Compliments

I was at Ralphs (Strange things seem to happen to me at Ralphs...see my blog from 5 years ago) late at night earlier this week.  I was walking down the aisle and walked by an older man (I think).  As I passed him, he blurted out, "Beautiful."  (to me.  He wasn't complimenting the merchandise, obviously.) I ignored him and kept walking as if I didn't hear him. 

When I got home, I wrote about this on Facebook and said "ewww" because I was creeped out.  The response was very intriguing - most women totally understood and encouraged me to "just ignore those idiots," whereas most men were offended that I couldn't accept the compliment.  "You are beautiful, take it as a compliment."

Interesting how the guys thought it's a compliment when obviously I felt uncomfortable.  Many people thought it was my cynicism that couldn't allow myself to accept it as a compliment.  Perhaps it was because they didn't know the full context in which this happened.  It's not like this man politely approached me to offer a compliment.  Would you think this is cute if it happened to your girlfriend, wife, sister, mother, daughter!?  Never mind, don't picture your girlfriend or wife running into this because some men seem to get a kick out of their partners getting attention from others.  Why is it so hard for some guys to understand that this was not a good feeling?

Maybe I am a little jaded because too many weird things happens to me when I'm alone.  There has been other situations like this where I have responded with a smile and maybe even a "thank you."  Some people take this as a sign that I want them or something.  I'm not trying to be a drama queen or brag that I'm popular.  I'm being dead serious!!

Take this other example (Not sure if I wrote about this before).  I was playing pool one night at a bar tournament and I was wearing sandals.  I was done so I sat down next to the tournament director and a guy who was watching me play came up and sat with us.  He said to the tournament director (not to me),

"DO ASIAN WOMEN HAVE SOFTER FEET THAN AMERICAN (I guess he means white) WOMEN?"

...then he looked at me, waiting for a response.

This guy wasn't watching me play.  He was watching my feet and was wondering how soft they are!  I might have felt better if he were checking out my butt!!!

I told him that was disgusting and walked away.  I could hear them continue this conversation, talking about how some women have "crusty" feet.  I asked my friends to keep him away from me. 

Am I supposed to be flattered that he was complimenting my feet!?  Please don't you dare tell me I should accept this so called compliment.

Don't get me wrong.  I appreciate compliments.  I appreciate the thought.  It feels great to know that people think nice things about me.  I just think that some "compliments" should be kept to yourself.  Thank you.