Nice things strangers have said.

[Differentforgirls]

There’s a brilliant thread on here about awful things strangers have said to you. Some of the things 😱.

They are awful but hilarious in many cases.

So, are there brilliant things strangers have said that you remember?

Mine is the first day my 2.5 year old son chose and put all his clothes on by himself and was delighted.

We both set out for the village shop. On the way there we passed an older man and my son said “Mr, I got myself ready today”.

He replied “ You are kidding wee man, that’s brilliant” and gave him 50p to “ celebrate” and shook his wee hand.

I will never forget the kindness of that man to my son.

I remember sitting in a cafe with my dd when she was around 8. We were having a fairly ordinary, low key conversation about something not very important - I think it was something to do with what we could do to redesign a particular space in our garden in order to make a bit more of it.

A woman who had been sitting on the table next to us came over to us when she was leaving and said that she hoped that we didn't mind that she had been eavesdropping on our conversation and she just wanted to say how lovely it had been to see the warmth of the relationship between us, the way that we were interacting with each other and the respectful way that we listened to each other's ideas. She finished by saying that it had made her day to listen to us.

I was so taken aback as it had been such an ordinary conversation, but it was lovely and definitely made my day. My dd is an adult now but obviously still remembers it as she said something about it a while ago.

So, thank you nice lady, I have always treasured your comments.

It’s only now looking at photos from my 20s and early 30s I realise just how beautiful I was. I used to get stared at all the time by mainly women and developed an impressive resting bitch face because of it. If I caught anyone staring I stared right back! Mentioned to a friend that there was something about my face that made people stare at me and she told me it was because I was beautiful but nobody dared to say anything because as soon I caught them looking I glared at them! I relaxed more in public after that and up until a few years ago (I’m now late 30s) I would regularly have women coming up to me and telling me they thought I was beautiful! Interestingly, rarely ever men.

I had a very difficult upbringing.
father was absent, my mother couldn’t parent in a meaningful way. I was mostly an inconvenience tbh.

One night, I had to accompany my mother to an event, Something I hated doing. I must’ve been about 13 And a random man complimented me and told me I was pretty. No one had ever said that to me before, usually the opposite (siblings).

He was probably being a dirty old man, But I remember it so clearly as his voice was so kind. He said it right next to my mother as well. She probably corrected him and told him I didn’t look pretty, because she couldn’t take a compliment but that’s probably a different discussion!

I felt the impact of my upbringing all my life. Some of these stories on here are amazing. If someone was to stop me and say something nice to me now it would make my year…

The other day two separate people told me I smelled lovely/my perfume was lovely (it was Portrait of a Lady by Frederic Malle). It made my day. Another time, just last week I was out going to appointments, running errands etc and three people commented on how awesome my boots were (definitely delicious Miista two-tone brown ankle boots, lol). It really lifts your spirits and your day when that happens, and I try to do it to other people too if I see someone who looks amazing.

Twice last year, walking to my hairdresser from the car park.. bloke probably in his 60s said my hair was fabulous, I laughed said I was just about to have it done.. also on the way to the hairdresser's,lady turned out to be 80 looked amazing. Said,"my, don't you look fabulous" ,(good old vinted) COVID ruined my ears,had various hospital, consultant appointments then finally hearing aids fitted. Nice man, said I had lovely thick obviously natural blonde hair just like his wife,as he was tucking it back for fitting..I was a natural blond, it's mainly white now,blond low lights,very thin and I use a thickening shampoo... obviously working!!

You’re welcome ☺️

I used to work in a shop in Glasgow central station and one of my colleagues mum had popped into speak to her.

She later told me her mum said I looked like a model. I was 18/19 and wore braces and I was chuffed. Also I know a lot of taller slim girls get that said to them a lot, but I am short and curvy so I felt she was referring to my face- as my body certainly wasn’t model like - which was lovely.

I used to work with kids in care and I once took a small bunch of kids to an arts festival at the Southbank.

One of the staff was asking one of the children I was particularly close to do something and she referred to me as his mother. Like “ pass this to your mum” or something like that.

I first thought it was just an assumption as she saw an adult with a child. But then later that day the kid said he wishes it was his birthday because he would make a wish and that wish would be for me to be his real mum. So maybe that’s what the staff had picked up on.

