Meeting, Bloody Meeting

I've never been a very outgoing person. I'm not the stereotypical awkward nerd (although at times, you probably would think that I was), but I still find myself crossing the road to avoid having to talk to someone. But it's not really about disliking other people, sometimes it's because I feel like I am putting them in an awkward situation - especially at work.

At work, I play this "game" where I have to tell myself someone's name when I see them. Through the social committee, I've met a lot of people and I try to remember as many as I can because I think that's good customer service (even though my job isn't really a customer service job, I think a part of maintaining a good reputation at work is to treat people well). I've found that in quite a few situations, the person that I'm talking to doesn't remember me even though I remember them from one of the committee events. So I feel bad putting them into the awkward situation of having to pretend that they know who I am even though it's pretty clear that they don't.

Now that I've left the committee, I don't feel obligated to hang around at the social events. I do show up, but I'll only hang around for an hour or so, and then go home. I thought that was OK, because at least I was making an effort, but a couple of people on my team have mentioned it like a bad thing, so I guess it's not as acceptable as I thought - especially considering one of those people is my boss.

To be honest, I don't really understand why it's such a big deal. How can my early departure effect their enjoyment of the event? It's not like they have to leave when I leave, they are completely welcome to stay, and usually do, so what's so bad about me leaving?

This is a problem because our work Christmas party is coming up, and I had planned to just show up and leave after an hour. Grad Daniel said that I should stay and leave after two hours, just to prove my boss wrong, so that is the goal that I'm setting myself. It's not really work-only though, as people outside of work have said similar things. So I've been trying to make an effort at other events. Plus, one of my work-related goals is to get better at networking, so mastering the art of meeting new people and making small talk can't hurt, right?

I went to MB's 30th birthday party, and I found I enjoyed myself there despite the fact that I only knew the host and his partner (though I think I left after a couple of hours... progress!). I also went to X's Melb dinner and..... made a really bad mistake as apparently I had met someone there twice before this dinner, and forgotten him last time and this time. So much for my "game"! But at the dinner, I lasted 3 hours. :D

Still, I am making it my early New Year's resolution to try to be more social and meet new people - though I think I will limit myself to at most one thing per week, as I don't think I'm ready for that much social interaction yet.