Relationships and Work: Always a Bad Combination?

Recently I had a talk with a friend who is dating a former co-worker.  She always liked the guy, but she didn't make a move until after she left the job. She said she thought it would just be weird.  It turns out he felt the same way.  But now they have to balance both being busy professionals and trying to date someone who lives and works quite a distance from the other.  

Personally, the jury is still out for me as to whether one should date where they work.  I say this because, beginning in highschool, I developed  a strict policy of only dating one person per place.  Fortunately I went to four different high schools, so this allowed me to date four different guys. But I always felt that the "after" was so weird, the last thing I needed was to start another relationship in front of the face of the guy I was just dating.  And for me, what do you do when you are the "ex" but you see the person on a regular basis, more than the "new" girlfriend? This happened with a boyfriend on the track team. I didn't even like him very much, but when he began dating someone new, it was a very awkward situation. 

But maybe adults are mature enough to get over the "feelings."  Or maybe not.  I have noticed that some companies have anti-dating policies.  And there is always risks with individuals dating where one person has influence over the other, whether male or female.  And doesn't one person always have more power than the other in a relationship?

In law school, a professor of mine who I absolutely love suggested in class that a truly loving relationship could develop with a severe imbalance of power (the context was American slavery).  This caused a proverbial fire storm of responses from the female students.  I wonder if, especially in these economic times, the amorous attentions of a supervisor could be perceived like that, the difference between the Macy's line and the bread line.  Is it true that maybe, if a young pretty assistant could easily find a job, office romance would be more real?