Friday, July 01, 2005
Backhanded compliments
If one more person says to me, regarding the new haircut, "It looks SO much better!", they're going to get smacked.
Consider the following conversation.
Coworker (walking towards me): "Your hair looks so cute like that!"
Me: "Thanks!"
Coworker (as we pass each other): "You should have cut it a long time ago!"
Me: "...."
Now, I know my hair was getting long and straggly. That's one reason I cut it. But unless I'm asking for a comparison, you just don't say things like that. Perhaps it's insensitivity, perhaps it's cluelessness, perhaps this is not what's intended. But these comments come across as: "Hey, Barbara, glad you cut your hair! It looked like crap before!" Come on now, a girl's sensitive about these sorts of things.
Consider the following conversation.
Coworker (walking towards me): "Your hair looks so cute like that!"
Me: "Thanks!"
Coworker (as we pass each other): "You should have cut it a long time ago!"
Me: "...."
Now, I know my hair was getting long and straggly. That's one reason I cut it. But unless I'm asking for a comparison, you just don't say things like that. Perhaps it's insensitivity, perhaps it's cluelessness, perhaps this is not what's intended. But these comments come across as: "Hey, Barbara, glad you cut your hair! It looked like crap before!" Come on now, a girl's sensitive about these sorts of things.
| posted by Barbara | 7:23 PM