I truly believe that a man and a woman CAN be friends. I had two very good male friends in the workplace years ago. As far as I know, only one person, my manager, mistook our relationship for something it wasn't.

You see, he had been overseas working and had come back. He found me in the "typing pool" and surprised me. Of course, I jumped up and hugged him and he gave me a peck on the cheek. My manager was livid! She told me I should keep my "boyfriends" outside of work. She ate some crow when one of the other girls told her he was the engineer that had been working overseas and that I had been his secretary before he left. My manager cleared her throught, readjusted in her seat and said a very quiet "Oh." Did my heart good!

She never said a word when he'd come take me out of the typing pool to do some work for him.