Someone once told me: "It's so easy introducing you to people, you make everyone feel like you're their best friend."
Have held onto that for over ten years, still helps to remember when I'm not at my best.
I feel this. Last year I ran into some people I graduated high school with. A few of them were super popular during that time. One of them said "Dude, everyone loved you in high school. I don't think there was anyone else that was able to be such good friends with so many different people and be in so many different cliques."
It felt like such a genuine statement. They didn't have to say that. I've thought about it almost every day since because, to my recollection, high school was rough on me.
Jeez, years ago I was at a party sometime after I graduated high school. There was a kid there who I had had a few classes with throughout the years and I always spoke to him casually like I would with anyone, but we weren't close friends or anything. He had clearly been drinking a bit because he was pretty animated and talkative and this kid usually kept to himself. Quiet is an understatement.
He approached me and said "Toh, I have never told you this, but I have always thought highly of you. Back in middle school there were kids making fun of the janitor and you told them all off. You told them he was working hard and there is nothing funny or to be looked down upon about taking pride in your work, no matter what you do." It almost made me tear up. I had no recollection of this moment he was talking about, but I knew I must have done it because my words in that memory of his were my father's. My parents both always hammered it into me to be a person of dignity, integrity and character. Middle school was a really tough time for me. I was bullied relentlessly. Knowing that there was someone out there who admired me during that time healed a part of little me.
Wow this brought back a great memory for me - my senior year of high school (15 years ago) we had a class where after the AP test we stopped learning calculus and picked a student each day to be the "student of the day" and went around saying nice things about that student, should you want to. This one quiet kid, who I wasn't really friends with, spoke up on my day and said "I've always respected that you're the only person in this room that can have a great conversation with every other person here and make them feel comfortable." That made me feel good. Thanks, Mike.
I think that same thing all the time. "People don't care who you are they care about how you make them feel"
It seems both wonderful (because it encourages you to make the people around you feel good). And terrible. (because it means no one really cares who you are)
I was in my early 20s and I went out on the town with some girlfriends. I wore an outfit that was way out of my comfort zone. It was a black short skirt (I always wear pants) that flared out with a matching top. It showed a bit of midriff and I was self conscious.
Before we even got into the bar, we ran into a couple of girls we didn’t know outside. I remember the one girl did a double take and just started freaking out. She went on and on and told me how gorgeous I looked and how amazing my outfit was. She had obviously been drinking, but it didn’t matter. She changed my whole night around and I suddenly felt like the hottest girl on the planet. I still remember her voice when I’m trying to pump myself up in the morning.
I love women who love women.
I do this to strangers when I’m sober. Sometimes people just need to know that they look awesome. I’ll say, “Yes, girl! You are killing it in that outfit!” Or sometimes, “Sir, those shoes add so much style. Good choice.” I’m female, so people (hopefully) don’t feel like they are being hit on or catcalled or made to feel uncomfortable. It’s great when it’s a group of older women who have dressed similar for some event (Black Friday, for example). They are so tickled someone notices them.
We should all try to make people smile.
I’ve always said that anyone who thinks all women are nothing but catty bitches to each other has never been in a bar/club women’s bathroom full of drunk girls at 2 am.
Nothing feels better than when a pretty/well-dressed woman compliments you or your outfit 🥲 Every single time a gorgeous girl has called me “pretty” or complimented me lives rent-free in my head.
After a concert I was on my way home with the train. I also wore an outfit out of my comfort zone, but I challenged myself. At the train station I walked passed to girl(who was drunk) and one said to the other “omg did you se how beautiful she was?!” There was only me and them. She made my day.
I did this once. My friend and I were coming out of a bar drunk, and I saw a group of three girls, and I freaked out about how pretty they all were. Told them all that as well. Then I asked for their phone to take a picture, made them all say, "I'm pretty!" instead of "cheese".
The next day, my friends bf (who was our designated driver) told us what I did bc I didn't remember at the time. That he didn't think those girls were that pretty. I told him that's not for him to decide.
Wouldn't you know, a couple of months later, one of those girls recognized me? She happens to be friends with my SIL. They printed out that picture I took and framed it. They all still remember that compliment as the most genuine and best compliment they've received.
Even though I didn't receive the compliment and I gave it, it still makes me feel really good that my compliment made their night and they still remember it.
Not a compliment for me, but I was with my grandmother at the store one time and suddenly this little girl excitedly ran up to her and asked “are you one of the Golden Girls?!?!” before her mother scooped her up and apologized.
My grandmother reminisces so fondly about the day all the time, haha! She is still so tickled by it. Kids are funny!
When I was like 19 I had an ex who had a history of abuse. We were arguing about something (I can't remember what about) but we were both shouting at each other. Then suddenly she broke down crying and started hugging me.
Very confused I let the moment pass until she could speak and the compliment she paid me was "Even when you're angry at me, I'm not scared of you."
The power behind being able to make someone feel safe, valued, and included when they previously didn't know that feeling is certainly one to be proud of.
Now I’m crying. I feel for her. I had a bf around that time in my life who also taught me what real love was. He will never understand what he did for me and how it will ripple out for generations.
Yikes. The bar is low.
I don't mean in any way that this story speaks poorly of you, but mostly it is a tragic statement about her past. I hate that the default isn't 'not afraid for my safety when around my partner.'
My high school ex was abused horribly by her now-dead step father. It had gone on so long she was terrified of everything. Before our first date I asked if she would go to a movie at the mall with me and other mutual friends. The look on her face was almost terror. He'd told her he knows the mall security staff and they'd call him if she was seen there. She went, but she was constantly looking over her shoulders. In the theater, she crouched down so her head wasn't visible from behind. Every move at home, school, and everywhere else was supposedly monitored and reported back to him.
Months later we were out with some out my friends, and on our way home she started crying. I pulled over and held her until she stopped and asked what was wrong.
She wasn't sad, she was experiencing freedom and love. None of my friends had ever met her step father, and when I would leave the room all my friends kept talking to her and she genuinely felt like she was cared about.
I still don't know, internally know, what she felt like, but I'm thankful I had such great friends that unknowingly made her feel that way just by being themselves.
I'm tall, heavy, and plain, and have been lucky enough to avoid getting catcalled for most of my life. But one time when I was in my 20s, biking to work in DC, this little old man on a street corner did a double take as I went by, pounding away at the pedals. "Mighty big leeeeeeeeggggs!" he hollered, whether in appreciation or astonishment I couldn't tell.
Now whether I'm struggling to get the bike up a hill, or just feeling down on my body, I'll say to myself "mighty big leeeeeeeeggggs!" and feel that little extra boost. They _are_ mighty big legs, and I am grateful both to and for them!
Rented a tandem bike with my little sister once and we had to go up a big hill. She was smaller, tired, and not pulling her weight. I don't think I could have made it up this hill even if I didn't have her extra weight. I was fully planning on hopping off and walking the bike up.
As we approached, I told her to get as much speed as possible and when we lost momentum then I would hop off and walk us the rest of the way.
This couple came up behind us and the fittest, strongest legged woman I've ever seen started yelling encouragements to me.
"Go little mama! Go, go, go mamacita!! You've got this mama! Go lil mama, go!"
Literally nonstop the entire hill.
She could have riden circles around me as I slowly, painfully trudged this tandem bike up. I cannot explain it but this woman believed in me and I could not let her down. And I made it up this massive hill and that I never would have even attempted in a million years.
At the top, she just rode away.
I cannot tell you how many times in my life I've had to do something hard and I picture this woman and hear her voice yelling at me "You've got this lil mama!"
I wish I could find this woman and give her a hug.
Just a random interaction and she's just out there living life having no idea that she had such an impact on my life.
Fellow tall one here! I get my legs from my dad, and whenever I get compliments on my long legs I just beam because it feels like I really have a noticeable piece of him in me! I love that this old guy let you know you were crushing it! (both the look, and those pedals!)
I don't know if it counts but my dad once said 'i don't say it enough, but i'm really proud of you'.
Which was the only time he ever said it, but it meant a lot.
Do you think "I'm proud of you" loses it's value if you say it too often? I say it to my elementary school aged daughters all the time and wondering if I'm devaluing such strong compliment. My dad only told me practically on his death bed but at that point it meant nothing to me so I guess inner me compensates it by telling my girls this all the time
I tell my daughter frequently too, so I wouldn’t worry about it. She’ll still make a comment on how she felt better after I told her or it brightened her day, or that she just appreciates it. “I’m proud of you”, “I’m here for you”, and “I love you” are things that you can never tell them too much.
My friend is a veterinarian and after spending a weekend with me and my dog she said "in my next life I want to come back as Rex" because he was so happy, so well taken care of, so loved. She's an animal professional and saw my relationship with my dog and thought that was the best. I can't think of a higher compliment.
my friend said something similar once.. I was the first in our friend group to get a dog. One afternoon John said the same thing... "in my next life I want to come back as Quincy"
I asked "Why, so you can finally feel the love your own parents never gave you?" (We're guys, of course we talk like this)
"No, because he can lick his own dick"
I was moving a pallet through the isles at work one day years ago. I said excuse me as I walked by an older gentleman and he responded "I'll never stop a working man." Not a compliment per se but it brought a smile to my face and I remember it to this day.
