I am not sure if my boss is jealous of me. How can I tell?

I work for a department store on the visual team. We do store displays, dress mannequins and think creatively on a daily basis. Recently, my boss went on vacation and was gone for more than a week. I had alot of projects to do and got them done. The store manager complimented me and a number of other employees on my work. This made me feel good. When my boss got back in town....WHOA!....Total opposite. It was like he looked for stuff wrong and griped at me for knit-picky things but said nothing positive about my projects or the positive feedback given by others which should reflect on him as my boss and he should be glad. I am not sure why he reacted this way now. He always was complimentary before or said words of encouragement. It really hurt my feelings and caused me to wonder if I really am doing a good job or not and if I should stay in that field of work etc. Even two or three times he showed up at the workplace while on his "vacation" to "check" on things. Help!

He may be jealous or he may just be upset because you didn't need him. I have a boss just like that. He will go away for a few days and if he comes back and there are no problems waiting him, he turns into a bear. He walks around grumbling and looks for something wrong. He checks all the computer archive files to see if he can find an error ("You only downloaded transactions twice and I wanted them downloaded three times"). If he can't find anything wrong he grumbles about the number of emails that have accumulated. I think he needs to be needed and gets upset when he sees that we can function without him. That maybe the situation with your boss. Whatever the reason, keep doing what you are doing. The higher ups have noticed you so you're doing a good job.

Keep up the good work Leslie. In a few years maybe months you might have your bosses job. He was expecting everything to fall apart while they were gone and when he saw that their absense wasnt a detriment to the store he started to worry a little about their own self worth so quit worrying about yours and keep up the good work and continue to do what your doing.

Don't stretch your brain with the fact that he may be jealous. If there is an opportunity for you to get into a higher position, everybody will know why. So his reaction is irrelevant at this stage. Just behave normal..
He is insecure in his position if he comes to check on you from..vacation :)
He is unable to delegate..Let it be ;)

Ya.. He is jealous of u.. The basic reason is he is scared of u overtaking him.. For u to stay there happy, see to that u r friendly with ur boss... Otherwise, ur state at ur workplace wil become little tough..
But don worry.. Good things wil only happen to good people..
Good luck..