People are listening to smutty romance books when they're at the office. Several readers told Business Insider the books make them more productive at work. A sexologist doesn't see a problem with the hobby and says reading romance can be beneficial.
Robin Ellert, 52, sat at her cubicle at the Army office where she worked when disaster struck. The cable of her wired headphones got stuck on the handle of the door next to her desk, yanking them out of her phone and causing what she called a "very graphic sex scene" from an audiobook to play for anyone nearby to hear. Ellert has been reading romance books for four decades — she told Business Insider she read her first "bodice ripper" when she was just a tween — and she listens to three to four audiobooks a week, so the contents of the chapter didn't faze her.
"It's just another story," she told BI. "I can see how someone who hasn't been exposed to that material in a graphic way would maybe find it problematic. But it doesn't bother me.
" Of course, the timing could have been better because Ellert's boss walked right behind her as the audio started blasting from her phone. "The word horrified describes the look on his face," Ellert said. "It was one of those things where we both knew it happened, and then we just acted like it didn't.
" Ellert said her boss gently advised her to "rethink the material" she listens to while on the clock, but she never faced any real repercussions at work. She has no plans to change her reading hab.