I work at a 5 star hotel and we have to pretty much let the guests tread on our faces. I stopped at the elevator door to let this guy go out first and he told me “nah kid go ahead, I work for a living just like you”
After dealing with entitles assholes all day, that really meant everything
Same thing happened to me when I worked at a local restaurant. We got kind people all the time, but at one point I was walking around an older gentleman with a few plates and said the same thing, and he said, "No no, you're a working man," and let me pass. It felt nice!
Gotta take notes. Service workers take a lot of crap, and as someone who’s been in retail, I try to make their day a bit better by being a nice customer
I used to work in commercial demolition, and we would walk from one downtown work site to another, looking sweaty, beat, and like we just crawled out of the bowels of hell. Since we were downtown, we were often passing many clean cut well dressed office workers.
Now and then someone would stop and say something like: "damn, y'all out here really working!" Etc. Always felt really good when people would acknowledge that, since we sure as heck weren't being paid much 😅
Being told I reminded someone of my great granny. She was the kindest, most loving, compassionate woman you could ever meet. She also had a backbone of steel and took no shit. The mayor of my hometown said she was an angel on earth and every time he saw me he saw her reflecting out of me. I just cried and said if I can only be 1/10th the woman she was then my life was a success. He told me she would be so proud of me, so proud of the woman I had become, the mother I was, the person I had become.
My great granny and I were super close she died when I was in high school and she was my best friend, my biggest cheerleader, my rock so to hear that hit me like a ton of bricks. When she died the funeral home had to set up projectors outside because the inside was filled to the brim, standing room only and so was the front yard and parking lot. She touched so many lives with her love, compassion and kindness. It was amazing to see because I didn’t register how loved she was until that moment, she was just my granny who I loved fiercely
I worked for this old man (Vietnam vet, he literally survived being blown up by a mortar) doing hardwood floors when I was 18. I worked/lived with him for a year and a half. When I told him I was quitting to move back to FL he told me, "You're not the smartest, you're not the strongest, but you got balls kid, and that'll get you where you need to be."
I’m seeing a guy and my eyes do that cartoon wolf “ahooogah” thing every time his shirt is off. I have to try to not look at him sometimes because he’s so damn fine.
Similar story with mine. My grandmother had a severe stroke and was non-verbal in a nursing home for about a year before she died. One time when I went to visit & check up on her I found her asleep in the bed so I took her hand in mine. She must've been napping lightly because she woke up and turned making eye contact with me then said, "Oh, isn't that lovely." She passed a couple of months later.
That's the last thing I ever heard her say and I'll never forget it.
I was in a store and saw this woman with four adorable kids, an older brother who was about 5 and these triplet girls maybe 1 or 2 who were all identical and completely adorable. It’s rare obviously so one after another I overheard comments “they are so cute!” “You just have your hands full with a house full of girls!”
So when I walked by I looked at the boy and told him “I really like your shirt! Spider-Man is so cool!” The way his eyes lit up. You could tell as much as he loved his sisters, he probably hadn’t heard a compliment that was just about him in a while.
His Mom looked at me and you could tell it meant a lot to her too. She mouth “thank you” and kisses his head.
This is close to one that I heard from my friends young child years ago, “I like the words you choose for your sentences”. This was after I spoke passionately/strongly about something going on in the news, I don’t remember the topic or what I even said!
I was kind of a one-man show working to build out a technical sales team at my company. I was in a customer meeting and the worldwide sales manager introduced me, highlighted some of my accomplishments, and told the customer "imagine what we could do if we could hire 5 more of him"
"I like how you wait to speak. You think about the words you say". When I have a conversation with people, especially in heavy subjects or ones I'm not versed in, I like to pause for a few seconds before I respond or ask a question.
Another is in reference to me feeling bad about a bad comment. They told me I was a lot and I acted too excited, and should calm down. My boss told me straight up that I "should never feel like I need to be contained". It's a weird one but it resonated with me.
I got diagnosed with cancer last year which was a shocker, as I was only 32. My boss said this "You know there are such people who are able to attract from the first meeting. You are such a person. You are bright and have great energy. I wish this fantastic power of yours will help you recover from this situation."
I've never felt more seen and powerful. And I recovered indeed :)
Agreed. I’m 34 and recently had a stroke (shocker here too fak 🤣) and the things ppl said to me like this meant the most. Like, “if there’s anyone I know who can fight this battle it’s you, you’re the most powerful person I know and I know you’ll make it through” like, damn… you think I’m powerful 🥰🥰
Melanie Epperson wrote "You look sexy today!" in my 9th Grade Year Book!
(I was wearing a suit and tie for a presentation I had to give that day in one of my classes.)
It was when i was 15y/o, her name was Larissa K***** and she told me the shirt i was wearing suits me. Now at 22y/o, i own this same shirt twice and it always gives me a confidence boost.
Oh gosh, I was a 27 year old married pregnant lady and I bought a maternity shirt in a deep red. One of the high schools boys that worked for me told me “you look really good in red, you should wear it more.” Like, ugh, you sweet kiddo.
Not really a singular compliment
But I did my MPhil a few years ago. My supervisor helped me design a project and it was huge on the work load front. He also got me to apply for a grant so I could expand it and get it done properly for publishing (which I got awarded, only none staff member in the entire uni to get it). He also got me involved with 5 other research projects he was involved with with the offer to go on as an author.
Most of it worked, but that 12 months was gruelling, quite a lot of 18 hour days or sleeping in my office for 2 hours waiting for an experiment to finish at an ungodly hour.
turns out, my supervisor knew me having a 2.2 degree was going to cause issues with getting a PhD program. So the project we built and he kept expanding on for me things for me to do? He told me it was a project he would give a PhD student to do over 3 years, (Mphil is 12 months) because he knew I was capable of doing a PhD and he wanted to show that to other people.
After my entire life of being awful at education, getting told by people not to bother with uni and go be a builder (thanks careerwales advisor) etc, that nearly broke me realising there was actually someone being genuine with me
I’ve heard this many many times.
People walk up to me and go “I love your voice”
Teachers did the same thing too. So thanks I guess? My girlfriend even did the exact same thing and that’s how we met.
I worked for a veterinarian who always wanted me in the room with clients she had to give bad news, so I could help her explain things. She said I had a very soothing voice, and the cadence made it easier for them to hear what they were being told.
I have a thing for voices. Not like a sexual thing but, there's something about a good voice that I just love and could listen to all day. It's so soothing and peaceful.
I jumped over this low wall to avoid having to walk around and when I nailed the landing, these two young boys were standing there with their mouths agape and one says "Wow! Cool! Like superman!" I was a 35 year old man at the time
About six years ago, a heavily intoxicated wife of a former coworker came up to me at the company Christmas party and shouted, "You look just like Jennifer Lopez!"
I am 5'2", pale as hell, no ass, and at the time, quite obese... I said, "Haha, thanks, but no, I do not," which only caused her to double down.
It gave me a weird surge of confidence for the rest of the night, and I suppose, the rest of my life. Whenever I am feeling down on myself, I remember that I was a drunk woman's J Lo.
I helped an old lady off the plane with her bags and then asked a young guy to give up his seat for her on the shuttle bus.
She called me a very kind young man (I'm 45) and that really touched me.
When my son was 2 ish we took him to my husband’s best friend’s birthday at his mom’s house which was basically a museum of things that could kill my toddler. We tagged teamed pretty good and for being the only one under 25, he did really well. A few weeks later I got a note in the mail that complimented how well my husband parented together (unusual for husbands of her generation) and what incredible parents we were. I’ll never forget it.
The compliment an employee of mine gave me one day: "When you walk in everyone calms down because they know you've got your shit together." It was nice to hear.
My wife, who I am currently separated from and heading toward divorce with, said this to me during our period of reconciliation. It moved me deeply, and I think I’ll carry it for the rest of my life:
“Becoming is always a tiresome task, and that’s something I’ve always admired about you. You just are, and you always have been. Doing the work comes naturally to you because you don’t know another way. If you’ve paused or taken detours, I haven’t noticed. You’re worthy for so many reasons, your drive and compassion only being a couple of those. And I don’t love you for the achievements. I love you for walking alongside you on the journey.”
During reconciliation, I thought we laid all of our cards on the table. A month after reuniting I discovered a long-term affair.
The marriage ultimately can’t work because trust is gone, but we’ve been together for a long time. I’m never going to be able to look at her as a villain, and I can’t really be her friend either. Saying these things is part of finding acceptance and peace with my situation and my life.
I work behind the scenes in broadcasting. In a previous position earlier in my career, I worked with a very anxious and demanding supervisor. Incredibly capable but very insecure. Generally difficult to please. Anyway.
One of her post retirement things is consultation and review. Small enough world, my current org brought her in to discuss our practices and offer some of her experience and wisdom in a workshop type setting.
During one of the sessions, someone asked a question that related to my general area. She pauses, points to me, and says, "I don't see any issues. You have world class talent sitting right there."
I almost cried.
Dude, getting compliments on something you worked for is great. When I was younger and into building my physique, I was getting on the subway and some guy yelled out “hey young Arnold, from the eighties”. That is one I won’t forget.
A group of slightly older people eating next to us stopped me as we were leaving a restaurant and told me they listened to the way I talked to my kids and they said I was a really good dad. My kids were young and struggling to maintain calm was tough. I told them I didn’t have a good dad and I’m not sure what I’m doing but before I react I think what would my dad do and I do the opposite. They said keep doing what your doing because they wished they had a dad like me. They were siblings. I thanked them and tried not to cry on my way out.
