I fear the people at work have discovered that I am generous with compliments, and they know how to play me.
For the last few months I have noticed that I've been the recipient of compliments, and that when I get a compliment I return the compliment threefold. Like a compliment change machine, they slide a compliment in to me, they get three compliments back.
I'm usually unprepared for this. I don't like being unprepared, so I now maintain a Word file titled Compliments.docx. Sadly, if I craft a compliment that is particularly good I can't just sit on it, so it gets fired off prematurely, like a present that can't wait for Christmas.
So n0w, unprovoked, I tell a friend he reminds me of the type of character H. L. Mencken and Alexander Woolcott would write it they were collaborating on a detective story, and now I'll be stuck recycling "You're so patient," or, worse, "You're so nice."
God help the guy I recently called "nice." There's a whole bad-boy/nice-guy monologue in Compliments.docx waiting for the next time he says anything remotely kind.
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