People From Around The World Share The Nicest Things They Ever Overheard About Themselves


People From Around The World Share The Nicest Things They Ever Overheard About Themselves


There's a lot of negativity in the world. It seems every time you turn on the news or login to social media, it's just angry people being upset all the time. I'm not about that life. I believe in having a positive mental attitude and letting the little things go. Far too often people stress over things that don't matter and it brings them down.

But what if there was a way to pick these people up? Turns out all you have to do is be nice. But don't take it from me, here's a bunch of examples of people's entire day (and in some cases, lives) being turned around thanks to the kind words of a friend or stranger.

Do whatever it takes to be the light in the darkness, because being nice doesn't cost anything, and one day you may need a light of your own. Remember: The world could always use more heroes

 

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42. That's a pretty good recommendation

I'm a journalist. When I was working a news internship at a local TV station, I was asked to go do some quick "man on the street" interviews on the other side of town. After we got back to the newsroom, I heard the camera guy (a veteran of like 30 years who's worked with some of the best reporters in my city) say to our executive producer, "you know, that kid's a real journalist."

Gave me the biggest confidence boost ever as an intern. I'm now employed full time at that news outlet as of four days ago.

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41. Drumming is a lifestyle

I'm a longtime drummer. been playing in bands for over 20 years. recently just joined a new band and after our first gig together, I overheard the singer talking with someone about the set and sound of the new lineup. the singer was saying that I'm a 'born drummer. this guy was totally meant to play drums. I'm so stoked he's in my band.' probably the coolest thing I accidentally overheard about myself.

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40. Tell people how much you appreciate working with them BEFORE they quit

I recently accepted a position, leaving the organization I have worked for since I was 17 (now 31). It was tough for me to do but professionally the right career move.

I worked long hours as a manager and was the chair of every committee and led leadership meetings that hosted team leaders to the COO. I’m really good at my job but was rarely recognized for my efforts. It was more the company’s culture than the people. Subliminally I think it led to me wanting change.

I gave notice and this week is actually my last. I’ve had hundreds of emails and hallway conversations since the word has gotten out. So many people recognized me and said they were proud to have worked for or with me. It was the first time I felt recognized but honestly it made all the hard work worth it. I walked into the break room for my staff on Christmas Eve and there were 10 of my staff there and they were complimenting me and how much they cared about me. I kind of hung around the corner and just smiled ear to ear.

Onto bigger and better things, but happy I left an impression.

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39. What a nice way to say he's short

I played soccer in high school. I had recently moved and was insanely shy, didn't have any friends in my new town, but one guy decided he was going to be my friend, and basically forced me out of my house and made me have fun. Well, he kinda drafted me onto the soccer team he played on, coached by his dad. They gave me a shot at playing, and while I had almost no ball control, they found I could run pretty fast and I really hated to give up. I'm very short, so while I was easy to knock over, I could also bounce up and make it back to the ball pretty quickly.

Fast forward about a year, and my coach sat us all down during practice to tell us individually what we were best at and what we could work at. He told me that my ball control was pretty bad, but it's improving. However, he said that he wishes I could hear what goes on during the bench whenever I'm on the field. He says that I am so much fun to watch and that he just can't get enough of how hard I work to get that ball back from the other team.

That felt so good, and the remainder of my time on that team, people regularly told me how much fun I was to watch. And how they couldn't understand how I was so fast. I was VERY unconfident about if I really deserved a spot on that field, but the comments I got gave me a pretty amazing feeling.

Also a little bonus, my brother is a photographer and was shooting some pics for our team, and he was next to the other team's bench when he heard an awesome conversation between the players

Player 1: "Man, that #5 (that's me) just WILL NOT stay down."

Player 2: "Well, he is quite a bit closer to the ground than most of us, so he just kinda bounces when we knock him over."

Player 1: "Yeah, well we need one of him on our team. He's like a little freaking ninja!"

To this day, people connected with the team call me the "freaking ninja."

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38. I'm not crying, someone is cutting onions in here

I had this really tempestuous relationship with a woman I used to work with. We fought about a lot of things and were just very different. She thought I was a religious whack job, I thought she was a man-hater. We told each other as much. We were at opposite ends of the same friend group though, so we were always forced into hanging out.

