Skip to main content

Compliments 3

I have a quirky personality, so I hear all sort of random commentary about me. I've written about this a couple of times before (exhibit A and B), but it's been a while, so the comments have added up. As always, these are actual conversations that I have had with people.
  • "You'd be an awesome team lead, if you don't get fired"
    Apparently this is how some people react when I suggest we should be allowed to give out dunce hats at work. I figure that in most cases, the actual social shaming would be a worse punishment than a stern talk from a supervisor. Say someone goes out of his way to be lazy. He would be awarded the dunce hat, and the social stigma would encourage him to avoid this behavior. Win-win.

    The person with whom I was talking agreed with the idea, but suggested that I was slightly crazy for suggesting it in the first place. Great, thanks.
  • "You're good at writing. That surprised her because you're an engineer"
    I don't think I'm writing a book any time soon or anything, but I can string a sentence or two together. It's the result of all those years of writing papers and essays, frankly. Apparently, though, all the other engineers got some memo that they could safely ignore those classes. Why am I always the last to know?
  • "We need someone to document, and you can do that"
    You know why most software developers and technically-minded people hate writing documentation? It's boring. It's super boring. If there was a way to punish someone with work, writing documentation would probably make the list. An old supervisor once asked me to write documentation as an assignment, and he immediately apologized after asking me to do it.

    Apparently, though, I am still retarded.
  • "But ... you're the communal garbage disposal. Um, in the most respectful way possible."
    I was commenting that I have been eating a little bit less lately, and this was the response. It is definitely true that I have been asked to help finish other people's meals on more than one occasion. And all of my friends know this. It is not a stretch to say that there are times when they figure that in the worst case, I can help them finish their meal. Of course, "communal garbage disposal" is probably the funniest, most questionable way to describe this. I had a good hearty laugh after this.
  • "That girl is super intense. I think you'd be good together ... also in the most respectful way possible."
    Same conversation and same person as the one above. The girl in question is actually a very intense person, and the guy was saying that I am level-headed enough to handle someone like that. It really was meant as a compliment. Of course, he also lumped me in the same category as this girl, which means that he sort of called me crazy. Better than being flat out crazy, I suppose.
  • "You'd do well in prison"
    I don't even remember what led up to this, but someone decided that being relatively level-headed was a favorable trait for prison. I generally fall into the level-headed category. By the transitive property, this person figured that I would be received favorably in prison. I think this is a good thing. I'm still trying to decide, though.
As I've said before, I prefer compliments, even odd ones, to insults. So, all in all, I think I'm coming out ahead through all of this. Besides, where else are you going to find an intense, dunce-hat dispensing prisoner that can document his adventures?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waiting for the Suck

I've mentioned it before, but I like to watch some Netflix while I do the dishes . I don't remember when I started the practice, but it's become a routine at this point. It gives me something to focus on while I do chores, and it makes the whole experience more enjoyable. All in all, it seems like a good idea to me. Now, I know that my screen time is limited. I'm certainly not going to wash dishes for two hours, so I can't watch an entire movie in one go. Heck, half the time, I can't even watch half of a movie in a single session. Ultimately, that drives my viewing preferences, so that I tend to favor episodic shows. Basically, that's how I watch some show or another: one dishwashing session at a time. Recently, that's been the Star Trek: Enterprise show. I never watched it when it first came out on television, so this is my chance to see the whole series. As with many series, there are some good episodes and some not-so-good episodes. Still, it's a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Copycat

So, my sister had a kid, so I have a new baby nephew these days. He's the first in my immediate family, so there's all sorts of excitement having to do with him. We are all very excited for his parents, and we're all very excited to meet him. My parents, understandably, were the most excited of the immediate family to meet him. They were the first to spend time with my sister and my nephew, and they were quite happy about the whole thing. The funniest part, to me, was that my mom insisted that my nephew looks like me. I didn't really think much of it, since there's almost always someone who insists that family member X looks like family member Y. Of course, my mom has years and years of experience with this whole baby thing. Also, she's MY mother, so she is one of the two foremost authorities on what I looked like as a baby. Not even I can say what I looked like as a baby, so I really should've listened when she threw out that particular tidbit. In fact,...
Post a Comment
Read more

All Good Things ...

August 8, 2009. Over twelve years ago, I started blogging with this simple post . I didn't really have a great reason for starting the blog, other than I wanted to try it out. I wanted to try writing and putting it where others could read it. I don't know, it just seemed like a new adventure to try. Along the way, there have been all sorts of posts and all sorts of life events, but through it all, I kept writing. It just became a part of what I do at some point. It wasn't a matter of whether I was going to write a blog post, it was a matter of when. The Mild Wife has described it as a "writing practice," and it was one of the reasons why I kept writing. Honestly, it's good practice, and it gives me an opportunity to hone my craft. I'm no professional author, but we all have to write stuff in our everyday lives. Why not give yourself reps to get better at it? However, I think it's time for that practice to change. My weekly anecdotes sure kept me amused...
Post a Comment
Read more