The introversion affects me at work the most, not so much at school. Actually, it affects me a lot at school. It's so fucking easy for me to just seclude myself from everyone else. I have to take intentional precautions to make sure I'm still part of society. When first get to work, my energy level is way over the top, mostly because I've had the time before I got there to recharge.
After about 3-4 hours at work without a break, I start to plummet. It becomes several times harder to maintain conversations with people. I retreat into my head, begin analyzing everything going on in my life, think about random things, and before I know it while I'm checking customers out, the whole checkout process will go by and I said about 4 words to them that were automatic. I don't even realize the effect I'm having on the other people because what's happening in my head is just commanding 90% of my attention.
I went into the break room earlier, said hi to one person, scanned the break room and took note of the people inside, then walked out. My supervisor was in there, called me back in and asked why I didn't say hi to her. Mind you, we're friends, so I didn't mind saying it to her since she wouldn't take it the wrong way. I told her, "I acknowledged your presence, I didn't think I had to do anything else." She just got stumped but then said I hurt her feelings.
Like someone said, I've learned the difference between shyness, introversion and arrogance. Shyness is easy to spot, the people are just socially inept. It's a matter of social skills. Introversion is just the energy. Arrogance is seen commonly with T's, but much more commonly with INTx's. I can tell an arrogant INTx from a healthy INTx easily, but arrogant INTx's are more interesting.
It makes me think of the inner world of an IN vs. an IS. I don't know what the inside of an IN is like, but is it more imaginative? My thoughts are constantly regarding things going on in my life or things that have happened recently. It could just be Si at work. When I'm really in tune with myself thinking, I start replaying things in my head over and over again, like lines from a book or a tv show or a conversation with someone, or I'll go over a subject at school in my head trying to intentionally recall it. My focus is more on the things that have happened in my life that added significance.