Being Nice


People are suddenly being nicer to me,
At work someone brought me a cake and two scotch eggs were put in the nurses' fridge for my break!
and I received hugs from members of staff that won't see me next weekend when I finally complete my last shift.
"I won't see you again!!!!" one menopausal colleague wailed
" I am retiring NOT dying of cancer!" I reminded her.
It just so happens that four of my favourite nurses are leaving roughly when I do. One is going into nurse education, one into Student support and the other is moving to an ophthalmic ward where the hours and the physicality of nursing is better for her back.
We shall have a joint leaving do, which means more people there but increases the chances that someone who does not like you but likes someone else turns up......
What larks Pip!
Even Ursula or Petra might say something nice to me this week! 

So my question to you all this sunny Sunday afternoon is this?

What was the best compliment someone has ever given you?

 I am reminded  of my grandmother here, who was the Queen of the backhanded compliment.....on seeing that I had made an effort to get my unruly hair neat and tidy for a family do, she commented " oh your hair looks lovely.....from the back!" 

Answers on postcards please!


93 comments:

  1. My Auntie Gladys who had two daughters, my cousins: who in her opinion were slimmer, brighter, lovelier than me, once felt obviously guilty in my presence by cracking on about how beautiful her daughters were. She turned to me and said 'Oh Linda you have such lovely ... eyebrows!' As l idly pluck the odd stray hair l often remember!

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  2. Oh that's great, do enjoy your leaving do. Best compliment received? Oh I'd have to think hard about that one. Warm greetings and have a lovely week!

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  3. I bought a new dress last week, an unusual event for me. It's pink on top then there is a green bit in the middle and the bottom is yellow. I wore it to work and a colleague remarked that I looked like a rocket ice lolly.

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    Replies
    1. My favourite lollies Hester!

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. A dear male friend who hadn't seen me for a couple of months said to me quietly, "You've lost a shit load of weight!" (I had, but you can see where this is both a compliment and a comment about my previous appearance - I went for the compliment). -Jenn

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  5. Pity they could not be nice before eh? Nice colleagues can make work so much more enjoyable!

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  6. Your Grandma was a bit passive aggressive ! My favorite was when I was 15 and my now husband of 47 years told me he loved me for the first time. the other was when he said ,all excited , "Jan! they said you got an A+ on your Lamaze technique for the birth!! Look it says so on the card on her crib!" ...I didn't have the heart to tell him it was her blood type.

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  7. when a man (not my ex-spouse, nor my current spouse) said to me "you look incredibly sexy this morning". sent me over the moon! and no, it was NOT sexual harassment!

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  8. I'm finally gonna ask John.... I must be the only one here who doesn't get it but.... What do you mean when you say
    'Answers on Postcards please' Do you mean thru the mail or what? I'm confused because people still put answers here.... just wondering.......Hugs! deb

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    Replies
    1. I think it means "keep it short and sweet".

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    2. In the days before emails, Television competitions used to ask you to send in your "answers on a postcard please"
      That's where it comes from.

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    3. oh...interesting; thanks!

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    4. Thank you witch hazel, she has the right answer

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  9. The backhand complement was, you are much smarter than I thought you were.

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    Replies
    1. I don't think that is a compliment. It is just downright rude.

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    2. Yes i thought that too

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  10. Can't say I've had that many compliments...someone once mentioned that they admired my never ending curiosity...unusual in an older person. So, I really wasn't sure, you know? WAS it a compliment?

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  11. Many years ago I had a friend (a female) who said to me 'if I was a man I'd fancy you'.

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    1. I need to process this one

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    2. I'm a heterosexual female and so is she!

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  12. I ran into someone the other day who I hadn't seen in 20 plus years.
    She thanked me for listening to her when her partner died,
    and that she had thought of me many times through the years.
    It was the "listening" thing that really got me . . .
    I loved that compliment . . .

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    Replies
    1. Properly listening to someone without your own agenda is the biggest gift you can give ANYONE X

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  13. Pity they could not be nice before eh? Nice colleagues can make work so much more enjoyable!

