15+ Unexpected Compliments That Prove Kindness and Laughter Can Brighten Anyone’s Day

• Our chief accountant is quite a colorful lady, with a very full figure. She went to Egypt. She’s walking down the street, and everyone is waving at her and smiling.
  A young police officer comes up and asks if he can take a picture with her. She says, “Why?” And he says, “I’ll show my mom what a beautiful woman was standing next to me!”

• Not long ago, I was getting on a commuter train and saw a sweet old lady, around 90 years old, who just couldn’t manage to get from the platform into the train car. I walked over, lifted her under the arms, set her on the top step, and then went in after her to grab a seat.
  Then I hear the lady telling her friends, “Oh, my legs just don’t work anymore, but that boy over there lifted me onto the train. Oh, such a nice boy!” And so on. That lady brightened my mood for the whole day. The boy Dan, age 41.

• So, I’m lying on the beach with my eyes closed, and I hear some man clicking his tongue in admiration: “Oh, what a beautiful mermaid! Have you been washed ashore? I’ve never seen such beauty before!”
  I think, “Wow, I need to get a look at this wonder!” I crack one eye open, and there he is, leaning over me. Turns out, the mermaid was me! Then my mom comes back and sees this: a stranger leaning over me, passionately going on about a mermaid.
  We looked at each other and could barely hold back the laughter. But honestly, it felt incredibly nice. I still consider it one of the most unexpected and memorable compliments of my life.

• The best compliment of my life came from my little brother’s friend. He asked:
  “You’re the one who raised your little brother, right?”
  “Yes.”
  “Please raise my kids too.”

• I remembered how a construction foreman once sent me videos with measurements. In the videos, he was walking around the house and pointing out where they had placed the switches and outlets.
  But he didn’t measure the distance from the outlets to the openings, corners, or floor. I didn’t even know how to respond without hurting his feelings. From the way he spoke, you could tell he was a kind and pleasant person. I suspect that’s exactly why the clients hired him.
  So I wrote to him: “The good news is, you have a beautiful voice. The not-so-good news is that what you sent me isn’t exactly measurements.” He was so touched that it was immediately clear: this man doesn’t get compliments very often.
  In the end, he sent the needed data in a couple dozen more videos with the outlets. But this time, the dimensions were drawn right on the walls.

• 15 years ago, I got into an elevator carrying a bulky computer monitor. A young woman hurried in after me. She looked at me and said, “You’re so strong!” I still remember it! She made the next 15 years of my life happier.

• I was about 18. I was riding a bus, walked up to the door, and was waiting for my stop. Then the bus jolted, I bounced up, and let out a little squeal in surprise! A man sitting by the door looked at me and said, “Miss, you’re so impossibly pretty that I bit my tongue in surprise!”

• I was walking down a cobblestone street, and a man was walking toward me. And of course, my heel got caught between the cobblestones, and I started to fall. Very dramatically, by the way!
  I barely kept my balance and didn’t land flat on my face. The gentleman rushed over to help me, and the best thing I could come up with was, “Well, you really are the kind of man who sweeps a woman off her feet! I barely stayed upright.”
  His face lit up with happiness. And now, every time he sees me, he smiles — it’s been 2 years already.

• I have a social media account with my watercolor illustrations — basically just a gallery of my drawings. So after some time, my mom comes up to me, shows me my own art account, and says, “I came across this artist. Look how beautifully they draw!”
  I have something like impostor syndrome, and it’s hard for me to tell whether people I know praise my work because it’s actually good or because they don’t want to hurt my feelings. And that compliment felt like a real balm for my soul.

• A couple of years ago, my little sister lost a bet and owed me a wish. We went to the store together to buy some food, and I noticed a guy behind the counter. He was really young, maybe 20 at most — apparently working a part-time job. And he was so shy…
  So I told my sister that my wish was for her to go up to him and give him a compliment. Of course, at first she was totally against it, but then she thought it over, walked up to his register with her groceries, looked him right in the eye, and said, “Young man, you have very beautiful eyes!”
  Oh my goodness, you should have seen how flustered he got — and how he lit up at the same time. His smile stretched from ear to ear, and I think even his ears were glowing with joy!

• My friends and I went to a restaurant for a company party. It was already the end of the evening, lots of men around, everyone staring, but no one came over.
  Then I’m standing by the mirror in the coatroom, fixing my hair, when a girl tiptoes up behind me and whispers, “I’ve been watching you all evening. Do you know you’re the most stunning woman here?!” I truly believe compliments from women mean so much more.

• I was almost 60 back then. I was calling the heads of different companies.
  One of the directors was delighted by my voice and invited me out for a coffee. I remember blushing and saying something like, “My age wouldn’t allow it,” then hanging up. I got so flustered by that compliment, like a schoolgirl!

• I worked in a store. One day I was showing a man some merchandise, and he exclaimed, “You have such long fingers! They’re longer than my wife’s, and she’s a pianist who has played the piano her whole life. May I kiss your hand?” I let him.

• I was vacationing with my parents in Montenegro when I was about 20. As usual, we were joking, laughing, my dad was teasing my mom, and I was lounging around reading a book — basically, we were acting completely normal, at least it seemed that way to me.
  Then a young guy unexpectedly came up to us and said in English, so sincerely, “You guys are such an awesome family!” Turns out, he had been watching us the whole time. For some reason, it felt so good to hear that! And I remembered it for a long time.

• In my freshman year, a student I crossed paths with during an exam gave me a nickname that stuck for the next 5 years of college. He didn’t know my name, and when he was looking for me after class, he told my classmates I had beautiful doe eyes — that’s all he could remember. Back then I was still slim and light on my feet, so to my classmates, I became Bambi.

• This happened 35 years ago. My mom, my grandma, and I were riding a commuter train, sitting in one row, and across from us was a woman around 40 to 45. She kept looking straight at my grandma so intently that grandma felt a little uncomfortable.
  When we reached her stop, the woman got up, walked over to my grandma, and said, “You are a ve-e-ery beautiful woman!” So many years have passed, but I still remember the royal look grandma gave my mom and me after hearing those words.

• I was 18. I had just started working as a cashier at a store, ringing up purchases without really looking at people.
  Then I heard a voice full of admiration and loud enough for the whole line to hear: “Miss, you are unbelievably beautiful! Your red hair is like sunshine! You shouldn’t be sitting here — you should be in an upscale restaurant with some wealthy guy!”
  I looked up, and there were 2 friends, about 20 years old, and one of them was staring at me without blinking, with awe and delight in his eyes, saying all these compliments. I’m 45 now, I’ve been married twice, and I’ve never seen that kind of admiration directed at me again.

• When I put my hair up in a high ponytail, my little son said with genuine delight, “Mom, you’re so beautiful — like a horse!” I consider it one of the best compliments ever.

• So I’m at the dentist one day, tough tooth, they’re doing a root canal, the canals are crooked, the whole deal. So, naturally, I’m worried.
  Then at one point, the dentist stops and seems to freeze. I look at him in alarm, asking with my eyes, “Is it bad?” And out of nowhere, he says, “You have such beautiful ears!” It was absolutely hilarious.

• I was walking along the embankment with a friend, and some workers were laying sidewalk tiles there. We were walking along a nearby intersecting path that was already finished.
  One worker looked at us, dropped his rubber mallet, and exclaimed, “No, seriously, it’s impossible to work!” The second worker asked him what had happened. And he replied, “It’s impossible to work when such beautiful girls are walking by!”
  I was about 20 back then, and now I’m 47, but I still remember that moment.

If a compliment has ever stayed with you longer than it had any right to, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.