The Platinum Rule: Love thy neighbor

How I Met your mother: The Platinum Rule

The one rule that stands above The Golden Rule, it stresses that one should never ever ever ever love thy neighbor. If you see someone on a regular basis, work with them or are paying them in some capacity, the rule states that under no circumstances are you to begin dating said person or else the same eight steps will occur: Attraction, Bargaining, Submission, Perks, The Tipping Point, Purgatory, Confrontation, Fallout. Some believe the Platinum Rule must be broken occasionally and that a ninth step, co-existence, exists which effectively makes the rule less menacing.

Step 1: Attraction - The ignition of desire
Step 2: Bargaining - Weighing the possibilities with close friends
Step 3: Submission - Jumping in
Step 4: Perks - Relishing in the "benefits" of the relationship
Step 5: The Tipping Point - Where it starts to go downhill
Step 6: Purgatory - The culmination of annoyances
Step 7: Confrontation - Ending the relationship
Step 8: Fallout - The unavoidable backlash
Step 9: Coexistence - Letting go and moving on