Opinions needed, me vs. older man! am i reading into things a bit much>..

Hi all,
New to this forum and just looking for other peoples opinions on a certain lil subject??!!

Im single 26 yr old female, working in a retail environment, supervisory role (supermarket to be precise) job is a job right?!! lol.
Basically I am just looking for advice on how to work this older guy out, or what to make of him?
The gentleman in question is a manager of a different section, approx. 43/44 years old, smart and up together, although very serious in his duties. Im going to be upfront and not going to lie, I AM attracted to him. Bit of a crush you could say, haha.

To put this straightforward other staff members find him 50/50 to get along with, I have heard various rumours that he can be very abrupt at times and sometimes rude, he is serious with workloads and most of the younger generation of people who work under him have at some time or another been upset by him. calling him an a-hole lol, Although most seem to think its a "stress" thing and not totally intentional. His interaction with me is totally different, its rather odd. (or so I seem to think)
From what I can gather, and what iv observed, he is generally quite serious with other people, his own staff, it seems priority is spent dishing out orders or chasing people up...pushing them to bang out the workload. serious face with the odd laugh or smile.

I find him hard to work out, He seems to treat "me" very nicely, although I do not work under him. always a warm greeting when passing,and a good atmosphere when we are in each others space. He tends to show a lot of facial feature movement if we catch eyes, and say hello, for instance upon first greeting/passing in the morning his face kind of just widens,...hard to explain, the eyebrows raise a fair bit and the greeting has oomph,.. if I generally stop to chat he always has time for me and seems jolly whenever I talk to him, if not a bit giggly which is quite funny. He seems to laugh a lot around me or loud giggles, almost schoolboy-ish....by nature I am very mature and quite humourous, with fast wit, but he does seem to be quite loud with it if I ever seem to make him laugh, Its almost like a fast nervous giggle, his eyes widen a lot and he walks off laughing 9 times out of 10. sometimes blushing ever so slightly.
Its quite confusing to hear what other people say about this guy and yet experience something totally different, from gut feeling I can tell he is slightly nervous around me, although I am not loud or brash by nature, I get on with everyone at work and am generally liked all round. (bigging myself up here haha) so not quite sure why he reacts that way as I am definitely not threatening or horrible or moody in any way to cause any kind of nervousness?

Oddly he can be quiet at times, for instance if I have to enter a side office fetching replenishisment stock, and he is sat at a computer, he will be deadly silent, he knows its me in the office as I can see him briefly eye up who's just come in, but sometimes not a word is said, its like awkward silence, however if I instigate conversation, he will always chat and respond freely, with expression tending to swing the chair round to face me directly where I am stood. Its almost like if we are alone he finds it awkward and seems nervous. Not so long ago I had issues at work, stress all round, you know what its like, and with the lead up to xmas, everybody was feeling it, I was sat in our works dining area with another girl and he came and sat next to me, at the time we had been discussing all our issues and so on so forth, he briefly joined in the conversation and whilst eating his curry told me if I ever needed someone to chat to he was there. Again odd, as iv heard hes not too compassionate with his own staff.
This week made me feel a bit like whaaaat?? He was sat at the table with a coffee, opposite another staff member, I came and sat about 2 chairs down from him and instantly cracked a funny about how pissed off we all looked, they both laughed and nodded in agreement, at that point I casually started drinking my drink, and almost instantly he was mumbling to himself "whats this", and kind of started proof reading this news post stand on the table which had been there for like a month.... He seemed fidgety, like he didn't know what to do with himself, ..i wonder whether I make him feel that way I don't know?
Me and the other girl were chatting about relationships etc and we started having a joke about girls with older older men, saying why, etc, to which I pointed out quickly that hey my ex was 47 and age was just a number,etc etc but don't get all the 80 yr old business with young girls. when I mentioned about my ex he literally arched his brows right up as if it had shocked him and kind of cocked his head, but then went silent. lol Upon general conversation on another break (he had finished work and was sat in front of tv with coffee all quiet) I made enquiry about whether he had overtime on his section to which we got talking, and I mentioned I was going to drop my hours at work as it was getting too much hassle, i sat with him and he seemed to show a compassionate concern about whether I was doing the right thing....we chatted nicely for around 10-15mins although he just seemed to stare with arched eyebrows and hand on his chin...and seemed to hold his breath when I was explaining things and to be honest didn't really know what to advise me but kept saying I needed to def be sure of what I was doing..and asked if things were bad at home....blah blah blah and then it was time for me to go back to my shift.

Does anyone have an opinion on this? I feel that maybe he could be attracted to me in some way, but not sure whether im just reading into it a bit? He has confidentially spoken to me about his stress levels before as we were in a general discussion because I had been stressed and didn't know how to deal with it except walk away and lock myself in a room to calm down lol. I am very attracted to him, but do not put myself in his face or predominantly flirt with him, I just treat him like I do the other staff, always a smile, always a laugh, always a joke, and he always responds positively.
For someone so serious in his duties he just seems to treat me so different to anyone else, even if hes in a mood and I can see it from afar (or hear it from others) whenever I then say hi or generally talk to him, hes very enthusiastic and nice to me, and looks,...well...happy...could be a front I don't know.

Is there a good way to break silences?

For the record he is married. touchy touchy subject I know, and not really my style to get involved with....

Any ideas or comments about all this??? Thanks in advance

Married? Seriously, if you have to ask for advice on this topic then you're definitely not mature enough to handle an adult relationship.

Sorry for any confusion, I was actually asking on opinions as to whether the general feel is that this guy may really like me due to how he reacts/responds to me. not on whether I should try and get involved.

If what you say is true, then yes. He likes you.

I find it so hilarious how little women catch on to our hints, and we catch women's hints so little. So funny.

Also, if you aren't worried about whether you should try to get involved or not, then why bother worrying whether he likes you or not? lol. :P

I guess I just wanted to hear others thoughts as I am not always sure how to act around this fella, those awkward moments of silence and not knowing what to say when you are in a work environment, I don't want to make him feel uncomfortable around me, if the general feel is that he likes me, work situations can be difficult when you have to interact with someone and there is at times an odd silent atmosphere. I am generally a shy and nervous person so words don't always come out easy. Its kind of ice breaking, and knowing how to respond to his actions as I don't want it to be awkward whenever we are in each others company....after all it IS a professional environment we work in, and quite often due to job role, I do have to interact with him. I want things to be easy between us, and just do not understand his nervousness around me as it then makes me nervous to approach him when I have to. I know it prob sounds a bit stupid, but its that kinda anxiety thing. He is not like this with other people which is just odd.
Any suggestions on how to approach this? any hints or tips? Many thanks.

Well, don't act like anything around him. Be cordial, be professional, talk to him about the things you have to talk to him about and just move on with your day. If you aren't interested in a workplace romance, then you'll simply need to get over the fact that you know he likes you.

I mean, maybe he is only giving you special treatment because you're another boss and do not work underneath him? That could be why he acts differently toward you, but is a jerk to others. . . you did say you were in a supervisory role. So, try to jes' pawn his actions off on that and get over your anxiety.

And I dunno. It kinda sounds like you like him but are afraid to like him because of the potential issues that may arise. Maybe I'm wrong?

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