Woman spots Valentine's Day cards for 'work wife' and 'work husband', asks 'who approved this'

Over the years, the internet has coined several new and out-of-the-ordinary dating terms. However, a few concepts have raised concerns about their appropriateness. The concepts of 'work husband' and 'work wife' can be considered pretty weird, but now, someone has introduced Valentine's Day cards specifically for these relationships. A woman named Christina—who goes by @abarefootmomma on X—shared images of such cards with the internet, and people reacted to them along expected lines.

"So, this is wild," the caption to the post read. The post included a photo of a full segment of Valentine's Day cards, which had a dedicated section for "work wife" and "work husband" cards. There was a light pink card that read, "For my work wife on Valentine's Day," while a white card read, "For my work husband on Valentine's Day."

Both cards had plenty of hearts, similar to usual Valentine's Day cards. People on the platform were quite surprised that someone would make such a card and approve of it being sold. "Who approved this?" the text overlay read.

@laelwix wrote, "Hopefully, it just means husband/wife that you also happen to work with, but that would be weird to say on a card, I don't know. People are too comfy with cheating on their spouses, and it's weird." In response, Christina revealed the rest of the card, and it is safe to say that the situation is not as @laelwix hoped. "One would hope, but I highly doubt it," she captioned the photo. The rest of the card said, "I am glad to have found someone as inappropriate as me."

The post received more than 5.3 million views and over 2.7k likes. People in the comments speculated what it could mean and expressed their thoughts on the scenario.

@Prolife_Sam commented, "The only context this is cute: is for two people who aren’t married and just have a crush at work, calling them a work husband as a joke or being flirty. In all other contexts, it’s gross." @largebill68 wrote, "I had a woman refer to me as her 'work husband' once. I just gave her a look that said very clearly I don't play that crap. I have a wife. If I work with you, that makes you a co-worker and nothing more." @TarynA83 remarked, "Girl, I have seen this float around amongst some mutuals. I could not understand why everyone was upset about a cat card. I think it’s stupid, but not something to get upset about. NOW I see!"

@TJMoe28 shared, "The idea of a 'work wife' or 'work husband' isn’t cute, funny, or harmless. It invites emotional infidelity and makes zero sense in a world where boundaries have to matter. Nothing about it is evenly remotely appropriate. How is the divorce rate so high? It's ideas like this that have contributed to it. The sanctity of marriage matters. Mocking it with the idea of a 'work wife' is foolishly self-sabotaging. If you have a shred of common sense, you will avoid this nonsense."

But @JWS5551 remarked: "People who are offended by this never had a really hard job, and someone who shared their thoughts and completed work as they would do got referred to as a work wife/husband. My wife loved my work wife. Nothing romantic at all about it."