Male/female friendships - particularly married man/single female

[tallielikesthesky]

Help settle an argument - In your opinion how likely do you think it is that a married man would cultivate a friendship with a younger single woman for purely innocent reasons?

I'm normally in the men and women can be friends camp but in this scenario it just seems unlikely to me that a married man with a family and a million other commitments would spend time and energy pursing a friendship with another woman.

Friend recently told me about her new 'friend' - he's a work colleague of hers, he's married, she's single. They have no shared interests or any particular reason to be in contact outside of work but apparently they text frequently and go for lunch when working the same shifts. My friend is lovely and don't think she sees it as anything more but I think she's being a little naïve although I inadvertently insulted her when I suggested that he may not be purely interested in being her friend. Am I being cynical?

Can be normal if you work closely on same team as other people may not be available for lunch at the same time... Equally can be and look a bit dodgy

Doesn't need to be a problem. Depends on the individuals involved. My husband's best friend is a much younger woman who was single for the first few years I knew her. Never been a problem. I trust them both.

Depends on the culture of the workplace.

When I worked in the city I frequently went to lunch, regularly with men, married or not. They are colleagues. Most of them were treating me to lunch as a way of repaying work favours I'd done for them. Nothing more, nothing less.

Hmmm I would question his motives tbh