After a couple of years (literally, years), and after she quit the store we worked at but was still in the friend group, we warmed up to each other.

One day, about a week before Halloween, everyone was hanging out at the bar and just enjoying each other's company. I went outside to smoke, and she was out there with a mix of friends and strangers, I talked with them for a couple of minutes and then ran back inside to grab something. When I came back out, I heard her telling one of the other girls that had merged with our group, "Oh, that's my friend. She's really cool."

It was the only time, to my knowledge, that she called me her friend.

She passed away later that night and nothing has ever really been the same since. But I have that one last, endearing memory to keep of her, instead of any of the other crappy ones. I wish I could have told her how much I loved her laugh.

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37. Life is full of second chances

The ladies that work in HR at my place of employment frequently request me by name when something needs to be fixed in their offices (I work maintenance). A few weeks ago, I got to talking with a few of them about my past. Its something I normally don't share with just anyone, but I'm 3 and a half years clean from a very serious addiction. After I finished replacing their ceiling tiles, I overheard them saying how sweet, polite, and good-looking I am. They also said that just by looking at me, they never would have guessed that I ever struggled with such a thing.

When I walked around the corner, I acted like I didn't hear them and said goodbye. But its probably the best compliment I've ever received. I used to absolutely despise myself. I used to think there was no way I could ever get clean, and now I'm hearing that there's no way someone could imagine me NOT clean.

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36. At least you know he never cheated on you

I had an ex-boyfriend who worked at a restaurant in-between both of our houses one summer. He was very charming, handsome, and knew exactly how to dress in a way that accentuated his Greek god physique so ladies always tipped him well. He was also one of the guys in our high school which was just across the highway from this restaurant. He hadn’t been a server there long before he left to college across the state. After he had left, I was having issues with my job and looking for a change so he suggested I try to get a job at that same restaurant. He said that he left on good terms with the manager so I could drop his name if I needed it. Well, I got hired immediately and just never really mentioned that I knew him since I seemed to get the job on my own merit.

I had been working there a few months when some of my coworkers and chatting about ex-employees that have come and gone through the years. Some of the girls mention this one incredibly handsome and charismatic server that didn’t work here that long. They were sad he left after a few months and even more upset that he never gave in their advances (because they were gorgeous girls) because he had a girlfriend that he liked to talk about. The conversation goes on for a little before I piece together (or maybe they mentioned his name) and I’m able to say “oh hey! That’s my boyfriend. I’m the sweet nerdy girl he liked to talk about apparently.”

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35. What a wholesome story

For context, my SO’s Mom died a few years before we met. He loved his Mom so much, and her opinion mattered to him a lot. He was in the military when she passed and just barely didn’t make it home in time to say goodbye to her. He’s always been really broken up about that. He and his sister are really close and they both miss their Mama so much.

One evening I came home from work and he was on the phone in the bedroom with his sister. He didn’t hear me walk in and I overheard him talking about me. He went on about how I was such a good cook, and how I take good care of him, and I’m really smart and he knows I love him... and the cherry on top was “and Mom would have just loved her”.

All that other stuff was mostly not a surprise to hear... I do love him, and I do try to take good care of him, and he always compliments my cooking... but, knowing that his Mom would have given her seal of approval and that he knows she would have, was really heartwarming.

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34. Where everybody knows your name

The bartender/friend I have (I consider him something of a friend, sort of a Cheers type thing in my town), is a super great guy, and one of the more intelligent people I know. Just a smart dude who loves good conversation, and reads and pays attention to events, he's a good judge of character (being the top bartender in town for many years will do that to you).

He likes me as a regular because I frequently take my laptop to work or take books to read at the bar, alone. I make great conversation with him. He's told me on different occasions that he thinks I'm a good guy for buying someone a meal if they were struggling, or for making good conversation, being a smart guy, etc.... He just generally makes me feel decent about myself. A tough task because my parents pretty consistently make me question my worth as well as my sanity (either I'm literally insane, which I feel would have been noticed in my years of independence, or they gaslight me.)

But this bartender, he is always willing to talk about big stuff like ethics or whatever philosophy book I'm ready, current events, all kinds of stuff, and makes me feel like a good person.

