3 ms·

This isn't about social skills, it's about not being a dick. And yet it is so easy to be a dick. I remember working at one company where my boss was awesome at

This isn't about social skills, it's about not being a dick. And yet it is so easy to be a dick. I remember working at one company where my boss was awesome at telling me when I had inadvertently made myself less popular. The classic example was when someone in a meeting said "Wow, [some technology] sounds amazing - how does it work?" and I started my reply with "Well... it's quite complicated, but..." Now, when someone tells you that the above is irritating and condescending, it's obvious - but before then I had never considered it. So socially awkward isn't necessarily about lacking confidence :)

notahacker 16y ago
It's easy enough to appear to be a dick quite innocently though. Take the suggestion in this thread of asking people "What is it you like about American Idol?" - a question which is all too easy to appear dismissive of their mainstream taste (especially when you're obviously the only person in the room not able to discuss last night's installment) even if you regularly enjoy providing detailed answers for similar questions posed by the same people on your love for Lisp, string theory or Star Trek.