What Is the Best Compliment You Received from a Stranger

[Hillia]

Years ago, when I was about 20...in my 6 month window of looking pretty good...I was walking through a grocery store parking lot, and a young man walking towards me stopped dead, looked at me  with this great smile, and said, 'I'm High Pockets the Clown, and I'm single' and handed me his business card (he was a clown, did kid's parties etc), and kept on walking.

Unfortunately I was dating major jerk at the time, so of course I never called High Pockets.

[Bijou]

 I was walking down the sidewalk in a town on the peninsula south of San Francisco town, middle of the day, busy area.  There was a handsome guy about my age (early 30's) walking toward me about a block away.  He stopped and watched my approach and as I walked past him he said, "You look great!"  I loved it.  It made my day! 

Another time my girl friends and I were in a soda fountain and we met a young man who was stationed at the nearby air force base.  I was only 18 and not long married.  He looked and my wedding and engagement rings and said, "I wish those were mine."  I remember It's All in the Game was playing on the juke box.  Boy, that was romantic for not being a close encounter of the thrilling kind.  Well, it was thrilling, anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtizr2G_7Bk

Wouldn't it be horrible if he meant. "I wish those were mine (so I could sell them and get the money, Honey!)".

[Nikko-chan]

These stories are so lovely!

[Sharnita]

"Wow, you have really long toes."

Not sure if it was a compliment or not, but since it was from the cute guy I had a crush on when I was in high school I chose to interpret it as such 

From the woman with Brikenstock feet, it sounds like a compliment.

[Reika]

I hope online counts.

The best compliment anyone has given me, was on my fanfiction. A male poster on a board I went to commented that he liked that while I wrote strong female leads it didn't take anything away from the male characters, in fact it made some of them stronger in his eyes. He also said that I got him to like characters he normally couldn't stand.

I'd never seen a post from him before, so had no idea he'd even read any of my stuff. Other people I did know well did know him from another section of the board and said he rarely, if ever, gave compliments on fanfiction.

[Acadianna]

My most treasured compliment came to us when my DH and I attended our older son's graduation from army basic training.  After the ceremony, we met his drill sergeant, who told us, "I don't know what you did, but you did it right."

Now possibly this kind drill sergeant says the same thing to many parents -- but it sure did make us feel extra happy on a very special day.

[Thipu1]

Not quite a stranger but I treasure this one.

I had helped a researcher with some background material.  When his book was published, I was thanked in the acknowledgement page as ,'the woman who knows too much'. 

[Dazi]

I don't know what it is, but I randomly get complimented on my really cute feet or toes.     The first time it happened, I was puzzled, now I just go with it.

Not a stranger, but a CW, recently complimented me on having really nice fingers.

[Coley]

I guess the best compliments I receive from strangers have to do with my kids.

Like when they were younger and we would dine in restaurants, people would often stop by our table and tell me that they were amazed as to how well behaved the DDs were.

Comments like that give me a warm fuzzy feeling like I must be doing something right!

When DS was about 3 years old, I had him with me while I was on a business trip in Florida. We were eating dinner in a restaurant, and DS was quite content and well-behaved throughout the meal. At the table next to us was a bigger party -- some couples who appeared to be in their 60s. As they prepared to leave, a woman from that group approached our table and complimented me about DS's table manners and how well-behaved he was. Then she handed him a dollar. I was completely surprised. I told the lady she didn't have to do that, but she insisted, so I accepted. It was one of those "you're doing a great job, Mom" moments, and I appreciated that she let me know it.

[Hmmmmm]

My best compliment as a mom from a srtanger was from a museum tour guide who basically told me that after spending the afternoon with my kids she was ready to agree to start a family with her husband.

From a non- stranger was from my DDs 2nd grade teacher who said my DDs daily journal writing stories made her want to be adopted by us to at least get to come to dinner every night.

On appearance I was leaving a salon after getting my DD's haircut and a woman entering asked who had just done my hair because she wanted the same style and color. When I told her it wasn't colored and I had styled it myself she asked to take photos to take in with her.

[elephantschild]

I did an online survey over the phone once and when it was done, the surveyor (a college guy ... I was maybe 27) blurted out that I had the loveliest laugh he'd ever heard.    He wasn't even hitting on me, because he hung up immediately afterward!

We've had people compliment us on the boys' behavior at restaurants and elsewhere, especially how they always say please and thank you without prompting. ("That is the politest toddler I've ever seen!" one clerk said about YDS.) I'm flattered as a parent, but sometimes think it's more an indictment on others' behavior than a compliment on ours. Still, it's very nice of them.

[delabela]

I was out shopping after work about 2 weeks from giving birth to my oldest child.  As you can imagine, I was not feeling at my best - I was tired, grumpy, and gigantic.  A lovely woman came over and said she just wanted to say I looked beautiful, and she was impressed by how put together I looked (it was pretty clear that I was about to have a baby any day).  I thanked her and continued shopping with a much better attitude.  It just really lifted my spirits at a moment where I felt kinda low. 

[Allyson]

I remember this because it was about something I am really self-conscious about--my voice. I have a very distinctive voice, and I sometimes really hate it; people will recognize me by it after a single meeting, and if there's a few people talking, it's always me they hear. So I was at work and a customer told me that I had a perfectly adorable voice and should do commercials, I was very happy!

I used to dye my hair a lot of odd colours, and would get lots of comments on it, often on the line of 'You have blue hair!' The one I remember most was a fiftyish corporate woman who approached me in a Starbucks and started talking to me, telling me how she had always wanted to dye her hair hot pink, like mine was at the time. She told me how she was retiring soon, and once she did, she would try out lots of different colours. It was such a fun conversation, and a real 'appearances can be deceiving' moment.

[Adelaide]

I went on a trip abroad with a varied group of people. None of us had ever met before, so we were all strangers until after the trip. The morning light from a window was shining in my face and one of the young girls turned to me and said "You have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen!"

Also, people here in the north get a kick out of my "genteel Southern accent", as some call it, whereas back home I either was told I didn't have an accent or that I had a "stuck-up" accent.

[mechtilde]

I'm not sure if this counts as a compliment, but on the day I got married, as I was getting out of the car in my wedding dress to go into the church, a lady with a child in a pushchair stopped and said "Congratulations- I hope you'll be very happy"

She was a total stranger.