Overly Rude Introverts

[guywithashovel]

I think there may be some misunderstanding of the word "introvert" in this thread.

Being an introvert does not mean that you're unsociable or anti-social or any other variant. It merely means that you process energy inwardly instead of outwardly. For example, when my mom took the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (a personality test), she tested as an introvert, and she is quite sociable. Likewise, I test as an introvert, and I'm usually fairly sociable. However, being in large groups tends to be a little draining for me after a while. If someone is snapping at people just for saying "hello" to them, then it's a matter of that person being a jerk, not an introvert or extrovert.

[Rageaholic]

I think there may be some misunderstanding of the word "introvert" in this thread.

Being an introvert does not mean that you're unsociable or anti-social or any other variant. It merely means that you process energy inwardly instead of outwardly. For example, when my mom took the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (a personality test), she tested as an introvert, and she is quite sociable. Likewise, I test as an introvert, and I'm usually fairly sociable. However, being in large groups tends to be a little draining for me after a while. If someone is snapping at people just for saying "hello" to them, then it's a matter of that person being a jerk, not an introvert or extrovert.

Couldn't have said it better. I'm friendly to people, but I'm more introverted. To say introverts are anti social is a huge misunderstanding.

[blas87]

I do apologize if I offended anyone, perhaps we did come across a misunderstanding and I used the wrong word. I apologize also for taking out frustration on a coworker out on several people and lumping them all together in a blanket judgement.

I have experienced my own territory being invaded, per say.....while I don't really read a lot, I have went on break to text my bf or friends or just be alone for a second, and have had random coworkers just start stupid conversations with me. Not "Hey, how are you?" or "How's your night?" but like in another thread, they'd just invade my space and snap "How can you be warm wearing THAT?!" or "When are you going to get some decent winter shoes?!"

That kind of invasion I can understand, and it infuriated me to the point of almost snapping. Even though I didn't need to be left alone, I was getting mad that people were coming up to me and making stupid remarks and asking stupid questions instead of being decent or polite.

[guywithashovel]

I can't speak for anyone else, but there was no offense on my part.

Simply put, it's sometimes hard for strong introverts and strong extroverts to understand each other. For example, if strong introvert has been spending the working day waiting on lots of customers, he's probably going to want to use his break time to zone out and "recharge" rather than socializing, while an extrovert probably wouldn't need that. That's really the major difference between introverts and extroverts. Introverts can be social, and often they are, but their socializing is usually done in spurts. For example, if I've spent the evening at a party, I'm probably going to need some time to myself to rest and recharge.

Another good example would be one of the psychology professors I had in college. When we were talking about the Myers Briggs test in class, he surprised many of us by revealing that he himself was an introvert. He was a very eloquent speaker and could often give captivating lectures. However, when the day was done, he usually spent his time "zoned out" while he read, graded papers, or worked on other things. Also, he was very good at focusing. He once said that he was reading term papers at his home once and failed to hear a loud car accident outside his house due to his concentration.

[Vagabond]

I have found that usually a noncommital grunt can be an appropriate response to end someone speaking to you when you want to be left alone. Failing that, by about the third grunt, they will get the message. Granted, that may be rude, but is it not rude to interrupt someone when they are busy with something else?

[Rageaholic]

Ditto on what guywiththeshovel said. I expected to be offended, but once I read the thread, I knew where the OP was coming from. It sounds like her coworkers have a bug up their ass or something.

[Plaidman]

I'm an introvert. After so many years of people lying to you, pretending to be nice just as an eborate prank, its very, very diffcult to be nice to people who are smiling and asking how your day is, because you just know that there is a knife coming from somewhere. Not saying its fair, but you didn't have the problem growing up, so you don't know just how cruel people can be to you. Your life experence with people have been genrealy positive and nice. Introverts tend to have nothing but negative. Is it any wonder they act like they do? I'm not saying its fair, or even very nice, but when a good chunk of the world wasn't nice to them, then they really aren't going to be nice ether.

[the_std]

Introverts tend to have nothing but negative. Is it any wonder they act like they do?

This is your experience, but I would hardly paint all introverts out there with the same brush. As has been previously stated, being introverted does not mean being anti-social. An introvert simply does not energize from social interaction, the way an extrovert does. They're two different terms which people constantly confuse.

Blas, I don't think there was really any offense taken by what you said. It just seems like a lot of people giving you the introvert point of view of how you may be interacting with your co-workers so that you might understand why they act the way they do.

[blas87]

On the contrary dear Plaid, I didn't lead a great life as far as grade school, middle school, high school, or even early adulthood.

I had a lot of "fake" friends, as far back as 5th grade and as recently as months ago.

While I'm not a human doormat or a fool, I try to give people a chance. And I'm not an overly bubbly weirdo who goes out and about in public trying to talk to strangers. I mean, if someone gives me the "hello" nod or smiles at me or says hi, I'll say hi back, the reason I made this post was because I just don't want to have a lot of enemies at work the way that I used to in my old department. I don't need to be everyone's friend and I won't lay awake all day if people don't like me, but I'd prefer if no one had a valid reason to dislike me or could say that I wasn't a decent person to be around. We're stuck with each other 46-60 hours a week, we better damn well at least be civil to one another or we'll all be fucked.