lol, this thread reminds me of this very strange experience I had with a co-worker. He was a very outgoing guy who thought he was the world's greatest comedian. I thought he was rude and arrogant actually...Every time I ran into him at the work site, he would say "tell me something interesting about yourself, or I won't let you leave the room!" Then he would proceed to block my exit. I would very nicely attempt to say something interesting about myself, like my major at school or my hobbies or my trip to Europe or something, anything, remotely interesting about my life. After a while I would just draw a blank and could not think of anything else to say. I would stand there feeling confused and humiliated. But he was never satisfied. He would say, "No, tell me something *interesting*" and would continue to block my exit from the room. Finally, one time he did this in front of my boss, and I said "You know, I always try to tell you something, but you don't seem to think anything I have to say is very interesting. So I don't know how to convince you to stop bothering me. Do I need to make something up?" He was very nice to me after that. To this day I still wonder what he expected me to come up with, like "I've got six toes on my right foot" or something extraordinary like that which wasn't true. The whole situation was bizarre, because people say we have an irrational fear of being judged by others, but his behavior toward me indicated that maybe I really don't have a problem! Maybe it's self-centered people like that who are the problem, because they really do make me feel judged and defensive when I'm already hyper-sensitive to social cues in the first place. I wasn't phobic about talking to him, it just made me anxious when he didn't approve of anything I had to say and made me doubt whether or not I am an interesting person.
I actually found the experience helpful, because a couple of people have since told me I am "too guarded" because I do not offer information about myself. I had no problem confronting them by saying "ask me any question, and I'll tell you the answer. But I don't feel the need to talk about myself in great detail, or put on a show every time I enter a room." They laughed, and said it improved their perception of me for the better. But it still bothers me that people who I feel comfortable and quite open with actually think the opposite of me. I just don't know what I'm doing that makes them think that way about me. I mean, there are times, like in this post for example, that I think I am a very wordy person who has no problem talking about myself! But so many people tell me I am guarded or mysterious. I just don't get it.
