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The Best Compliments I’ve Received Have Something In Common
You never know who you might inspire.
Compliments aren’t easy. Even when people try to be nice, we mess it up. Argentinians are especially good at backhanded compliments.
“You’ve lost so much weight” doesn’t necessarily make someone else feel that great, for example. It’s awkward because you’re making the receiver of this comment feel bad about when they weighed more. They might have even been feeling good about how they looked.
“Your hair looks so much better like this.” Another favorite of mine, common in the Argentinian workplace. Do something different with your hair or face, and people will compliment you — accidentally telling you you normally look like crap.
I also get funny compliments from guys at the gym sometimes.
“That’s a lot of weight you’re lifting.” Yeah.
“You’re… strong.” Isn’t that the point?
But here are a couple of situations where I actually loved the compliments I received.
Attitude Is Everything
The other day, I had just gone through the metal detectors at work and said hi to the security guards, and was heading for the elevator. Then I overheard one of them talking about me…
