Misperception

Today I was thrown for a loop - and a rather large one at that.

Generally I consider myself to be a good judge of character. When sizing people up upon first interaction my overall feeling typically ends up being fairly accurate. Not only that, when meeting others in a group, most members of that group tend to have similar views of a person and can agree on the general nature of the new guy. Today, this was not the case.

After walking away from a recent interaction and upon further discussion with those involved, my opinions were solely that, mine. It seems that the others have opinions that border on polar opposite my initial thoughts. This has me taken aback. Looking back, I see some valid points in their thought process that make sense, and in making a character judgment I want to not only base my opinion on how the interaction felt and my emotions walking away from the situation, but also on actions that took place during the encounter.

Still, however, after reflecting on the situation in great detail, I have a perception that greatly differs from those with whom I shared the experience. It scares me to think that I my opinions differ so wildly from those I'm closest to. But what scares me more is that I may not be as good a judge of character as I originally thought.

So is it me, is it them, or is it the new guy? And how exactly do I get my keen sense of character perception back on track? Looks like I may have some more pondering to do on this one.

Cheers!

-A