Another of my exes. I had briefly met his friend Kevin, and the next day, the ex told me “I just talked with Kevin and asked him whether he liked you. He said I could do better . . . but I told him I couldn’t.”
A female coworker at my first job once told me I had a great ass. Considering how wonderful her was I viewed that as quite an accomplishment, and I honestly think it helps my self esteem to this day. Not bad for a forty something white guy.
One time late night drive-thru Burger King, was asked if I wanted any condiments and I said, “only if they’re sincere ones!” I did not think it was that funny, thought it was the kind of dumb joke one might hear on Gilligan’s Island. But the employee laughed heartily. So that was a weird compliment of sorts, a compliment of a Gilligan’s-Island-level condiment joke.
My brother once told me I was the least feminine girl he had ever met. Given that his standard of femininity was the lying cheating psycho bitches he dated, this was in fact high praise.
In the “things that sound insulting but are well meant” file, we have the time my cousin told me “Honey, you’re not fat, you’re just wide.”
My grandma was a tiny, tiny woman, born in the Edwardian era, when that was not the ideal of feminine beauty. She truly admired women who were built on a grand scale. Her idea of a compliment was “Baby, you’re looking nice and fat today.” I miss Grandma!
My best friend can be blunt, and if I didn’t know him well, I’d have been insulted when he told his old Army buddy (in response to a joking question about whether my friend knew any pretty single women) “No, she’s a little too funny-looking to describe as ‘pretty,’ but she’s beautiful.” The drunken explanation was even funnier and more convoluted, but he really meant it as a compliment.
And once at work (hotel night auditor at the time,) a lady was checking in at some horrible hour. She told me that I was doing the job all wrong, because I was supposed to be much surlier and less helpful and pleasant.
When I was working retail in high school, a customer (who I guess was an EMT or phlebotomist) told me, “You have great veins; I’d love to take blood from you.” I said, “Um, thanks, I guess.”
A dentist once told me she liked me as a patient because I opened my mouth and didn’t salivate. I’m always glad to help…
I’ve gotten this multiple times from customers who draw blood often at their jobs. I do have great veins.
A Burger King worker actually used the word “condiments”?
A tall friend, once, after having known me for several months: “Wow, you’re quite short.”
- “Yup, always have been.”
“Well you must have a tall personality.”
Good point! This particular guy was wearing a manager-type costume and was older than your typical late-nite drive-thru worker. Had encountered this guy before when out and about securing “wee hour” burgers. And from his appearance and way he spoke, got the impression he was someone who must have had a decent career going somewhere, perhaps then losing it all to some kind of hardship - like alcohol hassles or something. He spoke so unusually well, looked and spoke like a business executive or a banker, yet his eyes had that haggard look, the eyes of someone who had seen too much along the lines of hardship; like he had been through hell-and-back and was starting over from scratch. I was curious, wondered what might have happened to this guy.
Reminds me of a sign I once saw boasting proudly “a lot of great careers start at Burger King!”, and I immediately thought how unprofoundly lame that was, that indeed a lot of great careers might begin at Burger King. But they certainly don’t end up there, do they.
So, that might have been more than what you wanted to know, but I hope that answers your question. :o
I get this too. I was having blood drawn at the doctor’s once and the nurse actually made the doctor come practice on me because “he sucks at this and there’s no way he could possibly miss your veins.”
I was walking my beagle downtown one night, in a cranky mood, and crossing the street. A group of people were crossing in the opposite direction and they were laughing and joking. One guy looked at me as we passed, held up his hand and said “HIGH FIVE!”. Without breaking my cranky face I just lifted up my hand, met his high five, and kept walking. He doubled over laughing and said "You got a good soul."
I got this once! I was helping EMT students practice for their exam, and one of the teachers noticed my vein sticking out and commented that he’d love to stick me with a needle. It was a rather violent thing to say, but I’m a not-particularly-skinny female weight lifter who takes immense pride in her sticking-out veins, so I absolutely took it as a compliment!
This might be the strangest compliment anyone has ever received. Every now and again I forget that this ever happened, then my friends will remind me.
As background, I am a decent sized dude with pale skin, blue eyes and a shaved head. I was out with my buddies and we were at a Spanish restaurant. When we arrived at the restaurant there was an older couple also coming in. The gentleman walked with the assistance of a cane and was not very fast. My friends went in the restaurant and I patiently waited by the front door to make sure that the older couple could get in okay.
Inside the restaurant my rowdy friends and I were seated right next to this couple. We’re loud, so we didn’t hear their actual conversation, but the older man had a thick Germanic, probably Austrian accent. We did talk with them briefly about the food (what was good to eat there), but that was our only interaction.
As luck would have it, the old couple also exited at the same time as we did. Again I waited for them and helped them out the door. As they were leaving, they both thanked me for my attentiveness. Then the old man looked at me through his thick, round lenses and said something with his thick German accent which I’ll never forget, “You have an excellent bone structure!”
My sister was walking down an airport terminal once on her way to meet a friend’s plane, and noticed a man coming towards her down the wide corridor. He was looking at her with a funny smile, and as they drew closer she was wracking her brains, trying to remember if she knew him. As he passed her, he said cheerfully, “Nice tits!” and kept on walking.
When I was in my 20’s I asked my then boyfriend if, when we had first met, if it was my pretty looks that attracted him. He seriously said no, not really. 
But then he said after he got to know me, he fell in love with me, so my looks didn’t matter. 
So I guess it was a compliment, even though I was lacking in beauty I was still loveable! 
Someone once told me I had the perfect personality to be a librarian. The fact that the complimenter was also a librarian is the only thing that kept me from going, “…Hey!”
At a makeup store a few weeks ago, a sales girl helping me try on eyeshadow told me I had beautiful large eyelids. That seems like a compliment only a makeup artist would give. (Also, I thought she was going to say I had beautiful large eyes, so that extra suffix kinda pulled me up short.)
From my son’s dad again:
You…smell like a girl.
:dubious:
A friend of mine recently moved to Portland and was trying to convince me to join her there. She said, referring to my appearance, “In Los Angeles, you’re like a seven, but in Portand, you’d be a ten!” (Sorry, ugly Portlanders!)