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    Replies
    1. Oh no, they were always nice, just nicer now

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  14. "You talk like a dictionary sir!"
    "What do you mean?"
    "When you talk it's like you are reading proper sentences from a book."

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  15. Are you sure your wailing colleague was menopausal? Maybe she was just feeling a tad cranky...and sweaty. Wishing you a wonderful retirement and many adventures ahead John! X

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  16. Happy retirement, remember 'Today is the first day of the rest of your life'

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    1. I actually finish next monday morning at 8 am

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  17. I'm trying so hard to remember...

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  18. Anonymous4:20 pm

    I went on a date when I was 19 where the young lady told me she was jealous of my eyelashes. It may not have been the best compliment, but it was certainly the oddest.

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    Replies
    1. Grab em where you can thats what i say

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  19. Around 1972 I was chosen from the audience of the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California to assist the mentalist, The Amazing Kreskin in his show. When we finished and I was walking out of the theater, Morrie Amsterdam of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" came up to me and told me I was really good. I've been living off of that compliment for 40+ years. :)

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    1. Omg i remember kreskin! Blast from the past

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  20. I was once told that my smile lit up the room.
    Have fun at your leaving dos.

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  21. Backhanded 'I thought you were stuck up but you're really nice'.

    Compliment: a text from an ex one day which simply said 'the sun is shining and it made me think of you'.

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  22. Told to me a few years back by someone who shall remain anonymous..."If you weren't already with someone, I'd be all over you like white on rice".

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  23. With my brothers a compliment was usually followed by a punchline. I find it hard to accept compliments graciously because I'm always waiting for the punchline. (A boyfriend did once say I made him feel like James Bond. I've never forgotten that one) :)

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  24. My mother used to tell me that if I could not be beautiful then I must be useful. Sigh

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  25. My husband told me I had the kind of beauty that would only get better as I age ... he always knew the right thing to say <3

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  26. My mother scrutinized me in my teens and declared I wasn't pretty but had perhaps some charm. The best compliment she ever gave.

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  27. I have been told I am funny. I prefer it to mean humourous rather than weird. I have been told it several times. We menopausal women are prone to wailing and being OTT.

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  28. One of my school teachers once told my mother than I could by no means be called pretty and she doubted I ever would be but that I had an intelligent forehead.

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  29. On a bike ride my friend was cycling behind me. She said "you have the back of an 18 year old" which pleased me no end as I was 56 at the time.

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  30. When someone who lives at the other end of our street stopped (as I was working in the garden) to say that she had hired a landscaper to work on her garden - and told him she wanted it to look like ours. (It looks much better.)

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  31. From my father-in-law, Who I love dearly, "We thought you were a bit odd, but now we're used to you". It really was meant as a compliment and is quite true- I am odd! hehe x

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  32. I have been always told that I was a brilliant artist. Now days they say I am a brilliant colorist. LOL

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  33. 'We shall have a "joint" leaving do'!
    I thought well they certainly know how to party!!
    Let me see..... what was the best compliment I was ever given......hm-m-m-m.....oh, my father told me once that I had nice teeth!!

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  34. I was told "Well, I never thought I'd say this, but I'll be sorry to see you go."

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  35. Best recent one was in a card from a young lady of 21 who I nursed . She said my warmth made her feel better. I shall treasure it, because I doubt I shall nurse again officially.

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  36. Can't think of the best but one I liked was when I became a stay at home dad a few people seperatly said to me and others that "it was a waste of a damn good carpenter". I liked it because compliments are hard to come by on a building site!
    Also "you're not as thick as you look"...

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  37. Years ago when I was very vulnerable, I was bemoaning the thought/fact that a co-worker didn't seem to like me when my boss said that she couldn't imagine anyone not liking me. That brought my spirits up even though I knew it not to be true. However, that day, I needed that upper and I remember her kindness all these years later.

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  38. I'm totally blank here.
    Enjoy your 'Do.'

