asdmonger wrote:
Have I ever. One girl I worked with said I was intimidating her and got me kicked off a project. I think I'm sort of a blank slate that people can project their feelings onto. Most of the time that works well for me, most people grossly overestimate my normalcy. Sometimes, my lack of expression and inability to impart emotional inflection into my speech is interpreted as aloofness and/or hostility.
I think there are times(possibly with the girl I mentioned) where subtle friendly gestures go over my head and then people think I've somehow rejected them and they can get hostile about it. I think Spock said something like "I don't mean to be insensitive, it's just how I am". In the real world there can be repercussions.
It's possible that lots of people are 'intimidated' just by our knowledge/intensity. I think that got me fired a couple times too, like when I tell senior coworkers what's a better way of doing something.
One guy said "You always have to be right, and it's at the expense of other people", b/c apparently it makes them look bad. But how is it 'at people's expense' if they can broaden their knowledge, save them time, etc.?