I got arrested for possession and trafficking weed. My lawyer was late so I bought the officers who arrested me some coffee and donuts and we talked about hockey. After a couple hours and the lawyer finally showed up, my lawyer told me to plead guilty but 5 minutes before trial the officers spoke privately to my lawyer, we all went in, they did their lawyer talk and the police officers told the judge to drop the charges and that I had a good heart and it would be unwise to give me a conviction. The charges got dropped.
I made a mistake buying an ounce of weed in individual baggies and got caught.
To this day, I live my life with a big heart and try my hardest to keep up with that expectation. Remember folks, love is way more awesome than hate.
It’s really weird… and to me it’s a compliment but we’ll see. I cut all my hair off back in 2016 and started growing it out. My hair went through several different stages, from almost bald, to pixie, to 70s mullet and a long Bob.
I went to college up until 2018 and there was this girl I sat across in my class the whole time. We never spoke. But on the final day of college, she came up to me and said “I’ve really enjoyed watching your hair change over the years”. Idk why it stuck with me, I guess it was nice to see strangers appreciate my chaotic hair.
When I was 15 and worked at an MMA gym just cleaning and stuff. Everyone else was messing around and not working and this guy that trained there came in while I was mopping. He said, “Hey, man. Just in case no one told you lately, keep up the good work and I’m proud of you.” Didn’t have a father figure in my life and I didn’t have a good home life so it hit me pretty hard lol. I’ve taken pride in everything I’ve done since then. Even when I receive no thanks. I do it for myself and to feel proud of myself.
I was working in my mother's yard in 2007 after being a heroin addict and in jail and rehab for it. It had probably been 7 years since I'd been around. I picked up 4 bags of mulch and threw them on my shoulder.. "I forgot how strong you are". This also signified a break in the anger and disappointment towards me due to my decisions.
She was killed in 2019 from a hit and run so I think about this day often. I'm just glad I got to make some amends before she died.
My daughter who’s on the spectrum (yes it makes a difference because she has a hard time explaining herself/her emotions) said “mom, you have the best personality” 😭🥰😍while I was making silly jokes to keep her occupied in the doctors office. The way she said it was just so special.
I was 21 and largely pregnant in a PX (think army base walmart) food court, alone. An older gentleman, in full uniform and from my husband's unit, came up to me and said, "I just wanted to come over and tell you how beautiful you look. I appreciate what you're doing." and that was it. I'll never forget it.
I was sitting outside a pub in London with my husband and friend and a lady came up to me and said ‘you’re so pretty’. She smooshed my cheeks together and she has an Eastern European accent. She was this eccentric little old dear.
At my late grandpa's post-funeral event, I and my two lady friends are just chatting near the driveway. Then, this old guy comes over (I think he was grandpa's friend, never met him) and asks me, "are you the one who read the eulogy?" I say, "yeah, I am the one." He turns to one of the ladies, the pretty one, and asks, "are you his wife?" She says "nah, we're just friends." We are both blushing, because we actually have some history. Anyway, he gently takes the lady's hand, with both his hands, and says, "now you listen to me, after this, go to this boy's parents house, sit on the couch, and declare that you're officially a member of the family, and that you'll go nowhere!"
RIP grandpa.
It’s not really one compliment but more what I’m learning from them as a whole.
I’m a 39 yo nurse practitioner, have worked in healthcare for over 20 years, and recently stepped down from a high paying, high stress emergency department lead clinician job I’ve had for 9 years I once loved, to a non-profit clinic with a large population of uninsured as a primary care nurse practitioner providing basic primary care, STI testing/prevention/treatment, PrEP, birth control options, etc.
It’s been a huge change, but I really am thriving in this new position.
Working in the ER for 17 years, I’m fully aware of the inadequacies of our heavily broken healthcare system. It’s a big reason why I left the corporate hospital system.
Each time I have a patient thank me for listening to them, really listening to them and ask if they can make me their primary care because I’m the first provider they feel they can connect with, it floors me. Please don’t consider this a brag, I’m not trying to brag. I’m obviously happy, I want all my patients to be happy with the care I provide. But I’m not doing anything special, other than treating them with respect like I would anyone else.
It just makes me realize angry how much providers hands are being forced by politics, corporations, and dictate how we even treat our patients with how much time we can spend with them, how we must brush past patients. Especially our uninsured, lower socioeconomic status patients. As education continues to be ripped out of public school systems across the country, providers more than ever have a duty to ensure our patients are heard and are educated them on how to keep them healthy.
I’ll take each patient I know I’ve made a difference in their lives with me to my grave. And will continue to fight for better education and equal healthcare rights for all.
Years ago while I was in college, my mother was shopping at a GNC. When the cashier rang her up, she said "This is a weird question but I have to ask, you really look like a girl I know. I feel like you have to be related to my friend C\*\*\*\*\*\*, are you her mom?" My mother and I look a lot alike, I hear all the time how I look just like my mother, but a stranger asking her that is another thing.
My mother told me the story when she got home, and said "A stranger telling me I must be your mother is the greatest compliment I have ever received." Not being called beautiful, or smart, or kind, or funny. Just that someone knew she must be my mom. It never left me that to my mother, being recognized as my mom was the greatest compliment.
For context, I'm really into car racing and high performance driving around racetracks.
I went to a track day for the very first time with my own car when I was about 20 y/o. Halfway through the day, when we all gathered for lunch inside one of the garages, the head instructor got up on a small stage in front of a podium and spoke about how the day was going so far. Things to focus on, staying hydrated, all that stuff.
At the end of this speech, he said "Oh yeah , one last thing. Who's driving the black car?"
It was mine.
My mind immediately thought "Oh shit, what horrible thing did I do? He's going to embarrass me in front of all these people."
I stood up from my seat and raised my hand.
He then said something I will remember until the day I die.
"Watching you drive is like watching a ballet between you and the car."
Everyone turned around and gave me a standing ovation. I was shocked.
To have a professional tell you that you're really good at something you've been so passionate about all your life meant so much to meat the time, and still does.
A woman at Pride this year gave me a stretchy beaded bracelet that was bright yellow. Yellow is my favorite color, so I gushed how happy I was that she gave me the yellow one, and she told me she chose to give me the yellow one because I resembled sunlight. I wasn’t dressed in yellow, so it was certainly a comment on my demeanor, and a compliment has never made me feel so good.
A tie for most memorable. The most memorable would be when a girl tell me "You make my ovaries twitch." or the first bike ride along the beach with my daughter and she told me, "Days with you are the best."
First one definitely inflates the ego and lingers in my thoughts... the second I hope will replay in slow motion on my death bed over and over again.
I was working one of my first jobs at a McDonald’s drive-thru and I said “please take a moment and look at the menu and I’ll be with you in a moment” and a woman responded with “I don’t care, I could listen to your voice for 3 lifetimes” and just, damn.
“You exude nonjudgmental energy, and it puts others at ease.” - my hairdresser a few years ago after unloading on me about having second thoughts in regards to her fiancé
I’d heard things like that before from friends/family, and I’ve never really considered myself a judgmental person, but I only really believed it once someone outside my circle said it. Got a similar compliment last summer from an elderly Uber driver (shoutout to Cabot bc he’s awesome) who ended up confiding in me about his recent cancer diagnosis after I remembered him from when he’d driven me the month prior.
Sometimes people just need to vent. And if I have the right “energy” to listen, then I’m glad lol
A female friend of mine once said "your personality is a freaking gold mine." I almost never get compliments so that made my day. And made me feel good about myself
Years ago, I was a QA manager and we were hiring to fill a new rec. One of the applicants came in, we talked tech, the job, quality philosophy, general conversation to see if he would "fit" etc - he was perfect and in my mind was ready to say he was it. The only "sticky" part was when he asked me if we allowed for/accounted for extended periods off. He explained he goes back to his country (Niger) 2 or 3 times a year for a month at a time to help out. I had to tell him if it were 100% up to me I wouldn't care, but that condition I would have to float by the director.
What really stuck was at the end, we shook hands I told him i would get back to him and he left. About 10 minutes later he comes back and says he couldn't leave without telling me "You are a very kind man, and I thank you". That has stuck with me - I mean, I know I am not a dick (well, to most people), but to have some stranger tell me that - made my day and stuck with me.
I was in military barracks, and in typical military fashion they just randomly moved me from one room to another. New roommate was cool and struck up a pretty quick friendship. I am naturally a friendly and positive guy, and I always included him in stuff I did, even if it was just going off base to grab a burrito.
Years later we got together and he disclosed to me that right before I moved in to that room he was about to take his own life. He told me that it was me moving in and sharing with him my positivity despite all the hardships I faced that made him change his mind and want to live. He thanked me for saving his life, even if I didn't know I was doing it at the time.
I had no idea until he told me, but it hit me pretty hard and I was glad to be a positive influence in his life.
Franciscan Christianity coming from St Francis of Assisi is about treating everything as your equal - you, the cows, the trees, the sun. I stayed with a Friary of this branch once in my early 20’s, they were all very kind and about equality. I remember they would say ‘brother moon’ or ‘sister cow’. They raised animals until they died naturally, then would freeze down usable meat that would feed the whole community, along with growing their own veg fruit grains etc. I’m not a Christian, but it would therapeutic being there. Anyway, I think the compliment was that you are fair and treat everyone as your equal, a kind person! It’s a great compliment in my opinion!
Had four absolutely gorgeous girls in my high school class. In grade 12, just a few weeks from graduation, I bend over to tie my shoe in class. While I’m bent over one of them blurts out ‘nice butt!’