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33. This is a job I could never do

I had a patient two nights in a row. The first night my patient was sick but stable and we really bonded. Her daughters liked me and I was making them laugh all night even under sad circumstances. We made a lot of improvements. I came in for my second night with her and she was doing way worse. I walked into her room, reintroduced myself, then went to my second patient’s room to do the same. As I was leaving I overheard the daughters talking about how happy they were to have me back as their nurse because they trusted me with their mom. It felt so, so good.

Three hours later the patient had passed and I was crying with the daughters. I felt like I had let them down but they never stopped thanking me. They told me they knew out of everyone that I tried my hardest. Ugh, the feels.

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32. We all need reassuring sometimes

I was always the black sheep in the family, a bit of a social outcast. Everyone in our family prides themselves on being able to have an ego and a bit gregarious. I'm a bit introverted and quiet, but I managed to rack up some accomplishments like going to grad school, working abroad, etc.

Anyway, my sister has always fit in my family better than I have and I spoke to my cousin recently how I get crapped on by others a lot growing up. She told me that it was the case before but now I was the favorite in the family.

Me: "What are you talking about? My sister has always been the one at the table-".

Cousin: "No. You are the favorite. When you're not around your dad is always gleaming about you. When they die, you're the first of kin. You don't know it, but at family tables, they always talk about you."

Maybe she was lying. But for someone who is a little introvert in a family of large personalities, this blew my mind.

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31. I have a friend who is a male nurse, he loves it

I was in my first MedSurg rotation in Nursing School. The way clinicals work is that we all get assigned one patient; then we go meet up with that patient's nurse and help them throughout the day, but also focus on that one patient.

Sidenote: I'm a guy nurse, so prior to this encounter I would often feel self-conscious of how people would perceive me being a male nurse. Especially since it's a female-prominent field.

Well, sometime throughout the middle of the semester I overheard the nurses and my instructor chatting while they were charting. Somewhere in the conversation, my nurse mentions that she loves working with me and that she wanted my instructor to partner us up again. Another nurse pitches in and says that she wants a chance to be partnered up with me, and adds that I seem very friendly and also compliments my appearance (which was a bonus).

After that day I felt so confident in being a male nurse, and just being me in general!

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30. Oh there once was a hero named Ragnar The Red, came riding into Whiterun from ol' Rorikstead

In art college, as a videogame programmer, I had to take art classes, like actual art. But also painting, storytelling, intellectual property design, creative writing, script and storyboarding, 3d modeling, basically every facet of game creation I had to learn because programming is what brings it all together. Anyways, in actual artistic class, one of the professors put up each of his 4 class's drawings on each wall. So you had 20 per wall, 80ish total. We critiqued our wall and I got some cool remarks. For some reason later that week I had to go back to talk to that professor, who coincidently was having that class doing their critique. Like our class, they got on a tangent and started observing the other walls. This really, really, REALLY hot girl said that mine was the best concept.

The idea was to show transformation through color. I used a variation of the Portal game portals to have the bathroom sign man go through one portal area that had a specific color palette, and he became the woman bathroom sign, another color in another world with a different palette. It's worth noting that my actual ability to draw/paint is absolute garbage, but I can come up with ideas and designs like it's my business.

As you might've guessed, as a programmer nerd type person I don't find myself receiving many compliments, ever. In my family, there's this saying that goes "well good thing they're pretty" to describe dumb people. For me, the saying is "well good thing he's smart". This one was a highlight for sure.

I've also got another compliment from much more recently. I started growing out my hair, mostly because I stopped caring. I'm ugly, I'll just always be ugly. It's whatever. Walking into a Panera Bread to get my online order, and a cute as button girl was behind the takeout/order ready counter. She gave me my stuff and I went to go fill my drink at the fountain. From the other side, in the kitchen, I can hear her say to someone "Oh my god. Did you see that guy? He's huge, looks like a Viking. His lion mane is glorious. I can't believe he eats salads." I wanted to say something like "Valhalla awaits me!" or something but I'm not verbally articulate so I just left.

