No world for introverts

Berling’s case is, of course, extreme, but introverts everywhere know what it’s like to be dismissed as “killjoys” and “wet blankets”. They understand how it feels to sweat bullets at a gathering they’ve been forced to attend and to attempt to edge their way towards the nearest exit only for the host to say those five dreaded words, “Let me introduce you to…”. Introverts believe that if hell had a tenth circle, it would most definitely consist of office events where they’re expected to “mingle” and make “small talk” with people they’d otherwise run 10 miles to avoid (which could be most people). Not for them the drunken revelry of New Year celebrations or the forced bonhomie of after-work drinks. Because hanging out with the chattering multitudes doesn’t recharge their batteries — it drains them completely. To be this way is not to be “joyless”, as extroverts believe. It is simply to have a different definition of joy. This could just as well be chilling on the couch with a glass of wine, Netflix and a cat, as doing tequila shots alone at a bar.

Here’s something that might bring introverts joy: Berling finally sued his company for wrongful termination and the jury awarded him $450,000 for “past, present and future mental pain and suffering, mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation, mortification and loss of self-esteem”. An ending fit to be alone with.