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  39. Best compliment, and it's been said to me more than once, by different people who say the way I handled racism and abuse of authority in the workplace, and life in general, has both taught and touched them and ... "When I grow up, I want to be just like you."

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  40. Anonymous12:51 am

    My mother once gave me a compliment and didn't ask for money.

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  41. A student came back after his graduation and told me I had changed his life and a mother of one of my students told me that I had saved her child's life.

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  42. I used to work in public assistance (welfare) and received a card one day from a young mother thanking me for helping her.
    And before my mother died she told me i should have been an only child. There are too many ways to take that.

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  43. An old girlfriend's father once told me that 'I was the best son-in-law he never had'. I've always thought that was a wonderful thing to say.

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  44. While waiting for my Dad to go for a drive, I met one of his neighbors in the parking lot. As he arrived, the neighbor told my Dad, "I just met one of your daughters." To which he replied, "Yeah, well they come in all shapes and sizes."
    sizes." My sisters are all thinner than I and I guess my Dad was not happy about my about weight.

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  45. A client I supported at the birth of her first child got me back for baby #2. It's a compliment to be invited into the birthing space and even more so when they get you back a second time.
    As for backhanders: how about "you are really smart so why do you act dumb?"

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  46. I am very lucky as I get complimented a lot, being large and sparkly and friendly in the public eye all the time. The best one in ages though is a bit twisted- a very annoying drunk Irish Lions rugby supporter in our local gay bar bailed me up the other night while I was in drag - he refused to believe I was a woman and kept hugging me and crying over his gay brother or some damned thing. When he asked to squeeze my boobs I bailed on him to the safety of the "house" end of the bar. Nothing touches a bio queen's heart like being mistaken for a guy hehe

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  47. Someone said to me recently - your hair must have been a nice colour when you were younger. So what about the darned colour now then I wondered! It is still more colour than grey so really!! I can attract anyone within a 50 mile radius who is going to say something daft - or worse - so I get a lot of this sort of thing! Hope the party goes well John and that all the people you really like turn up!

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  48. "You're not as nasty as you look" was mine.

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    Replies
    1. My husband once told me
      I was smarter than he thought.

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  49. A young relative (husband's nephew and about 28) thanked me for making such a difference in his life and teaching him the things he needed to know. I told him that was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

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  50. My 4 year old daughter was at playschool and 2 of the teachers asked her where Mummy had bought her dress. She told them that Mummy didn't buy it, she made it herself. She said "I don't think they believed me Mummy, they pulled down the zip to look for a label". I was well chuffed.

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  51. So many lovely compliments here and a few not so lovely; what a great post John and it brought out some excellent stories! I've been lucky to have kind people around me so I don't lack for nice things being said, but ironically the first thing that came to mind with your question was getting a compliment on my hair years ago by a perfect stranger! If you were to read my recent posts about my hair you might be able to psychoanalyze that one :)

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  52. I ran a local shop on a council estate for a time and one customer when i was leaving said she would miss me as although I was posh i was not proper posh.

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  53. Best professional compliment was when I was a freelance music journalist (whilst still working my day job). A friend who worked for the NME, and now is a BBC DJ, said I'd never fit in at the NME, as I had too much integrity, and wasn't prepared to sacrifice it in exchange for a few extra quid.

    Still like music, still broke. But nobody could ever say I faked it for money.

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  54. "What comes to mind when I look at you is the phrase: Untrammelled pneumatic bliss!"

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    Replies
    1. Still not sure if it was a backhander or not. She assured me it wasn't. :D

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  55. When my son was around 6 or so, a young man working in a shop in Malaysia was quite taken with him (he always got a lot of attention because of his blonde hair) and stated that my son was very good looking and my husband must be very handsome. Um. Thanks.

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  57. Nothing sticks out at the moment other than when native German speakers think I speak decent German & don't have a pronounced American accent. (Hashtag simple pleasures)😄

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  58. This is the funniest thing I've read in ages!

    goldenslot
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    ReplyDelete

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