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29. It's always a good idea to learn extra languages

I’m white but I can speak Chinese, so sometimes I overhear things that people don’t think I understand. One time I was in the library and sat down next to a couple of Chinese girls.

They pretty quickly started talking about how I was cute and stuff, and once I finished blushing, I turned to them and started speaking to them in Chinese and they freaked out and one of them even just straight up covered her face and ran away. I was very flattered by the whole interaction.

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28. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth

Hired a new guy to work under me. He was experienced and sharp, but like most people in the field, were never actually taught the skill of troubleshooting issues properly. A big production issue popped up, and he was starting to work it. He did exactly what most did, randomly restarting a few things, changing a few settings, etc., that were somewhat related to the problem, hoping the shotgun approach would fix it.

A little while later, I came out of a meeting, saw he was working an issue and asked him about it. I had him tell me the symptoms, and from that, I told him the one thing that everything that wasn't working had in common, and thus the only thing that could be responsible. It was also something his shotgun approach would never have hit. He restarted that one piece, and everything worked.

He was talking to a few coworkers about 10 minutes later, and I overheard him say that I had serious mad skills, and everyone agreed. That made me feel pretty darn good...

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27. Life is easier if you are nice to people

Once at college, I was hanging out with a couple of friends in an art class, and right after I left I heard one turn to the other and say "he is such a nice guy", and the other girl replied with an enthusiastic "I know! He really is" People complimenting you behind your back is, in my opinion, the best form of compliment.

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26. A good raid leader is worth his weight in rare loot

In Destiny 2 I like to sherpa people through the Last Wish raid.

At one point near the end, I needed to go to the bathroom so I told everyone I'd be right back, but I kept my headset on. (muted myself obviously, no one wants to hear me pee)

One guy said, "I'm really glad we met this dude, he's super chill and a really good teacher."

The others started agreeing and just talking about how nice it was that someone could be that patient with newbies.

It actually made me tear up a little.

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25. Clearly, she found you irresistible and felt she must move away lest she leave her fiancé for you

I've always been the geeky, skinny guy. I gained over 100 lbs while in college. Years later, I started hitting the gym and eating 100% right to get in shape. About two months in, my body had changed a lot.

I remember accidentally looking up at this girl while in the gym. She was beyond cute but there she was. just staring at me, biting her lower lip. I was the only one at that corner so... I mean. I know she was looking at me. Caught her doing it again a few minutes later. Never have I felt that great in my life.

She disappeared two days later. I found out from other gym members that she moved away and married her fiance.

That's my luck.

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24. Good bosses are hard to come by

One if my employees crying because I gave her a bonus this year (she absolutely deserves it she's a total champ) with one of her work friends in the kitchen. She said "I've never had a boss that made me feel like they actually care until him" and "now I can give my son the Christmas he deserves".

I'll be honest with you. I know she's a single mom and it's her first year working for us and she has been one of the best hires I've ever made and I may or may not have added some of my own bonus to hers (I own the business I can do what I want) and I know how much her son means to her. So that one really hit me hard and put a spring in my step for the whole week.

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23. Roll for charm person

A couple of friends and I play D&D in our lounge at our dorm at school. Well, when I walked by the lounge one time I stopped for a second to say hi to one of the guys I played D&D with, who was studying for an exam with one of his friends. When I walked away I overheard my friend telling him “Casperious is a cool guy, like really cool!”

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22. I want someone to take me out for a random act of fajitas

Back when I worked in a cubical farm (I still work near one, but I have an office now) I had this coworker with whom I was friends. She was serving as an interim manager after our boss died suddenly.

Originally, I planned to be off-site so I wasn't expected in that day. I got in early and discovered that my charger wasn't working. The outlet it was plugged into, an outlet in the cubical wall, was dead. So I crawled behind my cube in a cramped quarter cube where we had a team printer and things to find the loose connection.

She wasn't expecting me in and my cube was still largely undisturbed. When someone came by and commented on how the office was quiet without me and how funny I am during the day, she, co-worker/temp boss, said "Yeah, he's one of the main reasons why it's worth coming in here to put up with all of this extra crap for no extra money."

D'awwwwww

I waited until they dispersed before I climbed out. I don't think she knows I overheard that comment. She probably just thinks that it was a random act of fajitas when I took her out for Mexican at lunch.

