There is this Kellogg’s cereal ad which airs on TV. The gist of the ad is that they promise some weight loss after having 2 bowls of Kellogg’s per day for 2 weeks which they call a challenge( Sure, the way Kellogg’s is priced, the worry itself of consuming so much of it would cause one to lose weight :)). The husband praises his wife who is getting ready for a wedding ‘coz she manages to fit into a skin-hugging outfit just by taking the challenge. Towards the end of the advertisement, the husband says, “Today, no one will look at the bride.” My son, Siddharth who was watching this commented, “What rubbish, mama. She does not look very good. Why would people look at her instead of the bride.” I had to laugh at the look on his face. I told him son, you have a long way to go in learning how to please/woo girls. The more outrageous the compliment, the more brownie points you score from the girls. He gave me a nice roll of his eyes and snorted:). It’s ok he is just 7, he will learn with time :).
P.S. Siddharth casually tells me during a conversation we are having yesterday that Mama, you like to lecture, don’t you 🙂 I had to smile at his candidness and tell him – not really! Again the eyes rolling !
Thanks for the tips to woo women..now, lemme look around here 😛
If you would take the hint and utilize your expertise at home, life at home would be cosier or shall I say rosier 😀
Haha I love this blog post, or rather the comments section!
But it’s true a little compliment never hurted anyone.
In my time at Oracle, we had this female project manager. When she walked into the room with the developers, I casually mentioned: “So, are those new shoes you’re wearing?”. And she’s like, “Why, YES! Yes these are new shoes! Thank you!”
The second she steps out of the room, all developers complain about me being a slimy toad 😀
hehe, Bart. Well, I am pretty generous with compliments myself but I admire those who can say these outrageously flattering things (obviously false ones:)) without batting an eyelid.
Gurdev – he is stingy with his compliments (to his wife i.e :)). He really looks baffled when I ask him to comment on my new hairstyle. He is truly in a spot trying to figure out what the change is 😀 and what is a safe praise :).
And, we would need an opinion from Gonne about your complimenting abilities 😉
@Bart wouldn’t that be the timeless beauty that was Pascale Thoma? huh? huh?
Welllll…..Courteousness prevents me from full disclosure (haha!), but these shoes really occurred to me as new (really!).
What I did find out, is that compliments are hardly ever outrageous. For outsiders, yes. For the receiver of the compliment, no.
Before I left my previous job, I talked to a recruiter and when leaving building, I complimented him on his fine suit.
Now, that kind of flattering would be noticed as a recruiter, right?
No. He actually said “Thanks, yes, I had this suit tailor made and it wasn’t as expensive as you’d expect”.
Just goes to show that all of us love to be complimented and definitely want to think that the compliment is genuine. You are right, the outsider might find the compliment outrageous but never the receiver.