If you would have stopped, looked, and listened, you would have had a good night’s sleep. You would have seen that your potential “business associate” could not even look you in the eye when speaking with you. When he did manage to look in your direction, his eyebrows were furrowed, and his lips were pursed, tense, and pulled over to one side. You would have seen that he was always leaning away from you, inching farther and farther away anytime you got close to him. His physical gestures and demeanor towards you were completely opposite of those he showed your attractive, shapely assistant when she entered the room. In that case, he moved closer to her, smiled, and was wide-eyed, unable to take his eyes off her as he made some inane comments to her. Had you “listened” more carefully, you would have heard him clearly through his bravado.
You would have noticed that whenever you asked him a poignant question, he never really answered you. He was evasive, continually interrupted you, and changed the subject whenever you tried to probe further. By stopping, looking, and listening, you would have seen ahead of time what was coming. You would have heard his constant bragging as a cue that he was trying way too hard to convince you of how powerful he was. You would not have been so ready to dismiss his sexist remarks about your assistant and other females you discussed—remarks indicating his disrespect for women. You would have interpreted his evasiveness as a sign that he had something to hide. You would have seen his inability to look at you (especially after you asked him a significant question), his squirming, and his distancing himself from you as indications that he felt discomfort around you. In your 20/20 hindsight, you knew all along that not only was he disrespectful towards women, but he was obviously not being honest with you.
You would have noticed that whenever you asked him a poignant question, he never really answered you. He was evasive, continually interrupted you, and changed the subject whenever you tried to probe further. By stopping, looking, and listening, you would have seen ahead of time what was coming. You would have heard his constant bragging as a cue that he was trying way too hard to convince you of how powerful he was. You would not have been so ready to dismiss his sexist remarks about your assistant and other females you discussed—remarks indicating his disrespect for women. You would have interpreted his evasiveness as a sign that he had something to hide. You would have seen his inability to look at you (especially after you asked him a significant question), his squirming, and his distancing himself from you as indications that he felt discomfort around you. In your 20/20 hindsight, you knew all along that not only was he disrespectful towards women, but he was obviously not being honest with you.
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