Shopping for Compliments

Back in April, 2006, I shared in this space that I had been patronizing an inferior local grocery store, enduring years of expired dairy products and wilted broccoli rabe, simply in hopes that the bagger lady would bestow me with a compliment.

"You're pretty," she once said.

And oh, I felt pretty.

Pretty. Pretty. Pretty.

Things got ugly when my husband shared that this same bagger lady called him "handsome" on multiple occasions. "What'll it be, handsome, paper or plastic?" "Hi handsome." "Have a nice day, handsome."

I seriously thought my husband was lying until other local pals and readers of this blog made a point of telling me about the compliments they had received from this very same bagger.

"Yeah, she calls me 'pretty' too," they said, and, "She told me she loved my outfit."

Then, "Oh her? She compliments everyone!"

Blasphemy!

Try as I may, I couldn't help but feel betrayed. And my once-cherished compliment, diluted in a sea of other check-out line niceties to no one in particular, began to fade from my memory.

But not completely.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't look for her at check-out time, or entertain the hope of one day being among the lucky ones, the pretty ones.

I haven't seen the bagger lady in a long, long time, so yesterday when I was perusing the organic vegetable broth in aisle three, I was taken completely aback by what transpired.

As I crouched next to the shelf and reached for two quarts of broth, I could see from the corner of my eye that another shopper was approaching. I quickly grabbed the broth, stood up, and moved my cart aside to let the shopper pass.

When she did (it was a she), she suddenly turned around and said, "I just saw you a minute ago in the produce department, and I just want to tell you that you look so beautiful."

Then she made some funny, self-deprecating comment about feeling sort of frumpy (she wasn't), and that was it.

You look so beautiful.

I told her she made my day. And right there in aisle three, I began to feel pretty all over again.



In fact, I felt so beautiful, that I may never shop anywhere else again.

Cold enough out there for you? I'll show you how to melt some ice. I'm writing about Prestone Windshield De-Icers and my husband's mad ice-melting skillz over at Ruth Dynamite Reviews today. Check it out!