working from the corner of my bedroom strangely lacked the stimuli and seriousness of a bustling downtown office. Dear Facebook friends took me to Britt and Mikkel, guardians of 5teSTED on Gothersgade. They promised me a flex space with wifi, coffee, tea, fruit, access to a printer, and a meeting room. They never mentioned that in six years, almost to the day, they’d add a baby to the list.

To be fair Britt had mentioned that they were ’quite a social place with a feel of co-workers more than office neighbors’ – 96 at that time, spread across 4 floors. An ’epic mix of branches, personalities, and ages, but I still don’t recall any mention of romance or the patter of small, tiny feet.

The first clue was a photo. Co-workers would share pictures of friends joining the ‘family’. After six months of my feet being under numerous flex-desks, Annette, a communication advisor, shared a post that was about to change my life.

Now the downside of working in shared spaces is that everyone can see your screen. It reduces the time one can reasonably stare at another co-worker’s profile without arousing suspicion or concern. But this woman was beautiful. Really beautiful. It was understandably difficult to not sit and stare.

The upside of working in a shared space is that you get to move desks every day and so by chance or by design, it didn’t take me long before I was sitting in front of Annette’s friend.

Coworking is different from working in a place where you draw your salary from the same company account. Coffee breaks and lunchtimes aren’t filled with bitching about the boss. We talked about everything and anything, but rarely nothing. Every day we’d abandon the notion of finding new desks, instead of rooting ourselves to the same window seats.

Something was happening, but neither side was prepared to acknowledge it. The very warm, cozy, and positive atmosphere that Britt and Mikkel had nurtured so incredibly well was somehow masking the warm, cozy, and positive feelings that were building between us.

Four months on from this maneuvered encounter and with summer approaching, the Death Valley to media consultants like me, I took the painful decision to return to that bedroom corner, my home office. My last day brought things ahead. Confronted with a split, triggered enough awkwardness to expose our feelings. Finally, the penny was forced to drop and we were ready to make the step.

With the weekend approaching, I was about to fly to Scotland to work. A 07:30 phone call on a Sunday morning sent me down to find my coworking space desk buddy, waiting for me with a coffee in hand on a little red bench outside my local bakery Andersens. It kickstarted ‘us’ and as they say, the rest is history.

That red bench on Gammel Kongevej now sits in our hall. Between us, we have four kids and I never cycle past that shared office on Gothersgade without a nod and a silent thank you to those window seats.

Could that be your story?

With Joes & Cos app you can get access to many cozy and inspiring workspaces. It is all about you creating your own work experience. Choose where you work and with who you work. Meet your new business partners, friends, co-workers, or even a partner for a lifetime. You decide. That’s why we love it so much!

Happy Valentine’s day!

Download the app and start your journey today.

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Joes & Cos is the platform that grants you access to working spaces around Copenhagen to let you work wherever you want, however you want. The app brings you the future of work and lets you create your own work/life balance. Read more here or download the app here.