I am not sure what you mean by "squinting" stomach, but I catch your drift so here are my thoughts...... Bosses will sometimes be straight shooters, and sometimes they will game their employees to achieve the desired result. I have worked for bosses who played favorites, who didn't acknowledge quick and thorough work, who were disorganized and anti-social but didn't acknowledge their own problems. I think bosses realize that if they praise an employee, who is doing a great job, then the employee is likely to ask for a bigger job or a bigger salary or a promotion. The employee is more likely to look around at other job opportunities to earn more money or responsibility. So bosses have an ulterior motive to keep their employees unsure of how good their work is.