This may not be the case where you are, but it illustrates the things that you can't see that could color interactions. I was hired into a highly prestigious t

This may not be the case where you are, but it illustrates the things that you can't see that could color interactions. I was hired into a highly prestigious team. My manager always seemed gruff; I worried that he regretted hiring me. About eight months in, he had back surgery for a slipped disc. Suddenly, he was fun, joking, smiles. I realized that all the time before, he had been in pain. Later, a friend in HR broke the rules and showed me the notes from my interviews. My manager had said something like, "He didn't understand how X works, but after I explained it to him, he understood how to solve the problem." And this exact quote: "We should try to hire him for my team." I felt such pride. When I later had a medical crisis, he turned out to be very empathetic. "Take care of you. We'll be here when you get back," or something along those lines. This was the guy I thought hated me.