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Original poster

What's the most surprisingly perceptive thing anyone ever said about you?

72 replies

Time40 · 06/12/2019 11:30

I once gave someone I hardly knew a lift in my car. During the journey, I said I loved driving and she said, "Yes, I knew you loved it as soon as you turned the key." I thought that was pretty amazing - to pick up on something so subtle as the way someone turns an ignition key. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

OP posts:
shemakesmewaitonabedofnails · 06/12/2019 21:00

I was told by my horrible bully of a colleague that I am spiralling downwards out of control. He is spot on.

Casmama · 06/12/2019 21:03

I had a boss who i had worked with for a short time and didn't know very well. He said to me one day that i am very quick at understanding and assessing new situations and seeing the pros and cons but i would help him greatly if i would be as vocal about the pros as I was about the cons!
This was over 15 years ago but it stuck with me as it is true but wasn't something i was aware of and i'm now more careful to give a balanced view.

PinkBalloon123 · 06/12/2019 21:04

@venusclaptrap I'm curious. In what way are you manipulative?

GiantKitten · 06/12/2019 21:04

@Time40
Someone told me (not apropos of nothing, it was in context grin) that I was an introvert pretending to be an extrovert. I was quite offended but it turns out they were right

That's an interesting one, GiantKitten. I wonder what the tiny giveaway signs were?

Isn’t it!

I’ve literally no idea, & it was a business studies course so not as if there was any psychology input. It’s a mystery.

Whoever it was, I do hope they went on into a career where they could put that perceptiveness to good use!

Wauden · 06/12/2019 21:11

One of my school friends said that I was 'eccentric in a nice way'. That is correct according to other people.

FinallyHere · 06/12/2019 21:13

@

business studies course so not as if there was any psychology input.

Any chance they were using the Myers-Briggs Type indicator. Pretty standard business tool, widely used and strongly founded on Jungian theory.

Illeana · 06/12/2019 21:13

When I was a young woman, I had one of those deep end-of-the-night conversations with a young man who said “You’re not like most pretty girls”. I still think it’s the nicest compliment I’ve ever received. He obviously perceived some depth of character in me, at a time when I was young and attractive and that was all most men saw or cared about.

Villagegreenpreservation · 06/12/2019 21:15

An ex colleague I saw recently said "you're not happy are you?" She's right

LobsterQuadrille2 · 06/12/2019 21:17

My (then) teenaged daughter once told me that I was a perfect mix of pretty high arrogance and very low self esteem. Horribly accurate.

lilgreen · 06/12/2019 21:19

When I was in my early 20s working for a major bank, I had a young student shadowing me and listening in to calls from customers. After about an hour he said , “You don’t suffer fools gladly do you!” I remember being a bit taken aback but it made me reasses. Over 20 years later I still have that tendency but am aware of it. I now work in education with young children and mentioned in passing to a couple of colleagues that I’m quite impatient and they both said it was the last thing they’d say. Progress I guess.

Gonetoget · 06/12/2019 21:19

I think you tend to notice your own qualities in other people, so that might be where the ‘introvert trying to be extrovert’ comment ‘came from. You might have just reminded them of their own behaviour.

YouJustDoYou · 06/12/2019 21:21

"You're stupid. No one likes you".

BertieBotts · 06/12/2019 21:24

DH mocked me for being not very good with change because i said I wouldn't update the apps on my phone unless I had to (in case it breaks something). I was massively indignant but actually he was right.

Someone at work said they were blown away with my ability to come up with ideas on my feet and wing things and they would be a nervous wreck. I sort of have to do this because I am so poor at preparation and proactiveness. But I'd never really seen it like that and considered it a strength before.

takeittogo · 06/12/2019 21:33

Being manipulative isn’t a bad thing. We manipulate children by praising their good behaviour so they want to do more of it, we manipulate shop assistants by being polite so they will serve us well, we manipulate all the time.

DickAmbush · 06/12/2019 21:35

A close friend's DH once told me "I can always tell when you've been somewhere or done something that bores you, because when you're asked about it, you turn it into a story, with characters and funny descriptions."

He was absolutely bang on, I just had NO idea that I do it. He hadn't even spent that much time with me, he's just one of those perceptive types!

PrancerOnParade · 06/12/2019 21:39

When I was introducing my now-ex to my extended family my uncle took me aside and told me he was the wrong man for me and I shouldn't waste my time being with him. I'd not long had my first child with ex so just thought my uncle was being silly as he'd hardly spoken to him and had had a few drinks that night.

Turned out he was right, and as soon as he met my amazing now-husband he said that he was perfect for me.

Margotshypotheticaldog · 06/12/2019 21:46

The first time I met the cousin of a friend of mine, we were all sat in the pub, having a pleasant sociable evening, I was telling a story or 2....and he said (in front of everyone, "you're really funny. People as funny as you often suffer from bouts of severe depression. I'd say that definitely happens to you" I was mortified. He's on the spectrum, so can be rather blunt. He was also bang on the money.

Shannith · 06/12/2019 21:46

All brains and no fucking common sense.

Someone I was at 6th form with.

Tis true.

PepsiCat33 · 06/12/2019 21:52

I've struggled with eating disorders since age 15 although from my weight you wouldn't tell from about age 17. Not long after meeting my best friend at uni (still my best friend to this day) she said I clearly wasn't over it and hadn't had the help I actually needed when it had been severe in my teens. It really took me aback as I hadn't even realised it myself until she said it. Still the only person ever to have seen it, understood it and said something to me to this day.

Bluntness100 · 06/12/2019 21:52

My boss at the time, years ago, in the same company I stil work for, a man who I became much more senior than, said to me, rather nastily, as I was promoted out of his team

"You'll go far blunt, because uou look at people and say , who is it you want me to be, and then I'll be that person"

I was offended at the time, but he was right, I can be very chameleon like and am able to play a part, don a persona and I seldom portray the real me. I simply become who I'm expected to be.

Shannith · 06/12/2019 21:55

Oh and "you are the most ambitious person I have ever met." An old boss.

Also true - then - I got his job.

Not so true now.

MsTSwift · 06/12/2019 21:56

My uncle by marriage a very thoughtful quiet intelligent man. He said “the more I see of (my then boyfriend) the more I like him”. I married that boyfriend was a good decision!

yips · 06/12/2019 21:59

A friend's girlfriend once said that I'm a 'conversation opener', I always keep the chat going by asking open-ended questions when it's tailing off. Never noticed it before she said it, but it's true - I do generally feel almost an obligation to fill silence.

poorbuthappy · 06/12/2019 22:00

That I'm getting through life knowing a small amount about anything....but my delivery is tip top so everyone thinks I know what I'm talking about

This is spectacularly true

Original poster
Time40 · 06/12/2019 22:03

Ooooh, there are some really interesting stories here. I thought this might turn out to be a good question!

I think you tend to notice your own qualities in other people, so that might be where the ‘introvert trying to be extrovert’ comment ‘came from. You might have just reminded them of their own behaviour

@GiantKitten, this idea sounds likely to me! I'd still love to know what the giveaway signs are, though.

OP posts: