Competent nonverbal communication is a form of communication done with gestures and expressions. The gestures consist mostly of hand movements, while the expressions are commanded by the face.
This type of communication is extremely important since it can help the emitter express more precisely what he wants to communicate. On the other hand, bad use of this communication might cause a distraction to the listener, whose eyes will be concentrated in disorganized hand gestures, while the ears will be closed to the spoken words.
One important way of using this communication form is the tone in which the speaker says his words. By the tone, it is possible to make an order or an ironic joke using the exact same words. For example, a parent order his child to do something, and the child repeats his parent order using an ironic tone.
So the aspect used in the question is the perception, whose job is to perceive the nonverbal communication and understand what it wants to pass.
Jesse concludes, therefore, he might be waiting a long time for the ride, because José used a tone that passed "laziness" to the listener. Perceiving the tone, Jesse could, then, perceive the little effort José put to arrange a ride as soon as Jesse reached the airport.
