Look, I love Michael Scott, but we can all agree he would be a lot to handle.

If you’re an introvert, being ambushed by social interactions you weren’t expecting or being told it will be one way, only to find out it’s a group and you’ll be expected to talk, can feel like a nightmare.

Some work trips can feel exhausting because of the long hours, the early mornings and also the actually getting there.

But I’d argue the most tiring thing is having to talk to people most of the time. Especially when one or more coworkers are very extroverted.

This is what happened in this case.

Read the full story below.

My coworker turned a three day work trip into the longest social interaction of my life

I was sent on a three-day work trip with a coworker that involved two six-hour drives together and long workdays.

During the drives, he constantly talked, sang songs, switched into exaggerated high-pitched voices, and then he would look over at me after doing it as though he were waiting for a reaction.

Why am I picturing Michael Scott already?

He also regularly brought up stories about his mother, often recreating conversations or quoting her in different voices.

At one point he kept getting my attention by bumping my arm. It happened 5 times during one drive before he noticed I was flinching.

He asked, “You don’t like when I do this?” I said, “Yeah, I don’t like it.”

He laughed for like 15 solid seconds but, to his credit, he didn’t do it again.

It’s a lot.

He’s also been talking about retiring ever since I’ve known him.

He regularly jokes that I’ll be doing his job next year, introduces me as the person who’ll replace him, and somehow works retirement into conversations almost daily.

(For context: I asked my manager who would replace him if he actually retired because he talks about it so much.

My manager laughed and said he’d apparently been saying he was going to retire for years, never actually does, and that if he ever did retire they’d simply hire someone else.

So the whole “you’re replacing me” thing seems to be entirely his own narrative.)

He needed some time to recharge his social battery after this, but…

After one particularly long workday, I decided to have dinner alone in my hotel room.

The next day he said things like, “You probably wanted to get away from me,” and “I bet you’re happy you don’t have to be in the car with me anymore.”

He also knew I’d previously been run over in an accident and still made jokes about getting run over or crashing the car.

He would not leave him alone.

After the trip, he started messaging me updates like his Instagram follower count (“Only x amount of followers until retirement”), what projects he’d worked on that day, instructions he’d received from other coworkers about projects I wasn’t involved in, comments about hearing birds outside, animals in his backyard, the weather…

(All this during work hours… I understand small talk but this might be a little too much?)

By the end of three days, I felt more mentally exhausted from the nonstop interaction than from the actual work.

Sounds chaotically fun but also very exhausting. I’d need a week off. What did Reddit think?

A reader shares their thoughts.

This happened to me once and I agree.

Something to consider.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest that made a scene in the middle of the night, then immediately wished they hadn’t.

If his coworker did one or two of these things, it would be annoying, but a normal amount of annoying for a hyperactive person.

Now ALL of them?! On a six-hour drive?! Wow. That’s too much to ask from a person. He’s a champion.

You really have to mentally prepare before interacting with some people. And I mean that it’s better to focus on the comical side of it than have an entirely miserable day (or three).

I had to socialize a lot during a few trips and even my immune system was affected.

But yeah, he’s going to need a few days to recover.