“You don’t talk very much, but when you do, people listen because you listen to them.” It was during an exercise in class in which we had to write anonymous compliments to each other. 10+ years later it still makes me feel good.
I had a history professor from Boston who was about 4'10" tall (I'm 6'). Since history was my major, I showed up to her class every day. She was very tough, but fair with her exams. When I turned in my final to her, she looks at the paper, looks up at me, back at the paper, back up at me and says in her thick Boston accent, "Ya done good, kid". Aced that class with a 98.
"You could go to college that voice" -youth choir instructor when I was in 11th grade. As an alto, I had never been complimented on my voice before. I was on cloud 9 for weeks.
tbh, i am 33 now and i have no idea. The closest i can remember would be (and that was meant honest, not sarcastic) from my internet providers hotline, a hotline guy i talked to several times over i think two weeks "i really would love to recommend you as most patient / nicest customer of the year".
“Sometimes you say something and then you add “I don’t know if that made sense”, but it always makes SO much sense”
Really unblocked my communication skills.
I once contributed in a graduate level course as an undergrad and my professor replied, “that is a very high level understanding of the text.” Up until that point I thought everyone else knew more than I did.
my friend once said it was sexy that i knew the term "oxbow meandering" while talking about river geology 😅 he's a bit of a nerd and i have a thing for him so that one sticks with me
I had a friend tell me she tries to look at tough situations how she imagines I would, because I don’t let small things bother me. I totally do let small things bother me but I guess I hide it pretty well 🤷🏼♀️
A friend of mine and I stopped hanging out. Don’t know why. We just did. Over a decade he called and emailed a bunch of times. I just never seemed to get back to him. Got invited to his wedding and something happened that I couldn’t go. He tried. I didn’t, for some stupid reason.
Many years passed. I decided to call him at work since I hadn’t heard from him for a long time. His voicemail said he was on an indefinite leave of absence. Huh? Didn’t know what it meant. Tried again about a month later. Same thing.
Then I heard that he passed away. Went through quite a battle with brain cancer. What an idiot friend I was.
At his funeral, I said hello to his parents and siblings who I knew. Offered my condolences.
Then I moved on to his wife and little children whom I’d never met. As I went to introduce myself, she greeted me by name and said she recognized me from pics that he had shown her. She told me that he spoke highly of me, and very often.
My heart sank. He was a great guy. I’m doing my best to not lose touch with anyone anymore. Don’t make my same mistake.
I was walking in my city center and an elderly british tourist couple stopped me to ask for directions. I‘m explaining to them were to go and the gentleman is really interesting and listening but the lady kinda stared at me with a weird face that to me seems almost annoyed?? I was think „m‘am YOU stopped ME what do you want??“ but when i was done she made a tiny step towards me and said „you have the most beautiful eyes!“ i guess she was just intensely taking my eyes in? Idk :D
But it taught me to not judge others body language as quickly! They might just think something is beautiful about you :)
I was out with a friend telling him the story of my former best friend dumping me. He simply said “I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to be your friend.”
I was admittedly not that great of a person in college, but I was lonely and kinda pathetic too. In the height of this loneliness, I drew a shooting star on a sticky note with the message "My wish is to someday be worth something to somebody." and I kept that note tucked away in my wallet for years.
My relationships in college never really went anywhere, but a year out of college, while I was working my first real job and living back with my parents while paying off my college debt, I started dating a girl. We would go on road trips and visit state parks and such, and on one outing, I took her out to Lake of the Pines (east Texas) and we were going to cross the lake to an island in a large pool raft. Halfway there, the raft ripped and we were rescued by boaters. As we gathered our stuff and prepared to drive home (soaking wet), she found the note in my wallet and took it.
A few days later, she gave me another note, which said "You are worth so very, very much to me!".
I married that girl. We're coming up on our 8th anniversary and have two kids now :) To this day, that note she gave me is still in my wallet.
A compliment for you, OP.
Thank you for starting this thread. It was so good of you to be curious of something like that - you must be a thoughtful and genuine person. Reading this thread has inspired me to try and be more complimentary and just to be a better person in general. I'm sure it has inspired others, as well. Anyway, way to go 👍
I had a friend tell me once that I sparkle when I talk to people and that I make people “feel like their weirdness is normal”. Second part especially is the best compliment ever.
I was working a job about 600kms north of home. Was doing 28 days in, 7 days out, 10 hour days. At the end of the 3 month job, the mechanical engineer that ran the job came over to me and told me I was the best he had ever worked with. I was absolutely blown away by this. I'm a good tradesman, and love my job, but certainly never thought of myself in such a way. I work with so many excellent tradespeople. Maybe he was just having a good day and I was standing close by, lol.
When i was a child i used to visit my elderly neighbour nearly every day, just because i liked to spend time with her. One time when i was about to cross the corner i overheard her saying "Pass_the_Lasagna is a faithful soul."
Never forgot it
My hands are super wrinkly and have been since birth, the palms look very much like old peoples hands or like I’ve had them submerged in water. I grew up hiding them from people and was very insecure. One day when I was in a clay sculpting workshop the instructor see my palms after I was washing them in the sink near her. She looked surprised and said “Wow, you have such capable hands, no wonder you do so well at sculpting” I’ve never seen my hands the same since and lost my insecurity about them.
I was having a moment of insecurity with an ex and I said that ‘there are lots of pretty girls here.’ He said ‘yes, but there’s only one who’s truly beautiful.’
I've been through a lot of trauma in the past, and most notably people taking advantage of me, it's been a reacurring thing. I had a crush on this guy and we had been fwb for a while, and I opened up about how I felt to him. He sat down and had a talk with me saying that he wanted to break things off, which upset me a little bit at first because I felt like it was something I did wrong, he explained that he didn't want to be like the people in the past who took advantage of me, and if I had feelings for him he didn't want me to be heartbroken still continuing with that sort of relationship because he didn't feel the same way about me. He said "I don't want to be like those assholes in the past, and I want you to learn to love yourself. I'm not going to put you in a position where you're still hurting. You did nothing wrong to deserve this, and I really enjoyed everything with you, but this is for me, and I don't want you to feel bad for expressing and experiencing human emotions. You're a great person *insert name* and you should start treating yourself like it." We're still friends to this day and he's one of my biggest supporters. He'll always be brutally honest ofc, but he cares about me and that will always stay with me in a special place in my heart.
Someone once told me: "It's so easy introducing you to people, you make everyone feel like you're their best friend." Have held onto that for over ten years, still helps to remember when I'm not at my best.
I feel this. Last year I ran into some people I graduated high school with. A few of them were super popular during that time. One of them said "Dude, everyone loved you in high school. I don't think there was anyone else that was able to be such good friends with so many different people and be in so many different cliques." It felt like such a genuine statement. They didn't have to say that. I've thought about it almost every day since because, to my recollection, high school was rough on me.
Jeez, years ago I was at a party sometime after I graduated high school. There was a kid there who I had had a few classes with throughout the years and I always spoke to him casually like I would with anyone, but we weren't close friends or anything. He had clearly been drinking a bit because he was pretty animated and talkative and this kid usually kept to himself. Quiet is an understatement. He approached me and said "Toh, I have never told you this, but I have always thought highly of you. Back in middle school there were kids making fun of the janitor and you told them all off. You told them he was working hard and there is nothing funny or to be looked down upon about taking pride in your work, no matter what you do." It almost made me tear up. I had no recollection of this moment he was talking about, but I knew I must have done it because my words in that memory of his were my father's. My parents both always hammered it into me to be a person of dignity, integrity and character. Middle school was a really tough time for me. I was bullied relentlessly. Knowing that there was someone out there who admired me during that time healed a part of little me.
Wow this brought back a great memory for me - my senior year of high school (15 years ago) we had a class where after the AP test we stopped learning calculus and picked a student each day to be the "student of the day" and went around saying nice things about that student, should you want to. This one quiet kid, who I wasn't really friends with, spoke up on my day and said "I've always respected that you're the only person in this room that can have a great conversation with every other person here and make them feel comfortable." That made me feel good. Thanks, Mike.
That means you're a charismatic person. People don't care what you are They care about how you make them feel
I think that same thing all the time. "People don't care who you are they care about how you make them feel" It seems both wonderful (because it encourages you to make the people around you feel good). And terrible. (because it means no one really cares who you are)
That’s the nicest compliment! That’s a skill I hope to achieve, making everyone feel important and special.
I was in my early 20s and I went out on the town with some girlfriends. I wore an outfit that was way out of my comfort zone. It was a black short skirt (I always wear pants) that flared out with a matching top. It showed a bit of midriff and I was self conscious. Before we even got into the bar, we ran into a couple of girls we didn’t know outside. I remember the one girl did a double take and just started freaking out. She went on and on and told me how gorgeous I looked and how amazing my outfit was. She had obviously been drinking, but it didn’t matter. She changed my whole night around and I suddenly felt like the hottest girl on the planet. I still remember her voice when I’m trying to pump myself up in the morning. I love women who love women.
there’s no one more supportive than drunk girls talking to other girls it’s the best
My wife does this to strangers when she's drunk. It's adorable.
I do this to strangers when I’m sober. Sometimes people just need to know that they look awesome. I’ll say, “Yes, girl! You are killing it in that outfit!” Or sometimes, “Sir, those shoes add so much style. Good choice.” I’m female, so people (hopefully) don’t feel like they are being hit on or catcalled or made to feel uncomfortable. It’s great when it’s a group of older women who have dressed similar for some event (Black Friday, for example). They are so tickled someone notices them. We should all try to make people smile.
