@Jeruba We are actually 3 people in one. We are the person who we think we are. We are the person that other people think we are. And we are the person who we really are. I’ve always had a good idea as how people see me. My eyes don’t lie to me when I look into the mirror and see an ugly bald headed old man. My ears are good at detecting patronizing laughter and genuine laughter.
Here’s an example of what I mean: A coworker was promoted to supervisor and I said to her just as she was taking a sip of coffee “So you have moved over to the dark side”. She sprayed everyone as they all broke out into laughter.
Another example: Everyone was stressed to the max while a new very problematic computer system was being implemented. A coworker was telling me about all of the onerous procedure that I had to follow while performing all of my other work. I simply said. “Your freaking me out man”. She said that she about pissed her pants. And she told about everyone about it.
I could go on and on. But How’s this for validation? My lab manager always writes on my yearly performance evaluations how much my coworker enjoy my humor.
Think about that.