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I’m 48 and hesitant to bring my 19-year-old wife to the office party: Ask Ellie | The Star
Q: I was 41-years-old when I was dating a lovely 16-year-old girl. I made the cardinal mistake of inviting her to my company party. The gossipmonger types engaged in salacious banter that hurt my reputation. I ended up leaving that job.
At 45, I’d asked my then-girlfriend (age 17) to accompany me to my office party. I told her not to volunteer any demographical information about herself and instructed her to tailor her appearance to “look a bit older.”
Unfortunately, a senior VP’s daughter was a high school classmate with my date and he recognized her right away. The shame and humiliation that I endured in the aftermath forced me to quit that employer.
Today, I’m on an executive track in a senior leadership role at a great company that has much career advancement potential.
I’m 48, and my gorgeous wife of eight months just turned 19. Heeding the lessons of my past, I’m extremely reluctant to take my wife to the party this week.
But skipping it would be detrimental from a networking standpoint.
However, if I attend with my wife, I risk possibly irking many people, especially since numbers of my colleagues have daughters in her same age-range. I don’t think this’ll go well in this #MeToo era. Should I attend the party alone?