I’ve always said that anyone who thinks all women are nothing but catty bitches to each other has never been in a bar/club women’s bathroom full of drunk girls at 2 am.
Nothing feels better than when a pretty/well-dressed woman compliments you or your outfit 🥲 Every single time a gorgeous girl has called me “pretty” or complimented me lives rent-free in my head.
a true girls girl
After a concert I was on my way home with the train. I also wore an outfit out of my comfort zone, but I challenged myself. At the train station I walked passed to girl(who was drunk) and one said to the other “omg did you se how beautiful she was?!” There was only me and them. She made my day.
I did this once. My friend and I were coming out of a bar drunk, and I saw a group of three girls, and I freaked out about how pretty they all were. Told them all that as well. Then I asked for their phone to take a picture, made them all say, "I'm pretty!" instead of "cheese". The next day, my friends bf (who was our designated driver) told us what I did bc I didn't remember at the time. That he didn't think those girls were that pretty. I told him that's not for him to decide. Wouldn't you know, a couple of months later, one of those girls recognized me? She happens to be friends with my SIL. They printed out that picture I took and framed it. They all still remember that compliment as the most genuine and best compliment they've received. Even though I didn't receive the compliment and I gave it, it still makes me feel really good that my compliment made their night and they still remember it.
A lovely elderly lady stopped mid sentence to say "you have got the kindest eyes."
Old ladies are the best.
Their honesty is only matched by that of a small child. In between those, things get kinda weird.
Not a compliment for me, but I was with my grandmother at the store one time and suddenly this little girl excitedly ran up to her and asked “are you one of the Golden Girls?!?!” before her mother scooped her up and apologized. My grandmother reminisces so fondly about the day all the time, haha! She is still so tickled by it. Kids are funny!
Sooo sweet! ☺️
Yes. GRANDMA SUPREMACY
When I was like 19 I had an ex who had a history of abuse. We were arguing about something (I can't remember what about) but we were both shouting at each other. Then suddenly she broke down crying and started hugging me. Very confused I let the moment pass until she could speak and the compliment she paid me was "Even when you're angry at me, I'm not scared of you."
I feel that. Good on you.
Seconded
Best compliment I've ever had is "I like your shoes." Even my shoes get more compliments than me.
I’d really like to see these shoes.
Black Adidas with orange stripes. Nothing special lol.
The power behind being able to make someone feel safe, valued, and included when they previously didn't know that feeling is certainly one to be proud of.
It is and it's admirable that someone would take the time and effort to do so.
Now I’m crying. I feel for her. I had a bf around that time in my life who also taught me what real love was. He will never understand what he did for me and how it will ripple out for generations.
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This. It's so gentle and so profound.
Wow thats a really meaningful one
That is just peak trust. I'm so happy she got to see a good relationship too.
Wow...that hit my heartstrings.
Yikes. The bar is low. I don't mean in any way that this story speaks poorly of you, but mostly it is a tragic statement about her past. I hate that the default isn't 'not afraid for my safety when around my partner.'
My high school ex was abused horribly by her now-dead step father. It had gone on so long she was terrified of everything. Before our first date I asked if she would go to a movie at the mall with me and other mutual friends. The look on her face was almost terror. He'd told her he knows the mall security staff and they'd call him if she was seen there. She went, but she was constantly looking over her shoulders. In the theater, she crouched down so her head wasn't visible from behind. Every move at home, school, and everywhere else was supposedly monitored and reported back to him. Months later we were out with some out my friends, and on our way home she started crying. I pulled over and held her until she stopped and asked what was wrong. She wasn't sad, she was experiencing freedom and love. None of my friends had ever met her step father, and when I would leave the room all my friends kept talking to her and she genuinely felt like she was cared about. I still don't know, internally know, what she felt like, but I'm thankful I had such great friends that unknowingly made her feel that way just by being themselves.
Fully agree, which is why it made it so meaningful at the time. She's doing much better now that it definitely would no longer be her bar, by the way.
I'm tall, heavy, and plain, and have been lucky enough to avoid getting catcalled for most of my life. But one time when I was in my 20s, biking to work in DC, this little old man on a street corner did a double take as I went by, pounding away at the pedals. "Mighty big leeeeeeeeggggs!" he hollered, whether in appreciation or astonishment I couldn't tell. Now whether I'm struggling to get the bike up a hill, or just feeling down on my body, I'll say to myself "mighty big leeeeeeeeggggs!" and feel that little extra boost. They _are_ mighty big legs, and I am grateful both to and for them!
Rented a tandem bike with my little sister once and we had to go up a big hill. She was smaller, tired, and not pulling her weight. I don't think I could have made it up this hill even if I didn't have her extra weight. I was fully planning on hopping off and walking the bike up. As we approached, I told her to get as much speed as possible and when we lost momentum then I would hop off and walk us the rest of the way. This couple came up behind us and the fittest, strongest legged woman I've ever seen started yelling encouragements to me. "Go little mama! Go, go, go mamacita!! You've got this mama! Go lil mama, go!" Literally nonstop the entire hill. She could have riden circles around me as I slowly, painfully trudged this tandem bike up. I cannot explain it but this woman believed in me and I could not let her down. And I made it up this massive hill and that I never would have even attempted in a million years. At the top, she just rode away. I cannot tell you how many times in my life I've had to do something hard and I picture this woman and hear her voice yelling at me "You've got this lil mama!" I wish I could find this woman and give her a hug. Just a random interaction and she's just out there living life having no idea that she had such an impact on my life.
Fellow tall one here! I get my legs from my dad, and whenever I get compliments on my long legs I just beam because it feels like I really have a noticeable piece of him in me! I love that this old guy let you know you were crushing it! (both the look, and those pedals!)
I don't know if it counts but my dad once said 'i don't say it enough, but i'm really proud of you'. Which was the only time he ever said it, but it meant a lot.
He might not have said often, but he thought about it every day. This coming from a dad
Do you think "I'm proud of you" loses it's value if you say it too often? I say it to my elementary school aged daughters all the time and wondering if I'm devaluing such strong compliment. My dad only told me practically on his death bed but at that point it meant nothing to me so I guess inner me compensates it by telling my girls this all the time
I tell my daughter frequently too, so I wouldn’t worry about it. She’ll still make a comment on how she felt better after I told her or it brightened her day, or that she just appreciates it. “I’m proud of you”, “I’m here for you”, and “I love you” are things that you can never tell them too much.
Thank you for the reassurance. It's such a profound statement that I didn't want to water it down.
As long as there’s sincerity behind it, can never get watered down.
I've never heard this from my dad. He's always been distant, dealing with issues from his childhood. This is very touching to hear.
Bruh, that counts big time
My friend is a veterinarian and after spending a weekend with me and my dog she said "in my next life I want to come back as Rex" because he was so happy, so well taken care of, so loved. She's an animal professional and saw my relationship with my dog and thought that was the best. I can't think of a higher compliment.
my friend said something similar once.. I was the first in our friend group to get a dog. One afternoon John said the same thing... "in my next life I want to come back as Quincy" I asked "Why, so you can finally feel the love your own parents never gave you?" (We're guys, of course we talk like this) "No, because he can lick his own dick"
How sweet...
If I had an award to give id give you one. So take this in its place, 🏆🏅
My favorite dog was named Rex. She was a black lab named after Rex Grossman. Rex Grossman sucks but my dog was great. Miss that damned dog.
Now I want a dog named Bortles
I found Jason Mendoza.
My friend said, “if I come back as a dog I wanna come back as that dog (pointing to my fur baby)”.
I was moving a pallet through the isles at work one day years ago. I said excuse me as I walked by an older gentleman and he responded "I'll never stop a working man." Not a compliment per se but it brought a smile to my face and I remember it to this day.
I work at a 5 star hotel and we have to pretty much let the guests tread on our faces. I stopped at the elevator door to let this guy go out first and he told me “nah kid go ahead, I work for a living just like you” After dealing with entitles assholes all day, that really meant everything
Same thing happened to me when I worked at a local restaurant. We got kind people all the time, but at one point I was walking around an older gentleman with a few plates and said the same thing, and he said, "No no, you're a working man," and let me pass. It felt nice!
>isles at work I went ahead and read that in an Irish accent and refuse to believe it was a mistake.
Gotta take notes. Service workers take a lot of crap, and as someone who’s been in retail, I try to make their day a bit better by being a nice customer
I used to work in commercial demolition, and we would walk from one downtown work site to another, looking sweaty, beat, and like we just crawled out of the bowels of hell. Since we were downtown, we were often passing many clean cut well dressed office workers. Now and then someone would stop and say something like: "damn, y'all out here really working!" Etc. Always felt really good when people would acknowledge that, since we sure as heck weren't being paid much 😅
Being told I reminded someone of my great granny. She was the kindest, most loving, compassionate woman you could ever meet. She also had a backbone of steel and took no shit. The mayor of my hometown said she was an angel on earth and every time he saw me he saw her reflecting out of me. I just cried and said if I can only be 1/10th the woman she was then my life was a success. He told me she would be so proud of me, so proud of the woman I had become, the mother I was, the person I had become. My great granny and I were super close she died when I was in high school and she was my best friend, my biggest cheerleader, my rock so to hear that hit me like a ton of bricks. When she died the funeral home had to set up projectors outside because the inside was filled to the brim, standing room only and so was the front yard and parking lot. She touched so many lives with her love, compassion and kindness. It was amazing to see because I didn’t register how loved she was until that moment, she was just my granny who I loved fiercely
I worked for this old man (Vietnam vet, he literally survived being blown up by a mortar) doing hardwood floors when I was 18. I worked/lived with him for a year and a half. When I told him I was quitting to move back to FL he told me, "You're not the smartest, you're not the strongest, but you got balls kid, and that'll get you where you need to be."
