According to Gugeler, there are very simple ways to preserve your singlehood sanity in a coupled workplace:

1. “Be clear about monitoring your work hours. If you have a tendency to stay late, and therefore the assumption is that you can/will, look at your activities so you can have a place to be after work.

2. “Take full advantage of vacations, book them in advance, give your dates, and don’t go into detail about where you’re going, with whom or why.

3. “When you’re signing up for a company-sponsored event, make sure to always mark it ‘+1.’ Whether you bring someone, romantic or otherwise, is not the point. The point is that there are different kinds of arrangements and 1+1=2, no matter its romantic hierarchy.”

Or, if all else fails, “lie,” jests Nazanin, a 20-something executive assistant. “Tell your boss that you have a partner or that you have a lot of family obligations,” Nazanin says. “My boss started giving me more work and hours for the same pay when he realized I didn’t have a family or partner, but I work with someone who is married and she does indeed get preferential treatment—he’s not as demanding of her time.”