Social Discomfort Gifts

"I invited a few friends over. Don’t worry – you can still be miserable."

"It seems my fear of death has been replaced by my fear of politics."

"It's not the persistent lack of sunlight or freezing temperatures that bother me - it's the crowds I can't stand."

"We can waste time and look for a solution or...just find a scapegoat?"

"I think I'm having pre-traumatic stress disorder."

That party went well.

"It's a beautiful day. I should go for a walk. . . Oh, now my neighbors are all out there."

'Welcome to the first meeting of the Shy Men Club.'

Nervous at a party.

"Whisky? Have you got anything stronger?"

"It's just a little device I use to help relieve the anxiety from meeting new people."

"Let's welcome our new member, Bob!" "You, too!" "'You, too'? Idiot!"

"This was the closest I could get to being invisible."

'But what if the author doesn't want to meet us?'

Arrival in the New World was a stressful time for the pilgrims on the Wallflower.

Lenny, the Fifth Wheel of the Apocalypse

"Let's go somewhere fun and not really experience it."

"You might want to sit down, Mrs. Dumpty."

"So now I guess I'll have to meet your friends."

"Oh, the pain I can take—it's the awkward silence between conversations that's torture."

Now playing... everything you said at the party.

'I'm sure we haven't met. I use a telephoto lens.'

"'The party' is our most difficult escape room—you have one hour to get out of a room full of extroverts."

'No. . . it's too distracting. . . people are more comfortable with the T.V. on, Joy. Remember, we haven't seen some of these people for a long time.'

'Sorry, I never know what to do with my hands in social situations.'

In the embarrassment cemetery

"That's the fifth customer this morning - video calling the doctor's surgery because of Covid restrictions."

Another way to keep an empty seat beside you on the train.

'Conquer the known world and, er...that's it.'

Out of my comfort zone

"Now let's all introduce... ourselves."

'You'll have to excuse Gerald. He's not so much the party animal these days.'

'You MUST come! We're inviting all our paranoid friends!'

"Eyes on your own paper. Don't let me catch you looking at your neighbor's phone."