Your plan (which you should call a game plan, because it sounds fun and temporary) should establish people’s schedules and preferred working locations. If these include common areas, one person probably shouldn’t commandeer the best one every day. Figure out a way to share — and regularly disinfect — it. With four people cooped up together, some level of disturbance is unavoidable, and some level of friendly interaction should be encouraged to benefit the general atmosphere. Use your roommate conversation to establish what is fine and what is distracting. Are you best reached by instant message while working? Are you able to ignore a TV if it’s on mute? It might be useful, if you can, to plan to break for lunch around the same time, so people can check in with each other and clank plates with impunity.

Once a schedule has been established, stick to it. You can’t demand extra quiet hours because you decided to take a 90-minute Netflix break in the middle of the day.

(A detour for any readers who find themselves in the roommate’s unusual situation of being paid to stay home and do nothing: It behooves you to downplay the fact you currently have nothing to do. There’s a good chance you are not enjoying your free time, but they will assume you are, and resent it. You may find that making an effort to appear booked and busy alleviates tension.)

Hopefully your roommate will accommodate the group’s requests to avoid becoming a pariah. If she resists, do your best to be empathetic. She didn’t cause the pandemic (probably?), and it is very likely that every other minute she is experiencing a full-body panic freeze wondering if and when she will be laid off from the job she is unable to perform through no fault of her own.

Cam Show Colleagues

How can I adjust to the newfound intimacy of video chats and Zoom meetings? I can’t handle staring into everyone’s wild eyes. — Anonymous

Please, if you value your dignity, take the time now to put a sticker, some tape, a chewed-up piece of gum — anything — over your computer’s camera. I was recently talking to a group of professional women across a wide range of ages and geographic locations. Two had firsthand accounts of witnessing someone appear fully or partially nude while dialing in to a work meeting because he or she was unaware the call featured video as well as audio. Don’t assume that because you can’t see someone, they can’t see you. Believe me when I say it is worth the hassle of removing a small obstruction from your computer lens every time you want to appear on camera. Do not let your webcam catch you unawares.