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21. I wonder what happened to my childhood friends

My childhood best friend (call him Curt) that I had lost touch with died a couple of years ago. A couple of weeks later his mom messaged me on Facebook a screenshot of another message that a former elementary school classmate of ours had sent her. It was a girl who I don't remember but she wrote a long message about how Curt was such a good person and the two of us were always so nice to her even though she got picked on by others, and how we were always making everyone laugh.

I can only think back to my times being a typical selfish and bratty kid but I regard myself as a good person and it was really awesome to know that I impacted someone so positively when I was so young. I try my best to be that same good person, especially to keep Curt's legacy alive.

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20. Teaching is an often thankless job, we should all thank the good teachers that got us here

I’m a high school teacher in a low-income district. I love what I do, but there are some days that are very challenging and draining. Sometimes I feel like I’m not reaching my kids or making any difference. I start to question myself as a teacher and think that I am not good enough/cut out for the job. I really really fear being a bad teacher, like some I had growing up.

Well, I was having one of those days. In fact I was having one of those weeks. I had been working with a student at his desk, helping him with something I can’t even remember now. But when he got it and I turned to walk away, I hear him whisper to his friend next to him, “See, now that’s a good teacher, right there.” I’m not embarrassed to say that I teared up in that moment. I needed to hear that reassurance from the people who matter most; my kids.

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19. We are always our own worst critic

I suffer from pretty bad anxiety mixed in with a couple of other messy things but I put in the effort to try to hide it from the real world. I participate in a number of extracurriculars in college and one weekend during a club retreat I had gone to bed early. My best friend told me the next day that a group of people I hardly knew were talking about me for a half an hour after I went to bed about how I managed to balance being athletic, musical, and smart at the same time. They mentioned that I could talk to guys so easily and was funny in conversation.

As someone who (at the time) felt like I was cracking under the pressure and stress of school, it was nice to hear that I wasn't really as bad off as I thought.

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18. Powerlifters aren't the type of people you want to pick a fight with

When my Mom defends me over things I didn't think she cared about or notice. Like my weight training and powerlifting. All my siblings think it's unproductive and a waste of time because it doesn't fit into their small minded world of what a stay at home Mom should be doing.

I've heard her tell them how important it is to me and how much I love it because it's something I'm good at. I've always felt like an idiot, a screw-up and a loser who could never finish anything I started. This meant a lot to me. I've heard her say stuff along the lines of somehow finding time to train and time to be a great Mom. That meant a lot because if you're a Mom, you'd understand when I say, I never feel like a good Mom even though you know you're doing great. Mom guilt sucks.

I've lost 135 pounds and am on track for having a state record in all 3 squat, bench and deadlift in February. That's a personal accomplishment to me. Waste of time? I'd like to tell my brothers and sisters to go jump in a lake....or go to church or go shopping or whatever it is they do.

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17. Top notch wingman

I had a girl over (first time dating in years) and my roommate (female, super close friend) was there as well. Heard my roommate say "I know he's shy and a little awkward at first but give it a shot, he's super sweet and really funny once he's comfortable, he's worth the effort". Gave me a huge much-needed boost since I struggle with confidence and usually don't like myself.

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16. I have no heart to lie

I was on a "kind of" date with my now-wife. (we were out with a group of mutual friends - some of whom we didn't even know we had in common, actually!) I had gone to the bathroom to make room in my belly and bladder for more drinks. As I came around the corner, I heard her tell a friend of hers (one I did not know very well), "He's really sexy, and I could just talk to him forever. I'm pretty sure I love him."

She and I had already been intimate and I assumed it was the drinks talking, but here we are nine years and 51 weeks later still happily married. I don't know if she knows that I heard her say that, but it really solidified in my brain that she was The One.

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15. I'd like to be the world's expert in something

My college professor researched Egyptian mummified cats. He was back at the British Museum looking at some cats and they had a staff shift while he was still in there. He started talking to the new guy on his way out and the guy says, “If you’re interested in mummified cats, you should talk to Dr. Smith. He’s the world’s expert in mummified cats.” My professor was speechless for a moment and then said: “ I’m Dr. Smith.”

