Reply #9: It's funny though- I tend to be the opposite at work [View All]

[alarimer]

It is like I have become so comfortable around them that I occasionally go to the opposite extreme- can't seem to shut up, even to the point of interrupting, which IS rude. Go figure.

Although it is good that I have a job in which I don't have to be a Chatty Cathy. No one expects it of me (and, in fact, most of the people I work with fall on the more introverted part of the scale). Not suprising in a bunch of scientists.

I do interact with the public; strangely, that does not really bother me. I am not crazy about it and would rather not have to but I am not paralyzed with fear. Sometimes I can't answer their questions but being standoffish is okay when dealing with drunken fishermen, I find. A lot less likely to get hit on.

It is really in a social setting that I have this problem. Once past the initial stages of acquaintance, things go better. Although one guy did break up with me because I didn't talk enough but somehow I was too demanding when I did (WTF?). On second thought, most of my breakups have occurred for more of the usual reasons: met someone else, not compatible, etc. My problem is getting past the intial stage.