What impression do people have of you?

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Nearly everyone describes me as intelligent for some reason, although I wouldn't agree with them all of the time.
Outgoing has also been one that I highly disagree with. I'm actually ridiculously shy but I fake an outgoing persona to hide my anxious feelings around people.

That really depends on in which settings they meet me and how long they've known me. People have very different impressions of me.

My colleagues usually think I'm older than I really am. They notice that I'm quiet and have a blank facial expression most of the time and they draw different conclusions from that (that I'm either shy or stuck up and that I'm very serious, depressed or irritated).

People either think I'm very approachable, or really unapproachable. There is not much in between.

Most people instantly trust me, even with very sensitive information like confidential documents, financial records, credit card numbers and various similar things that they want very restricted access to.

People who meet me in social settings often assume that I'm shy, unconfident, immature or bored.

My family thinks of me as intelligent, unsocial, clumsy. In addition to that, my parents think I'm immature or naive, but my siblings consider me sensible and mature.

There are so many different versions of the impression people have of me. People have a very hard time reading me and a lot of them make wrong assumptions about me.

I'm not too sure on this but, more than likely most people tend to see me as being the following--
harsh,stubborn,distant,sad,un-intelligent,humorless,persistent,odd,eccentric,quirky,etc...

It depends on the situation or who they are - but in general it's been:
rude, genius, cold, stubborn, creative, self-centered, quiet, very funny, weird, ranter, know-it-all, eccentric, quick, loner, obsessive etc. etc.

Huh. That's all they know. If only they could see things from in here. <taps head>

People who don't know me or only know me casually think I'm very serious. As a kid I was always thought of as shy but not overly so.

People usually think I don't like them or they're intimidated by me. They call me cold, rude, a b***h, OCD, quiet, know-it-all. But people also think I'm smart, funny, and nice These are just things people have told me or I've heard through the grapevine, so I don't know generally what people's impression is.

People older than me always took me as shy and intelligent. People my age thought I was stuck-up.

I once had a couple of girls in high school, who I thought were my best friends, blow up at me during the last few months of school, because they said I looked down on them for being fat. I never once said anything about their weight, because I wasn't the skinniest girl either. But that's what they got from my quiet, kind of distant behavior. You can't control how people perceive you.

That's really scary, how people can do this just because you haven't explicitly explained that you're not doing it, or worn a sign round your neck.

I had a bust-up with my sister a while ago where she said (actually, shouted is nearer) that she'd been "treading on eggshells" for weeks because of my mood.
It turned out that because I'd simply not been saying much, she assumed I was in some foul mood and tippy-toed around me in case I blew up.
Excuse me? I was just not saying much because I was thinking about stuff and/or didn't have anything I needed to say.
How is it that silence gets extrapolated into something so completely alien to what it is?

I don't know. I've never asked them and they've never volunteered any opinions.

Any given individual's impression of me is like a black box, I just try to hope that they think I'm basically OK, but I also keep it in mind that they might be just being polite, so I try not to push my luck too far, and I'll do my best to scan them for signs of boredom or irritation, and I'll leave them alone if I don't get good evidence to the contrary. In fact I'll limit my contact with them anyway, just in case I turn out to be wearing out my welcome.

Luckily there are people who have shown that they value my musical skills (and sometimes they even value my company). Sometimes I notice a genuine smile at seeing me, or they might call a greeting to me from across the road when I hadn't known they were there.....if you don't like somebody, you'll probably not do that. I've recently started to suspect that I'm unwittingly giving off "leave me alone" vibes, and that I see it as them rejecting me, when it's actually the other way round. There are people I've probably formed important bonds with that I don't call any more unless I have a good logical reason to speak with them......I tend to excuse myself by telling myself that they probably don't really like me, though when I look back at the stuff we've shared and enjoyed together, it seems pretty clear that I must have made a good impression in most cases, and am probably quite special to them.

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Last edited by wornlight on 07 Jan 2011, 7:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

They think of me as being this big dumb goof then they act suprised when I say something witty or intelligent. They always say "wow, where did that come from?" Its one of the reasons I avoid meeting new people its just not worth the aggravation.

I am lucky that I work in a place where the people are very nice to me. My co-workers and bosses alike. They do know that I learn very slowly and can get confused easily. They're also aware that there are a lot of routines in my life. Like food for instance.
Outside of that it's hard to say because I don't do very well socially. I have never gotten close to too many people outside of my wife. I have two close friends that are girls that are much younger than me and they like me the way I am. If most guys saw my two closest friends they'd call me lucky!!
Most places I go I am outsider that doesn't fit in.....

I have no idea. I just get the distinct feeling that for the most part they don't like me.

Never asked anyone but I've been called these:
Shy, curt, immature, mature, pretty, rude, mean, weird, quiet, b!tch, jumpy, odd, aloof, serious, smart, bohemian, funny, stupid, blunted, uptight, nice, helpful, a$$hole, and gross (I touch/pick up bugs). I think some get the impression that I'm either bi or a lesbian too...

People usually look at me like I'm from outer space so I don't think their impression of me is something I want to hear.

quiet, polite, animal lover, distant, spacey, smart and I'm sure people think I'm weird.

my partner/BF thinks highly of me and most of the time I can't get my head around it, maybe he can see things in me that I don't see?

Straight to the point, according to my old German teacher. People who know me think I'm a bit eccentric, and intellectual. They probably think some bad stuff too but I've never head anything bad said