What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I was at the local equestrian club camping weekend, where I’d never been before. In fact, I’d only returned to riding (after a 40 year hiatus) a couple years previous, and my horse was quite green as well. I ended up riding out with a cowboy I’d never met before on a four hour trail, simply because we were the only two people awake, breakfasted, and tacking up our horses at eight a.m. The trail turned out to be more than a little hairy (steep, slippery, and confusing), and I was quite proud of my little mare and how steady she was.

At the end of the ride he told me, “It’s rare to come across someone who can handle themselves on the trail. I’d ride with you again.”

22

Did you paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel maybe?

23

I had a summer job as an intern at GSFC when I was home from University one year. My boss was working on a project and he came over to me and said “You’re a clear thinker, what’s your take on this?”

24

While a (super WASP female, but well-intended) college student in the Boston area (circa late 1970s), I interned one summer at a magnificently diverse project in South Boston intended to serve juveniles who had already had fairly serious interactions with the juvenile justice system. If memory serves, they had to have been charged with at least one felony.

Another intern, I think named Cassandra, was a Black woman my age, a student at the same Seven Sisters College I attended, who was pretty clearly rolling her eyes at prim, preppy me.

So, the project arranged a trip to George’s Island for the kids - who were all around ages 15 to 17, ethnically diverse kids from Boston, all who had by definition done some shit.

Cassandra, who obviously thought I was impossibly proper, useless, and stiff, took me aside prior to the trip.

“Hey, look,” she said. “Don’t try to talk to the kids, okay? You can’t relate to them.”

“Okay,” I responded, thinking: I get what she means, but also, she’s kind of a jerk to say that. But since I’m pretty quiet around the kids anyway, no harm done by her advice - she’s only suggesting what I’ll do anyway.

So - we get to George’s Island, and it is FUCKING AMAZING. All social concerns about class, age, race, or other classifications are instantly gone as the young men and I are utterly captivated by the tunnels, corridors, and dark old crumbling buildings that we can explore. I’m in complete, mindless ecstasy, and so are the teenage boys I’m exploring with. We’re mesmerized.

For hours, the boys and I tromped through the delightful Revolutionary War ruins. I was more cautious than they were, and they delighted in holding my hand and helping me balance as we walked through dark, rubble-strewn buildings, planks leading from second-story windows to the ground, and other slightly challenging routes. (Note: this was circa 1977; I’m sure it is much sanitized today.)

It was one of the best days of my life. When we finally trooped back to where the “adults” were waiting for us (including Cassandra, who didn’t deign to explore through the mysterious old ruins), one of the kids - not a white kid, of course - loudly announced to everyone, “I just love CairoCarol. I would go exploring with her any day!”

Although I hadn’t really minded Cassandra’s admonition to me, it still felt like a feel-good moment, when essential experience, unmediated by prejudice, triumphed over mindless bigotry.

The kid who joyously announced that is, perhaps, a grandfather now. Does he or any of his fellow then-juries remember that day? Does Cassandra remember? I don’t know if they do, but I do.

25

Pre-pandemic, I had several of my customers tell me, unprompted, that I look like Ted Cruz.

At least two of them meant it as a compliment.

This is partially why I still always wear a face mask at work.

26

When I was younger I got “He’s kinda cute” and “he makes me laugh”.

I just got “silver fox”.

After one D&D game where I winged it as DM- “Damn. No notes, nothin, and we had the best time I have ever had in a game.”

27

Surely this can’t be the best compliment you’ve ever received! (coming from someone who’s been compared to a celebrity I find not all that attractive - but thankfully she’s not a hateful person.)

28

I was having my yearly evaluation with my boss maybe 15 years ago. Part of the process involved soliciting feedback from various people in the division. My boss told me that she had never before worked with anyone who was loved by everyone.

29

Most memorable, in any event.

30

Not long ago, I got a call from a provincial court judge. He wanted me to review a written decision he had made, before it he made it in court, and it was published.

“You want me to review your decision? Hell, you’re the judge, I’m just a lawyer.”

“Yeah, but you’re the best damn legal researcher I know, and there’s elements of constitutional law in here also, and you’re also the best damn constitutional lawyer I know. Have a look and let me know if my decision is legally sound.”

Probably the best compliment I’ve received in my professional career. Maybe I’m not just a lawyer any more.

31

Well, let’s see, a customer once told me that I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. A lover told me that Three Times a Lady could have been written about me. But I was also told I was ugly by a guy who preferred my sister. lol

I don’t know exactly what they say, but every time I’ve ever applied for a new job, my references are so good that I always get the job and they tell me that my references rant about my abilities and work ethic.

32

I play music (singing and guitar) and write a little. One of my songs–a catchy, “silly love song” (SLS)–got me two of the nicest compliments ever.

I was doing a vanity recording (of mostly covers) at Sun Studio. When I finished playing the SLS, the head engineer came into the studio and asked me, “You wrote that?” When I said yes, he said, “You should be writing more!”

Years later, I was finishing the SLS while busking on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, MD. A guy came up and asked, “Whose song is that?” I smiled, and pointed at myself. He rolled his eyes and asked, “No, I mean who wrote it?” I shrugged and smirked, as if that was a stupid question: “Paul McCartney!” He nodded, seeming to accept the answer, and left. That was the compliment.

33

Near the end of Navy OCS (boot camp), we had individual counseling sessions. Part of those were (earlier) providing input about a random grouping of other officer candidates, and this input was anonymously provided to us during our own sessions.

A little background - I was targeted early on by the drill instructors, probably because I was a bit overweight and generally not the quickest for menial tasks like cleaning and organizing. They would regularly take me outside for individual extra instruction (i.e. punitive calisthenics). When I came back in with the other candidates, I accepted it with self deprecation and good humor.

One of the inputs I was provided was that my attitude after being punished was the most inspiring thing he’d ever seen, and that more than anyone else he’d ever met I made him want to be a good Naval officer.

I never found out who it was who gave that feedback.

34

When I had a powered paraglider I attended a PPG fly-in in Quebec. The guy who put it on was pretty renowned in the PPG world. When I thanked him upon leaving he said “you are a good pilot”. I think I looked pretty good, landing with a fouled brake line :slightly_smiling_face:, so much for preflight! :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

35

Being described as “tall, dark and necrotic”.

36

If “best” equals “most helpful” then mine was a senior professor writing on my application for tenure that I “wrote like an angel,” which was not only very nice of him to say but also, since I was a young writing professor, relevant to my application. My first book, which he kindly read for me in the proofs stage, was on a subject I felt very passionately about and had a lot of things to say about so I was very pleased that my thoughts came through clearly to this one reader.

37

One time while skiing, some kid looks at me and say, “Dude. You are UnReal!”

38

It’s funny how there’s nothing more insulting than the wrong compliment…

I’ve been compared to both Tom Hanks and Weird Al Yankovich. I think those are both compliments…

39

When I worked at the local public library the head librarian once said I looked like a Degas ballerina. I was really flattered. She was almost a cliche librarian – a bit testy and strict. A compliment was out of character for her.

40

I’d folded up a vintage album cover into a pocket folder that’d fit a set of markers and a moleskine sketchbook. A fellow designer noticed it and said I was “kind of the McGyver of art supplies”.

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eta: Totally forgot this , but decades ago, when I was a young Art Director, one of the bosses read something I’d had to write because we were behind deadline. “Looks like our best writer isn’t one of the writers.”