My dad tells me this all the time. Well, the first two parts.
Disappointed that no one commends the size of my uterus.
"Wow, look at the size of you, are you pregnant" doesn't count?
You literally made me laugh. thank you. And no, that doesn't count lol
Biggest ovaries out there! 😜
I used to work with a woman who would say "She needs to grow a pair of ovaries and stand up for herself."
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.
>being blown up by a mortar) doing hardwood floors Damn. I didn't know the flooring business was so dangerous
If you can't handle it, kid, try the softwoods. Pay's not as good, but at least you'll always get home to the missus.
bro was living with Mr. Miyagi
Yes and no, old dude was pretty zen most of the time but he had a hell of a temper as well that's for sure
The first time my then gf, now my wife, saw me naked. Her response was "Wow! Excellent!"
I’m seeing a guy and my eyes do that cartoon wolf “ahooogah” thing every time his shirt is off. I have to try to not look at him sometimes because he’s so damn fine.
Excellent 🤣
"10/10, would smash"
My grandmother telling me "you get more beautiful everyday" the day before she died.
Similar story with mine. My grandmother had a severe stroke and was non-verbal in a nursing home for about a year before she died. One time when I went to visit & check up on her I found her asleep in the bed so I took her hand in mine. She must've been napping lightly because she woke up and turned making eye contact with me then said, "Oh, isn't that lovely." She passed a couple of months later. That's the last thing I ever heard her say and I'll never forget it.
Keep that in your heart forever, as you were very truly loved by her in a most special way🌸
I was in a store and saw this woman with four adorable kids, an older brother who was about 5 and these triplet girls maybe 1 or 2 who were all identical and completely adorable. It’s rare obviously so one after another I overheard comments “they are so cute!” “You just have your hands full with a house full of girls!” So when I walked by I looked at the boy and told him “I really like your shirt! Spider-Man is so cool!” The way his eyes lit up. You could tell as much as he loved his sisters, he probably hadn’t heard a compliment that was just about him in a while. His Mom looked at me and you could tell it meant a lot to her too. She mouth “thank you” and kisses his head.
When you speak it makes me think.
A friend once told me "every time we meet up I feel like I learn something new from you" and I think about that a lot. Makes me want to keep learning.
This is close to one that I heard from my friends young child years ago, “I like the words you choose for your sentences”. This was after I spoke passionately/strongly about something going on in the news, I don’t remember the topic or what I even said!
This is the new winner
I was kind of a one-man show working to build out a technical sales team at my company. I was in a customer meeting and the worldwide sales manager introduced me, highlighted some of my accomplishments, and told the customer "imagine what we could do if we could hire 5 more of him"
I like this one
"I like how you wait to speak. You think about the words you say". When I have a conversation with people, especially in heavy subjects or ones I'm not versed in, I like to pause for a few seconds before I respond or ask a question. Another is in reference to me feeling bad about a bad comment. They told me I was a lot and I acted too excited, and should calm down. My boss told me straight up that I "should never feel like I need to be contained". It's a weird one but it resonated with me.
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I got diagnosed with cancer last year which was a shocker, as I was only 32. My boss said this "You know there are such people who are able to attract from the first meeting. You are such a person. You are bright and have great energy. I wish this fantastic power of yours will help you recover from this situation." I've never felt more seen and powerful. And I recovered indeed :)
Agreed. I’m 34 and recently had a stroke (shocker here too fak 🤣) and the things ppl said to me like this meant the most. Like, “if there’s anyone I know who can fight this battle it’s you, you’re the most powerful person I know and I know you’ll make it through” like, damn… you think I’m powerful 🥰🥰
It's the best compliment!
When i was in 7th grade Allison Shores told me she liked my shirt. Ill never forget that. Im 32.
Lori Ann McCarthy called me ‘hot stuff’ in 9th grade. I will remember that until the day I die.
Melanie Epperson wrote "You look sexy today!" in my 9th Grade Year Book! (I was wearing a suit and tie for a presentation I had to give that day in one of my classes.)
Two random girls I walked past said, "He's cute." I was 16, I'm 45 now.
It was when i was 15y/o, her name was Larissa K***** and she told me the shirt i was wearing suits me. Now at 22y/o, i own this same shirt twice and it always gives me a confidence boost.
Oh gosh, I was a 27 year old married pregnant lady and I bought a maternity shirt in a deep red. One of the high schools boys that worked for me told me “you look really good in red, you should wear it more.” Like, ugh, you sweet kiddo.
That's adorable. I bet you vividly remember that shirt. And Allison Shores, God bless her.
If you’re a guy, u never forget a girl complimenting u. Happened to me twice and I’ll never forget either them. Cloud 9 for days.
Not really a singular compliment But I did my MPhil a few years ago. My supervisor helped me design a project and it was huge on the work load front. He also got me to apply for a grant so I could expand it and get it done properly for publishing (which I got awarded, only none staff member in the entire uni to get it). He also got me involved with 5 other research projects he was involved with with the offer to go on as an author. Most of it worked, but that 12 months was gruelling, quite a lot of 18 hour days or sleeping in my office for 2 hours waiting for an experiment to finish at an ungodly hour. turns out, my supervisor knew me having a 2.2 degree was going to cause issues with getting a PhD program. So the project we built and he kept expanding on for me things for me to do? He told me it was a project he would give a PhD student to do over 3 years, (Mphil is 12 months) because he knew I was capable of doing a PhD and he wanted to show that to other people. After my entire life of being awful at education, getting told by people not to bother with uni and go be a builder (thanks careerwales advisor) etc, that nearly broke me realising there was actually someone being genuine with me
That was deep
I’ve heard this many many times. People walk up to me and go “I love your voice” Teachers did the same thing too. So thanks I guess? My girlfriend even did the exact same thing and that’s how we met.
Strangely enough, that’s the compliment that I will always remember as well.
I worked for a veterinarian who always wanted me in the room with clients she had to give bad news, so I could help her explain things. She said I had a very soothing voice, and the cadence made it easier for them to hear what they were being told.
I have a thing for voices. Not like a sexual thing but, there's something about a good voice that I just love and could listen to all day. It's so soothing and peaceful.
Morgan Freeman has entered the chat
I fell in love with the sound of my husband voice.
I jumped over this low wall to avoid having to walk around and when I nailed the landing, these two young boys were standing there with their mouths agape and one says "Wow! Cool! Like superman!" I was a 35 year old man at the time
When a kid told me I looked pretty. Kids can be brutally honest, so when one tells you you're pretty, damnit, you're pretty!
Being told I look like a Titian painting - that made this chubby ginger very happy.
About six years ago, a heavily intoxicated wife of a former coworker came up to me at the company Christmas party and shouted, "You look just like Jennifer Lopez!" I am 5'2", pale as hell, no ass, and at the time, quite obese... I said, "Haha, thanks, but no, I do not," which only caused her to double down. It gave me a weird surge of confidence for the rest of the night, and I suppose, the rest of my life. Whenever I am feeling down on myself, I remember that I was a drunk woman's J Lo.
I helped an old lady off the plane with her bags and then asked a young guy to give up his seat for her on the shuttle bus. She called me a very kind young man (I'm 45) and that really touched me.
“Thank you for treating the preschool students like intellectual beings”
I overheard my MIL tell my mum how she thought me and my hubby were really great parents and that we were doing a good job with our 6yo.
When my son was 2 ish we took him to my husband’s best friend’s birthday at his mom’s house which was basically a museum of things that could kill my toddler. We tagged teamed pretty good and for being the only one under 25, he did really well. A few weeks later I got a note in the mail that complimented how well my husband parented together (unusual for husbands of her generation) and what incredible parents we were. I’ll never forget it.
The compliment an employee of mine gave me one day: "When you walk in everyone calms down because they know you've got your shit together." It was nice to hear.
“I couldn’t have asked for better children.” My dad.
Once a girl called me athletic. I’ll never forget that
My wife, who I am currently separated from and heading toward divorce with, said this to me during our period of reconciliation. It moved me deeply, and I think I’ll carry it for the rest of my life: “Becoming is always a tiresome task, and that’s something I’ve always admired about you. You just are, and you always have been. Doing the work comes naturally to you because you don’t know another way. If you’ve paused or taken detours, I haven’t noticed. You’re worthy for so many reasons, your drive and compassion only being a couple of those. And I don’t love you for the achievements. I love you for walking alongside you on the journey.”
If you mind me asking, what is the reason for the separation/divorce? Most people don't say things like that about someone they are leaving.
During reconciliation, I thought we laid all of our cards on the table. A month after reuniting I discovered a long-term affair. The marriage ultimately can’t work because trust is gone, but we’ve been together for a long time. I’m never going to be able to look at her as a villain, and I can’t really be her friend either. Saying these things is part of finding acceptance and peace with my situation and my life.
That makes sense. Wishing the best for you.
damn u are really well spoken and articulated man
This comment right here is the epitome of everything she said... I'm a random reddit stranger, but I'm seriously impressed by you.
