Is AUTHOR wrong in the post ? POST : I work in a small rubber manufacturing shop. There are only 5 of us in the shop; my boss (let's call him Ryan), his parents (let's say George &amp; Ruth), another worker we'll call Frank, and myself. George &amp; Ruth are a couple years away from retirement, and Ryan, Frank and myself are 28-36. 

I am extremely introverted. I find most extended conversation mentally exhausting, outside of my small circle of friends and family. Everybody else in the shop are extroverts and thrive on conversation. I don't like being rude to people, so even if I don't care for a conversation, I'll still let a person know I'm listening ("mmhmm", "oh cool", "ya thats neat"), but most of the time I'm checked out mentally and waiting for the other person to finish talking. I once had a "conversation" with Ryan in which I did not contribute a single thing but those small little platitudes so I didn't come off as rude (keep in mind this was also at the end of the day; I was clocked out and walking out the door). This one-sided conversation lasted for an hour and 13 minutes. I had my keys in my hand, I was not making eye contact, and I was leaning back on the heels of my feet; I don't know what other physical signs I could have given that I didn't want to talk. I've tried explaining the fact that I don't want to talk to anyone because it makes my day feel twice as long as it actually is, and it's just fallen on deaf ears. I'm still dragged into conversations that just ruin my day. I feel like the asshole because I start being shitty to everyone; they keep talking to me and it just puts me in a fouler and fouler mood. This is compounded since Ruth is an older woman; I'm essentially wishing for an elderly lady to shut her mouth and leave me alone. 

It's gotten to a point where I try to structure my days around avoiding everyone else. Not to a silly extent, but if I see someone in an area of the shop and there's work I can do somewhere else, I go somewhere else. I try to take my breaks away from everyone else, but that doesn't stop them from bugging me when I try to hide in a side office. Sometimes all 4 of them will be talking and it gives me anxiety and sets me on edge just listening to it; all 4 of them will just talk at the same time over each other, louder and louder until the end of the conversation. This is another aspect I've noticed; I don't know if this is common among people who love the sound of their own voice, but one of the reasons I don't like talking to my coworkers is; we'll be talking, Ruth will finish a sentence (or so I think). There's a pause in the conversation, so I start to talk. Turns out Ruth wasn't finished her thought, cuts me off, and keeps talking for another 45-75 seconds. This has happened so much, and with everyone else, I've just said fuck it, they want to talk so much they can talk. I've stopped responding. Even simple questions/conversation starters (How was your weekend/Did you have fun at your friends wedding) will only elicit one word responses or grunts of acknowledgement. 

This wouldn't be as much of an issue if not for the fact that I'm trapped for 8-9 hours a day in the same space as these people. They seem to understand that I don't like small talk, but it doesn't stop them from talking to me. I tried headphones/ear buds, but in my situation they are not ideal and not very professional for the odd time we have customers in the shop. And it didn't make a difference in deterring them from talking to me anyway; they'd tap me on the shoulder, wait for me to pause the music/podcast, and then proceed to talk while I pretended to listen. 

I'd also like to add that I'm talking about general conversation. I'm not trying to deter them from talking about work-related things; even though I don't want to talk to them, shit still needs to get done. The work done in our shop is very monotonous and repetitive, so they like to fill the time with conversation; I just don't need to be part of those conversations, but they seem adamant on dragging me into them.

&amp;#x200B;

So Reddit, am I an asshole?