I pulled my company up BTW and said it was unjust being pulled to one side and they backed down and agreed.
My manager, many jobs ago, made a point of everything being about perception.
A lesson I learned the hard way through him.
Take the scenario.
I work hard and efficiently, get an absolute tonne done, but have a casual attitude and am generally a very happy go lucky chap.
The girl next to me, utter sourpuss, is as slow as a wet weekend. She dithers and dallies and does everything the long way. As a result she ends up coming in early and staying late. Literally because she just isnt very good.
I get twice as much done as her in a day, turn up and go home on time.
She was the star pupil, bonuses, promotions, employee of the month type stuff.
I was permanently "You're doing well but..." "I need more from you" "Im worried about your attitude"
All because of perception.
I believe he was fundamentally wrong, and should have had the insight to see the amount of work I got through and the quality of it. Especially by comparison to her.
However, ultimately that didnt matter - he was the boss and impressions was all he was worried about.
I moved on from there and worked with a guy who was an absolute legend and saw things how they were. I love him to bits to this day and have had two jobs since! He told me the old boss actually warned him about me and my attitude when he offered me the job, can you believe it?