Social Perception Skills

According to our text, Social Perception Skills involve "picking up on the subleties of social situations" (p. 149). I work for a diverse medium size organization, and our department reflects a wide variety of ethnicities and religious preferences. A few years ago a new manager was hired, and sent out a memo about an upcoming staff meeting. Next to his name he added the symbol: "<><" to resepresent a fish, a symbol of Christianity. At first I wondered if I had interpreted this correctly, since I work for a non-denominational organization, and our department is about 50% non-Christian. At the same time, this was a new manager, and I was hesitant to speak up about a sensetive issue. Ultimately, I did speak up to ask if I had "read" the memo correctly, but my real intent was to bring his attention to the issue of sensitivity. He said "yes," my interpretation was corerect and quickly added that he hoped I hadn't been offended."