I'm only comfortable around people I know well, meaning immediate family and close friends. In new situations I am always awkward and very nervous, although it is slightly better if I am there with someone I am familiar with. I have an aversion to talking on the phone with people outside of the aforementioned group to the point that I will avoid answering the phone at home if I don't recognize the number (and sometimes even if I do). I class talking to strangers ( including but not limited to: phone operators, clerks, cab drivers, secretaries, waitstaff, service industry personnel, random people on planes or trains, pretty girls, etc. ) somewhere up there with extreme sports.
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Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid--Albert Einstein