Obviously that is bittersweet because the issue is partly that his bio mum isn’t capable of taking care of him, but it still touched me that not only strangers thought we were mother and son but that’s what he wanted.

He had lived with his foster mum for most of his life but he had never said that about her.

Obviously had to be professional and not tell the kid I was wish he was mine too, but in my head I was thinking “same kid, same”.

❤️
You brought love and care into his life.
Don't ever downplay that.

thank you so much ❤️

A lady complimented my outfit once and when I thanked her and went to tell her where it was from she said ‘no it’s not what you’re wearing, it’s how you’re wearing it’ ✨ it really made my day!

Love this thread btw 😍 reading everyone’s stories it’s making me think of all the little bits of kindness I’ve had over the years from complete strangers.

I went into a shop once to ask for change to get on a bus, the fare was about £1.50 and I had a £20. The security guard stuck his hand in his pocket, took out a £5 and insisted I take it and refused any promises for me to pay him back next time I was in town.

Also had a similar issue on buses a couple of times when I’ve already boarded and another passenger has stood up and paid for me while I was standing there fumbling for change.

When I was 21 an older man on the bus who was chatting to everyone randomly gave me flowers, he said it was for his sister but he decided to give it to me. No man had ever given me flowers before that!

@BellesAndGracesit does really make your day doesn’t it. I still feel pretty chuffed about it and my DH who isn’t prone to giving compliments was quite proud too I think 😊

My DH and i were in an airport lounge waiting for our flight. We were sitting chatting and laughing for ages and a woman who was leaving came up to us and said that it was lovely watching us as we clearly loved each other. We were 50 years married at the time. It actually made me think.

In my 20s on a train travelling from Kent up to London. A man who seemed to be with an assistant stood up to get off and said to me “I wish I could have put you on the telly” or something like that. Don’t know who he was.

@Nannyfannybanny please tell me the thickening shampoo you were using?

The posts on this thread are lovely. And, an MN first for me, no one has been nasty or started an argument just for the sake of it 😊.

Thank you everyone! ❤️

Ah bless you 💐

My earlier post about being complimented on my hair also reminded me of once when the expected compliment didn't happen.

I took my watch into a small jewellers shop to get the battery replaced. When the chap came out with it he asked me if I was a hairdresser. I thought my hair looked particularly nice that day so felt rather chuffed he thought I was one.

I said no I wasn't why? He said the glass face on the watch had a lot of hairspray residue on it so thought I might have been a hairdresser. 😳

What a disappointing let down that was 😂

A lady I'd never met before came over to me in a coffee shop and told me how lovely it was to see the joyful relationship I had with my toddler (she was about 2 at the time).
Unbeknownst to this lady I had spent that morning fighting in court and my narcissistic and controlling (plus very wealthy) ex-husband had managed to push for majority care of my two amazing older sons and had been awarded it. I felt like an absolutely terrible mum.
That stranger saved my life that day.

A lady I'd never met before came over to me in a coffee shop and told me how lovely it was to see the joyful relationship I had with my toddler (she was about 2 at the time).
Unbeknownst to this lady I had spent that morning fighting in court and my narcissistic and controlling (plus very wealthy) ex-husband had managed to push for majority care of my two amazing older sons and had been awarded it. I felt like an absolutely terrible mum.
That stranger saved my life that day.

I love complimenting strangers - it always makes people smile. A genuine compliment is a thing of beauty.

Myblueclematis,my first husband was a Horologist,he could tell what people did for a living by what he found inside their watches.. Pinkfluffypencilcase, have pm incase I get accused of advertising, except this section is rather lovely..I compliment people all the time. Someone posted on here last year,you shouldn't do it. A few years ago, I told the lady in front of me in a shop that her hair colour was absolutely gorgeous, she burst into tears, said "thank you so much,it's a wig". She was having chemo, completely bald, the wig was fabulous.

Thank you x I can just about read the pm but it won’t let me reply so I thought I’d reply here. Appreciate the info.

I had an awful, embarrassing public discussion/argument with a frenemy I bumped into on a packed train to London once. She would not let me shut the conversation down. As I got off, a young man said to me: "I thought you handled that well. And for what it's worth, I agree with you!" 😂