One thing I've noticed about working in a professional setting is that social performance and actual job performance are incorrectly intertwined in people's minds. There's some sort of carryover of positive emotions from strong social interactions when people consider their coworkers work quality, leading to mediocre but savvy workers getting rave reviews.
But making people feel like they like you is pretty easy. You just interact with them now and again and prop up their ego, tell a joke and that's that. I mean, in case you don't have anything in common and don't like them much. If you do like them as a friend, then it should happen naturally.
"But making people feel like they like you is pretty easy."
For an extrovert, yes. :) Or for the introvert who knows these things and knows how to do them credibly. For some of us, it's neither easy nor obvious.
I have, of course, noticed these things too, in school- and work situations... If you are talkative, it's OK, but if you're not, you are "weird", "aloof", "arrogant", or people simply think you dislike them. Yes, you can learn to make superficial conversation, but personally it all feels really fake to me.
I am an introvert, and this is the crux of the problem to me.
People have no problem whatsoever making smalltalk with persons they don't like, are happy to promote themselves on the web and whatnot as the best guy you can imagine, always feel entitled to give their opinions even if they have no idea about what is being talked about.
It's all a fake friends, fake interesting lives, fake enthusiasm and popularity contest.
If you don't participate in that shit or mention problems instead of being excited, you're singled out.
Errors are forgotten easily and leave no trace on the inflated ego because they don't have the balls to look at themselves critically.
One thing I've noticed about working in a professional setting is that social performance and actual job performance are incorrectly intertwined in people's minds. There's some sort of carryover of positive emotions from strong social interactions when people consider their coworkers work quality, leading to mediocre but savvy workers getting rave reviews.