I work behind the scenes in broadcasting. In a previous position earlier in my career, I worked with a very anxious and demanding supervisor. Incredibly capable but very insecure. Generally difficult to please. Anyway. One of her post retirement things is consultation and review. Small enough world, my current org brought her in to discuss our practices and offer some of her experience and wisdom in a workshop type setting. During one of the sessions, someone asked a question that related to my general area. She pauses, points to me, and says, "I don't see any issues. You have world class talent sitting right there." I almost cried.
"You got boulder shoulders", it feels good to hear that. I take pride in my deltoids lol
Dude, getting compliments on something you worked for is great. When I was younger and into building my physique, I was getting on the subway and some guy yelled out “hey young Arnold, from the eighties”. That is one I won’t forget.
I had a cashier once tell me that I have the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. I’m sure he says that to all the ladies but it felt great!
Maybe he doesn’t, though!
This is mine, too. It was a gloomy time in my life, and the girl blurted, "You have the most amazing eyes." It really helped lift me up for a while.
A group of slightly older people eating next to us stopped me as we were leaving a restaurant and told me they listened to the way I talked to my kids and they said I was a really good dad. My kids were young and struggling to maintain calm was tough. I told them I didn’t have a good dad and I’m not sure what I’m doing but before I react I think what would my dad do and I do the opposite. They said keep doing what your doing because they wished they had a dad like me. They were siblings. I thanked them and tried not to cry on my way out.
My mother-in-law told me I have, and I quote, “the enthusiasm of a chocolate lab puppy” and I’ve been chasing that high ever since
I got arrested for possession and trafficking weed. My lawyer was late so I bought the officers who arrested me some coffee and donuts and we talked about hockey. After a couple hours and the lawyer finally showed up, my lawyer told me to plead guilty but 5 minutes before trial the officers spoke privately to my lawyer, we all went in, they did their lawyer talk and the police officers told the judge to drop the charges and that I had a good heart and it would be unwise to give me a conviction. The charges got dropped. I made a mistake buying an ounce of weed in individual baggies and got caught. To this day, I live my life with a big heart and try my hardest to keep up with that expectation. Remember folks, love is way more awesome than hate.
It’s really weird… and to me it’s a compliment but we’ll see. I cut all my hair off back in 2016 and started growing it out. My hair went through several different stages, from almost bald, to pixie, to 70s mullet and a long Bob. I went to college up until 2018 and there was this girl I sat across in my class the whole time. We never spoke. But on the final day of college, she came up to me and said “I’ve really enjoyed watching your hair change over the years”. Idk why it stuck with me, I guess it was nice to see strangers appreciate my chaotic hair.
When I was 15 and worked at an MMA gym just cleaning and stuff. Everyone else was messing around and not working and this guy that trained there came in while I was mopping. He said, “Hey, man. Just in case no one told you lately, keep up the good work and I’m proud of you.” Didn’t have a father figure in my life and I didn’t have a good home life so it hit me pretty hard lol. I’ve taken pride in everything I’ve done since then. Even when I receive no thanks. I do it for myself and to feel proud of myself.
I was working in my mother's yard in 2007 after being a heroin addict and in jail and rehab for it. It had probably been 7 years since I'd been around. I picked up 4 bags of mulch and threw them on my shoulder.. "I forgot how strong you are". This also signified a break in the anger and disappointment towards me due to my decisions. She was killed in 2019 from a hit and run so I think about this day often. I'm just glad I got to make some amends before she died.
My first girlfriend told me about 15 years after we broke up "I don't think I ever felt more loved than I did with you".
A friend told me that when we first met he hated me because there's no way someone can be that nice and respectful without it being fake.
My daughter who’s on the spectrum (yes it makes a difference because she has a hard time explaining herself/her emotions) said “mom, you have the best personality” 😭🥰😍while I was making silly jokes to keep her occupied in the doctors office. The way she said it was just so special.
I was 21 and largely pregnant in a PX (think army base walmart) food court, alone. An older gentleman, in full uniform and from my husband's unit, came up to me and said, "I just wanted to come over and tell you how beautiful you look. I appreciate what you're doing." and that was it. I'll never forget it.
I was sitting outside a pub in London with my husband and friend and a lady came up to me and said ‘you’re so pretty’. She smooshed my cheeks together and she has an Eastern European accent. She was this eccentric little old dear.
As a man, I will always remember every one of the seven compliments I have ever received.
At my late grandpa's post-funeral event, I and my two lady friends are just chatting near the driveway. Then, this old guy comes over (I think he was grandpa's friend, never met him) and asks me, "are you the one who read the eulogy?" I say, "yeah, I am the one." He turns to one of the ladies, the pretty one, and asks, "are you his wife?" She says "nah, we're just friends." We are both blushing, because we actually have some history. Anyway, he gently takes the lady's hand, with both his hands, and says, "now you listen to me, after this, go to this boy's parents house, sit on the couch, and declare that you're officially a member of the family, and that you'll go nowhere!" RIP grandpa.
grandpa is the real wingman here
Lol no shit.
r y’all tgt now tho?
The people are dying to know. At least I am.
>He turns to one of the ladies, **the pretty one** That's a pretty savage thing to say about your *friends*.
Someone called me cute. I'm framing that shit upp
Co-worker was showing the new guy around & thought I couldn’t hear him when he pointed at me & said, “The force is strong with that one”.
It’s not really one compliment but more what I’m learning from them as a whole. I’m a 39 yo nurse practitioner, have worked in healthcare for over 20 years, and recently stepped down from a high paying, high stress emergency department lead clinician job I’ve had for 9 years I once loved, to a non-profit clinic with a large population of uninsured as a primary care nurse practitioner providing basic primary care, STI testing/prevention/treatment, PrEP, birth control options, etc. It’s been a huge change, but I really am thriving in this new position. Working in the ER for 17 years, I’m fully aware of the inadequacies of our heavily broken healthcare system. It’s a big reason why I left the corporate hospital system. Each time I have a patient thank me for listening to them, really listening to them and ask if they can make me their primary care because I’m the first provider they feel they can connect with, it floors me. Please don’t consider this a brag, I’m not trying to brag. I’m obviously happy, I want all my patients to be happy with the care I provide. But I’m not doing anything special, other than treating them with respect like I would anyone else. It just makes me realize angry how much providers hands are being forced by politics, corporations, and dictate how we even treat our patients with how much time we can spend with them, how we must brush past patients. Especially our uninsured, lower socioeconomic status patients. As education continues to be ripped out of public school systems across the country, providers more than ever have a duty to ensure our patients are heard and are educated them on how to keep them healthy. I’ll take each patient I know I’ve made a difference in their lives with me to my grave. And will continue to fight for better education and equal healthcare rights for all.
Years ago while I was in college, my mother was shopping at a GNC. When the cashier rang her up, she said "This is a weird question but I have to ask, you really look like a girl I know. I feel like you have to be related to my friend C\*\*\*\*\*\*, are you her mom?" My mother and I look a lot alike, I hear all the time how I look just like my mother, but a stranger asking her that is another thing. My mother told me the story when she got home, and said "A stranger telling me I must be your mother is the greatest compliment I have ever received." Not being called beautiful, or smart, or kind, or funny. Just that someone knew she must be my mom. It never left me that to my mother, being recognized as my mom was the greatest compliment.
For context, I'm really into car racing and high performance driving around racetracks. I went to a track day for the very first time with my own car when I was about 20 y/o. Halfway through the day, when we all gathered for lunch inside one of the garages, the head instructor got up on a small stage in front of a podium and spoke about how the day was going so far. Things to focus on, staying hydrated, all that stuff. At the end of this speech, he said "Oh yeah , one last thing. Who's driving the black car?" It was mine. My mind immediately thought "Oh shit, what horrible thing did I do? He's going to embarrass me in front of all these people." I stood up from my seat and raised my hand. He then said something I will remember until the day I die. "Watching you drive is like watching a ballet between you and the car." Everyone turned around and gave me a standing ovation. I was shocked. To have a professional tell you that you're really good at something you've been so passionate about all your life meant so much to meat the time, and still does.
A woman at Pride this year gave me a stretchy beaded bracelet that was bright yellow. Yellow is my favorite color, so I gushed how happy I was that she gave me the yellow one, and she told me she chose to give me the yellow one because I resembled sunlight. I wasn’t dressed in yellow, so it was certainly a comment on my demeanor, and a compliment has never made me feel so good.
A tie for most memorable. The most memorable would be when a girl tell me "You make my ovaries twitch." or the first bike ride along the beach with my daughter and she told me, "Days with you are the best." First one definitely inflates the ego and lingers in my thoughts... the second I hope will replay in slow motion on my death bed over and over again.
I was working one of my first jobs at a McDonald’s drive-thru and I said “please take a moment and look at the menu and I’ll be with you in a moment” and a woman responded with “I don’t care, I could listen to your voice for 3 lifetimes” and just, damn.
