What does being an extrovert mean? I assumed it described people who felt their most calm, energetic and happy while in the company of people.

One useful metric is whether hanging out with your friends after work gives you energy or costs you energy. Enjoying being around people is irrelevant. Introverts love being around people just as much as extroverts.

I would consider myself an extrovert and hanging out with friends does not tire me. But people in the office are not really friends and we are not hanging out. I have found myself with a lot more energy working from home since when I'm really starting to feel tired I can run a few laps of the house and do some pushups and I feel energised again.

And the binary gradations generally.

I'm not even sure which I am. I like being on stage, going to events, etc. But I have also written books (which take a lot of private research/writing time) and I definitely don't naturally gravitate towards engaging in conversation with people I don't know.

I don't miss an office which I haven't really worked in for a while but I miss events and so forth a great deal.

For me, I've always liked working in an office, but I've always hated, what should I call it - drama/politics/whatever?

I've worked in such wierd places over the years. For example, if you had an office of 100 people, 10 were on your team, I would probably not like 2 of the people on my team and 20 in the office.

Most of the time, this is not a problem. However, you get around people that you really like and tell a joke, or you just say something a bit freely - and all of a sudden, you now have people that don't like you. (The specific office situation I'm thinking of had an average of salary of $15k at the time - but our group probably had an average of $150k at the time).

It was tough. I don't think it was a good idea overall either. I've seen other situations like it as well.

I don't like working from at home. But I hate dealing with that kind of bullshit.

Being an introvert means spending time around people costs you energy whereas it gives you energy if you're an extrovert. Introverts enjoy being around people, some enjoy being on stage, etc. Those things are totally irrelevant to introvert/extrovert.