Most people don’t notice I’m polite, which is sort of the point. I don’t look polite. I am big and droopy and need a haircut. No soul would associate me with watercress sandwiches. Still, every year or so someone takes me aside and says, you actually are weirdly polite, aren’t you? And I always thrill. They noticed.
The complimenters don’t always formulate it so gently. For example, after two years ago at the end of an arduous corporate project, slowly turning a thousand red squares in a spreadsheet to yellow, then green, my officemate turned to me and said: I thought you were a terrible ass-kisser when we started working together.
She paused and frowned. But it actually helped get things done. It was a strategy.
(That is how an impolite person gives a compliment. Which I gladly accepted) — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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