I'm not compelled to feel empathy, I just do. As I said above, it's not really like I have a choice in the matter. It's like asking someone if they are compelled to see, they just do. I can sorta tune it out in the same way you can stare into the distance and not really focus on seeing anything when it comes to strangers. But yes, in general others' emotions will have a direct impact on how I feel. I pick it up sometimes from other animals, but nearly as complex (expectedly) as it is from humans. People I have bonded with I will always feel it and really can't tune it out.

But yeah, I get it with autistic people that they can't "feel" the mood of a group of people. It sucks in a lot of ways for you and it doesn't in others. You can try and learn customs and how to act around people but it will never cover all scenarios or fit properly. You're always going to be searching for a connection with other people and vulnerable to sociopaths that will try and exploit your wanting to be accepted. On the same sense you aren't dealing with all this noise and the negative effects of feeling others emotions. In a relationship you do not become a mirror of someone else's emotion.

Funny you mention it, I worked with a narcissistic sociopath for some years who lacked any ability to emphasize with his coworkers and the customers he was trying to sell to. He always went out with emotionally unstable girls because I guess he didn't understand the wild swings in mood and could take advantage of some of the swings. He had a lot of drive to go out and sell but was incapable of telling when a client didn't like him and took him for a schemer. Sociopaths do not feel empathy but they understand cues, they understand how to play the game. So as you mentioned, they will study the reactions of people and learn to use it for their own benefit. This is not necessarily a bad thing to know how to do. But, they will push to get ahead and charm and talk to get what they want (disregarding any sort of emotional wreckage they leave behind them). In his case though, he was one of the most insecure people I have ever met.

For social situations, I am pretty adept at catching cues and seeing if I said a wrong thing, etc. I do get overwhelmed dealing with a lot of new people as it's a lot of information for me. I picked up a lot of random knowledge so I can manage pretty well in most conversations. It's taken me a long time to not really care so much about what other people around me are feeling about me at that moment, it's important. I will try to avoid places with a lot of high anxiety, negative energy . I focus on my close friends and family, the people closest to me are the ones I generally try not to let down. It does drive me, as it's really intolerable to feel resentment and disappointment from them.

I dug around to see if someone else put this into words better than I can, I found this blog entry, she is spot on: The Relationship between Empaths and Narcissists : The Spiritual Eclectic

Not a thing to desire, enough people have problems managing their own emotions, imagine being able to feel all that in addition to dealing with your own life problems, that is what an empath deals with. On the plus side, the more I have to deal with it, the better I get at seeing things from other people's perspectives. It's just trying to maintain my own passions and interests and not getting caught up in others' that is difficult.