More introverted than extroverted chiming in. I’ve learned the importance of The Platinum Rule: Do unto others as they want done unto them. It also depends upon the culture. Here in the US, it is more common to offer greetings to everyone we run across and often go into details, even with a stranger. This doesn’t apply to every country.
As for impatience, yes, I have experienced that. A co-worker and I used to meet every week for an hour to debrief and update regarding our dept’s. interactions. At first, the initial 10–15 minutes were spent listening to her talk about her personal life. After continually running out of time to talk about the topics at hand, I broached the issue. We agreed to limit the chit-chat on the front end to five minutes. It turned into a win-win situation.
When I started bonding with a neighbor, I told her on the front end that my partner is very introverted and that I am borderline. She has been gracious about asking to get together around the SO’s schedule and understands that not including him is not a slight.
A third example is when I supervised a team. Only a few lived where I did and all were traveling most of the time. Some preferred communicating via e-mail, some by phone, and some just did their job and expected me to know that they were alive and kicking by their daily reports. I tried to conform to each preferred form of communication by using it. It was time consuming, but I figured as a manager, it was my responsibility to ensure job satisfaction.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that it is all about awareness and communication. Whether introverted or extroverted doesn’t matter. Both exist, albeit on different levels. If our personal desires aren’t made clear, then we are contributing to the problem.