This weekend while Christmas shopping, I was feeling a bit Scrooge-like; most likely prompted by the unseasonal heat and throngs of shoppers.
In the store, I passed an older woman who was looking at me the entire time I was walking toward her. I figured she caught my un-holidayish scowl, so I said as I passed her, "Ugh. I'm just feeling a little Scroogey right now." She smiled as if she knew what I was feeling.
A while later, I ran into her in the Christmas card aisle. She came up to me, touched my arm and said, "I just wanted you to know that I wasn't looking at you because I thought you were scowling or looking like Scrooge, as you said, I was looking at you because I think you're very beautiful." Well! I'll be damned.
Since I really was a little cranky from starting my day out with three hours worth of dental work, I imagined how I must have looked; like a petulant child, all hot and whiney, trailing behind my mother in the over-crowded store when I was "caught" wearing a scowl by a stranger. Then it turns out the stranger just thought I looked beautiful. How absolutely unexpected! I thanked her sincerely and we went our seperate shopping ways.
After I thought about how nice it was to be complimented by a complete stranger (which is something I do often, so I have a fondness for it), it brought back the memory of another time when I was shopping and got a compliment; although I'm not sure the delivery was as smooth as this older womans was...
I had an armful of clothing and was looking through the dress rack for more things to try on. I kept passing the same lady, who was looking at me for periods of time I thought were a little too long. Did I have a stalker?
As I rounded the dress rack again, she came up and stopped right in front of me. I smiled and shifted to the side as if to pass her when she said, "I just wanted to tell you that I think you're extremely beautiful for a not thin person."
WTF??
I laughed to myself thinking, was that a compliment? but just said "Thank you." Or maybe I said, "Uh...thank you." I'm not really sure, but I always refer to that event as the time I got the "un" compliment or the "backwards" compliment.
Honestly, I'll take 'em any way they come. I like when people are bold and say what they think, especially if they're complimenting me in the process.
Mostly though, I like the ones that I don't have to decipher.
5 comments:
Unexpected compliments are great. And after 3 hours of dental work? Heck, I'd still be drooling and loopy.
The opposite has happened to me, where I was feeling great, and then people say, "Are you feeling ok?" (That's how I learned never to wear Khaki. It makes me look ill!)
Other times, I'm feeling like crap, and people say, "You look great."
Well despite the dental work, sounds like it ended up being a rather fabulous day :)
I've had the same experience as Tui...feeling good, people ask if I'm tired, etc.; feeling like crap, I look great.
Can't win for losing, I say.
Well, based on the photos I've seen on here, I think you're beautiful too (in a completely non-stalker way).
I had a guy tell me once that my eye area was the most beautiful of any woman he's ever gone out with. I asked "what about the rest of me?" and he said no, just my eyes. Gee thanks. He later asked me if I would lose xxx number of pounds so he could marry me one day so it turns out he was just an ass.
P.S. I'm tagging you for a meme. If you don't want to do it, I won't be upset. :-)
Sounds like she dispensed good medicine :)
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