[Slava]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Holy crap, I was literally in that exact situation a few years back. I was doing some consulting work for a Vancouver-based client. For most of the contract I could work from my office here in Calgary and communicate with the client remotely, but on a few occasions I had to travel to their location to meet in person. One such instance occurred on the day of their corporate Christmas party. The manager I was working with was the chair of their social committee, and since their office was shutting down at noon that day anyway, he invited me to come to the party. I would have much rather returned to my hotel or explored the streets of Vancouver by myself, but that's NOT an invitation you decline. Plus, the event was at the Four Seasons, so if nothing else, I knew I'd get a good meal out of it.

Being the conscientious, punctual person that I am, I showed up exactly on time. What I didn't know was that the meal was preceded by a mix & mingle cocktail hour. Since I was a consultant from out-of-town who was doing work with only a handful of employees at that organization, I knew literally NOBODY in the room (~500 people) and felt incredibly uncomfortable. I know exactly what you mean when you describe it as "torture". In the end, I just stood quietly next to the bar slowly sipping my drink.

I'm sure the extroverts reading this are judging both of us for wasting what could have been prime networking opportunities, but they have absolutely no idea how terrible being in that situation is to an introvert.

I would thank this a million times if I could. I did that exact thing and just stood there like an idiot sipping my drink for what felt like an eternity.