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Compliments 5

It's been a while since I've talked about the random compliments that people seem to throw my way, so I figure it's time to remedy that. I don't quite know what it is that leads to some of these comments, since it's not like I go out of my way to ask people to try to say nice things about me. Though "nice" might be a bit of a stretch, since some of these comments are so strange that they fall more into the category of "seriously?" than "wow, thanks."

With that as a backdrop, though, let me get right to it:

  • Me: "Eh, work's kinda lame right now"
    Friend: "What?! But you love your job, and you're always so happy about it"

    This is precisely what I mean. On the surface, that sounds like a good thing. Who doesn't want to do something they enjoy? But if you think about it, I think my friend just called me either gullible or a chump. I mean, everyone has bad days and there are always little frustrations that come up whenever you have to interact with a bunch of other people. It's almost like she was questioning my sanity a little bit, wasn't it?
  • Coworker: "You have a good head for shaving. It has a good shape."

    I shave my head. When I do this, it can lead to some very interesting comments from others. Of course, I have absolutely no control over this, and I'm not sure it's even something that's worth bragging about. Heck, I've never even noticed before.
  • Nurse: "Oh, look at that. You've got good veins. I didn't even apply the tourniquet and I can already see them"

    I needed to have blood drawn, and this was what resulted when I talked to the nurse. This was another one over which I had no control. It's not like she was telling me I had done good work and kept my blood pressure down. I could actually be proud of something like that, since it'd mean I personally took actions that led to a positive result. But no, I was just born that way. The funniest part is that there is zero value to this other than when I have to deal with hospitals.
  • Coworker: "Wow, you type fast"

    You know why this one makes me laugh? There's very little inherent value in the speed at which I type. The content that I type is why I get paid, and if I could somehow guarantee that I could produce that content quickly, then it'd be helpful. But I can't really do that. I don't get paid to produce lines of code, I get paid to produce well-designed code. More often than not, that means *less* typing. The hard part is figuring out *what* to type, and no amount of typing fast is going to help with that.
  • (My friend is very, very upset after some dealings with a romantic partner)
    Friend: "Incidentally, I'm impressed that you're being so calm through all this"

    Apparently everyone else she had talked to had worked themselves into a frenzy upon hearing this story. So either I'm one of her least crazy friends, or I'm not good at sympathetic outrage. I'm not entirely sure which of the two I should be rooting for, to be honest.
Of course, as I've said before, I'd much rather have people throw odd compliments my way than insults. Though since this is me we're talking about, I'm highly amused that these compliments come my way.
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