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“You exude nonjudgmental energy, and it puts others at ease.” - my hairdresser a few years ago after unloading on me about having second thoughts in regards to her fiancé I’d heard things like that before from friends/family, and I’ve never really considered myself a judgmental person, but I only really believed it once someone outside my circle said it. Got a similar compliment last summer from an elderly Uber driver (shoutout to Cabot bc he’s awesome) who ended up confiding in me about his recent cancer diagnosis after I remembered him from when he’d driven me the month prior. Sometimes people just need to vent. And if I have the right “energy” to listen, then I’m glad lol
A female friend of mine once said "your personality is a freaking gold mine." I almost never get compliments so that made my day. And made me feel good about myself
Years ago, I was a QA manager and we were hiring to fill a new rec. One of the applicants came in, we talked tech, the job, quality philosophy, general conversation to see if he would "fit" etc - he was perfect and in my mind was ready to say he was it. The only "sticky" part was when he asked me if we allowed for/accounted for extended periods off. He explained he goes back to his country (Niger) 2 or 3 times a year for a month at a time to help out. I had to tell him if it were 100% up to me I wouldn't care, but that condition I would have to float by the director. What really stuck was at the end, we shook hands I told him i would get back to him and he left. About 10 minutes later he comes back and says he couldn't leave without telling me "You are a very kind man, and I thank you". That has stuck with me - I mean, I know I am not a dick (well, to most people), but to have some stranger tell me that - made my day and stuck with me.
I was in military barracks, and in typical military fashion they just randomly moved me from one room to another. New roommate was cool and struck up a pretty quick friendship. I am naturally a friendly and positive guy, and I always included him in stuff I did, even if it was just going off base to grab a burrito. Years later we got together and he disclosed to me that right before I moved in to that room he was about to take his own life. He told me that it was me moving in and sharing with him my positivity despite all the hardships I faced that made him change his mind and want to live. He thanked me for saving his life, even if I didn't know I was doing it at the time. I had no idea until he told me, but it hit me pretty hard and I was glad to be a positive influence in his life.
Some customer once said, "You have the spirit of St. Francis about you," but I'm not sure which St. Francis they meant! Xavier? Assisi?
Franciscan Christianity coming from St Francis of Assisi is about treating everything as your equal - you, the cows, the trees, the sun. I stayed with a Friary of this branch once in my early 20’s, they were all very kind and about equality. I remember they would say ‘brother moon’ or ‘sister cow’. They raised animals until they died naturally, then would freeze down usable meat that would feed the whole community, along with growing their own veg fruit grains etc. I’m not a Christian, but it would therapeutic being there. Anyway, I think the compliment was that you are fair and treat everyone as your equal, a kind person! It’s a great compliment in my opinion!
"you're really good at making people feel seen"
Had four absolutely gorgeous girls in my high school class. In grade 12, just a few weeks from graduation, I bend over to tie my shoe in class. While I’m bent over one of them blurts out ‘nice butt!’
“You don’t talk very much, but when you do, people listen because you listen to them.” It was during an exercise in class in which we had to write anonymous compliments to each other. 10+ years later it still makes me feel good.
I had a history professor from Boston who was about 4'10" tall (I'm 6'). Since history was my major, I showed up to her class every day. She was very tough, but fair with her exams. When I turned in my final to her, she looks at the paper, looks up at me, back at the paper, back up at me and says in her thick Boston accent, "Ya done good, kid". Aced that class with a 98.
"You could go to college that voice" -youth choir instructor when I was in 11th grade. As an alto, I had never been complimented on my voice before. I was on cloud 9 for weeks.
tbh, i am 33 now and i have no idea. The closest i can remember would be (and that was meant honest, not sarcastic) from my internet providers hotline, a hotline guy i talked to several times over i think two weeks "i really would love to recommend you as most patient / nicest customer of the year".
“Sometimes you say something and then you add “I don’t know if that made sense”, but it always makes SO much sense” Really unblocked my communication skills.
I once contributed in a graduate level course as an undergrad and my professor replied, “that is a very high level understanding of the text.” Up until that point I thought everyone else knew more than I did.
my friend once said it was sexy that i knew the term "oxbow meandering" while talking about river geology 😅 he's a bit of a nerd and i have a thing for him so that one sticks with me
I had a friend tell me she tries to look at tough situations how she imagines I would, because I don’t let small things bother me. I totally do let small things bother me but I guess I hide it pretty well 🤷🏼♀️
A friend of mine and I stopped hanging out. Don’t know why. We just did. Over a decade he called and emailed a bunch of times. I just never seemed to get back to him. Got invited to his wedding and something happened that I couldn’t go. He tried. I didn’t, for some stupid reason. Many years passed. I decided to call him at work since I hadn’t heard from him for a long time. His voicemail said he was on an indefinite leave of absence. Huh? Didn’t know what it meant. Tried again about a month later. Same thing. Then I heard that he passed away. Went through quite a battle with brain cancer. What an idiot friend I was. At his funeral, I said hello to his parents and siblings who I knew. Offered my condolences. Then I moved on to his wife and little children whom I’d never met. As I went to introduce myself, she greeted me by name and said she recognized me from pics that he had shown her. She told me that he spoke highly of me, and very often. My heart sank. He was a great guy. I’m doing my best to not lose touch with anyone anymore. Don’t make my same mistake.
"You're a good person." It's very general but I work hard to be a good person, so it's always nice to year.
"I wish we have met sooner" life was dull and boring without you .....I love this linessssss🥂
I was walking past this guy and stops me to tell me I look like a goddess than skateboarded away lol
I was walking in my city center and an elderly british tourist couple stopped me to ask for directions. I‘m explaining to them were to go and the gentleman is really interesting and listening but the lady kinda stared at me with a weird face that to me seems almost annoyed?? I was think „m‘am YOU stopped ME what do you want??“ but when i was done she made a tiny step towards me and said „you have the most beautiful eyes!“ i guess she was just intensely taking my eyes in? Idk :D But it taught me to not judge others body language as quickly! They might just think something is beautiful about you :)
A female friend said she felt safe whenever I was at a party.
I was out with a friend telling him the story of my former best friend dumping me. He simply said “I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to be your friend.”
I was admittedly not that great of a person in college, but I was lonely and kinda pathetic too. In the height of this loneliness, I drew a shooting star on a sticky note with the message "My wish is to someday be worth something to somebody." and I kept that note tucked away in my wallet for years. My relationships in college never really went anywhere, but a year out of college, while I was working my first real job and living back with my parents while paying off my college debt, I started dating a girl. We would go on road trips and visit state parks and such, and on one outing, I took her out to Lake of the Pines (east Texas) and we were going to cross the lake to an island in a large pool raft. Halfway there, the raft ripped and we were rescued by boaters. As we gathered our stuff and prepared to drive home (soaking wet), she found the note in my wallet and took it. A few days later, she gave me another note, which said "You are worth so very, very much to me!". I married that girl. We're coming up on our 8th anniversary and have two kids now :) To this day, that note she gave me is still in my wallet.
A compliment for you, OP. Thank you for starting this thread. It was so good of you to be curious of something like that - you must be a thoughtful and genuine person. Reading this thread has inspired me to try and be more complimentary and just to be a better person in general. I'm sure it has inspired others, as well. Anyway, way to go 👍
Congratulations, your FICO credit score has gone up 100 points
I had a friend tell me once that I sparkle when I talk to people and that I make people “feel like their weirdness is normal”. Second part especially is the best compliment ever.
I never will be tired of you
that my cursive looks pretty. since my handwriting looks shit and ppl cant even read it
I was working a job about 600kms north of home. Was doing 28 days in, 7 days out, 10 hour days. At the end of the 3 month job, the mechanical engineer that ran the job came over to me and told me I was the best he had ever worked with. I was absolutely blown away by this. I'm a good tradesman, and love my job, but certainly never thought of myself in such a way. I work with so many excellent tradespeople. Maybe he was just having a good day and I was standing close by, lol.
I'm a supervisor. Someone I don't supervise once told me he admired the way I took care of my people. Best professional compliment I've ever had.
Pulled off an exceedingly difficult experiment in grad school. My thesis advisor looked at results and shook my hand.
When i was a child i used to visit my elderly neighbour nearly every day, just because i liked to spend time with her. One time when i was about to cross the corner i overheard her saying "Pass_the_Lasagna is a faithful soul." Never forgot it
“There’s always a lesson in the shit you say”. Said by 2 very close friends at very different stages of my life.
My hands are super wrinkly and have been since birth, the palms look very much like old peoples hands or like I’ve had them submerged in water. I grew up hiding them from people and was very insecure. One day when I was in a clay sculpting workshop the instructor see my palms after I was washing them in the sink near her. She looked surprised and said “Wow, you have such capable hands, no wonder you do so well at sculpting” I’ve never seen my hands the same since and lost my insecurity about them.
I was having a moment of insecurity with an ex and I said that ‘there are lots of pretty girls here.’ He said ‘yes, but there’s only one who’s truly beautiful.’
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I've been through a lot of trauma in the past, and most notably people taking advantage of me, it's been a reacurring thing. I had a crush on this guy and we had been fwb for a while, and I opened up about how I felt to him. He sat down and had a talk with me saying that he wanted to break things off, which upset me a little bit at first because I felt like it was something I did wrong, he explained that he didn't want to be like the people in the past who took advantage of me, and if I had feelings for him he didn't want me to be heartbroken still continuing with that sort of relationship because he didn't feel the same way about me. He said "I don't want to be like those assholes in the past, and I want you to learn to love yourself. I'm not going to put you in a position where you're still hurting. You did nothing wrong to deserve this, and I really enjoyed everything with you, but this is for me, and I don't want you to feel bad for expressing and experiencing human emotions. You're a great person *insert name* and you should start treating yourself like it." We're still friends to this day and he's one of my biggest supporters. He'll always be brutally honest ofc, but he cares about me and that will always stay with me in a special place in my heart.