And that’s how he learned he was the world’s expert.

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14. One likes to believe in the freedom of music

After the late Christmas Eve service, when coming down the staircase from the choir loft, I overheard a parishioner telling the pastor:

"The music in this church is inspirational - uplifting and filled with joy." She added: "I hadn't felt the Christmas spirit this season since my husband's recent death, but now I do, thanks to your organist."

Not only did I overhear this beautiful conversation, but when I saw the pastor later, he recounted it verbatim and thanked me for the special contribution music can make in people's lives.

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13. Eating hot food was how I impressed my Mexican wife's family, too

I spent Xmas with my girlfriends family this weekend, her family speaks Spanish I would say 80% of the time, while I barely speak a lick. Some of the food was more spicy than usual it sounds like, but man was it good.

My girlfriend told me after the fact they were all super impressed with how outgoing I was in a heavy Spanish speaking house and how much I liked the spicy food. Her aunt joked and said I was more Mexican than they were lol.

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12. A good customer service rep is hard to come by

I do customer service work on the phone for health insurance.

One time (last week) I got someone who had already been waiting 15 minutes before speaking to anyone (it was insanely busy) so obviously, he was a bit peeved at that.

Turns out he was calling on behalf of his sister and brother-in-law and had some questions. I managed to do everything they needed done in a couple of minutes and gave good explanatory answers to their questions. By the end of the conversation, after saying our goodbyes, he had not yet hung up so I heard him talk to his family about how clear and helpful I was.

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11. See, this is why everyone loves you

I don't have a lot of coworkers (about 13 altogether and I only work directly with 4-5). But when I was in the break room I heard a few of them talking about a coworker they don't like, saying she's rude to everyone. And one of them said, "She's pretty nice to [whatever my name is]." And the others said, "Well, everyone likes [whatever my name is], pretty hard not to." It was hard to walk back in there and not be like LOVE YOU TOO THANKS GUYS

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10. Happy ending after all

I was at a party at the residence of the dude I am now married to. His room was the room with the iPod and the residents carefully guarded it and set me with the task of keeping the music going - a task I took seriously. I was in there planning the next playlist when I heard him through the window, say "I'm pretty sure she's a lot smarter than me and way out of my league."

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9. A family that would go to war for you is a great honor indeed

I went through a bad breakup a few years ago- first boyfriend I had brought home to my family and it turned out he has been cheating on me the whole time. I was so embarrassed, not that I felt unworthy, but that my taste was that bad, I guess. I basically told my mom, and she took over the line of communication so that I didn’t have to tell everybody.

My family was FURIOUS. My mother told me much later that one of my older cousins was ready to drive down and torch his house because when she thought of me, she was reminded of the passage from Pride and Prejudice about “an accomplished woman” and that he just couldn’t do that to me.

No one cares about that guy now, but the fact that she thinks I’m worth such a high compliment still gets me teary.

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8. A good teacher can change a young person's world

I was hospitalized for six months after a suicide attempt as a teenager. I had to go to school in the hospital. I love languages and every week a French teacher would come in and give me French lessons.

She gave me an essay to write for homework and I wrote about my illness. I overheard her telling my nurse that it was a joy to correct my work. It might not seem like much, but to a 17-year-old girl who felt totally worthless, it meant the whole world. I wish I could tell that teacher that I'm almost finished my degree in modern languages now.

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7. Shocking that they don't like the jerk manager

My coworker and I got our jobs at this company at the same time, went through training together, got qualified for certain tasks together and eventually both got management positions at the same time. He and I are good friends I’d say, and we cooperate and work together seamlessly when needed. But, our leadership methods are vastly different. After a lot of my own research, I found a foundation of positive reinforcement is equally if not more effective than an iron fist type leadership so that’s how I run my program for my crew. He’s the exact opposite and is very open about trying to make his crew fear him.

Both our methods get the job done, surely. But I try my best to make sure my crew doesn’t dread coming to work. These guys and girls are the backbone of our operation and deserve respect. They’re holding me up and making me look good with their accomplishments - so I take care of them as best I can and always give words of encouragement. So much so that I have this little joke where I call out someone’s name across the hangar and just point at them like “good job bro” and they get the message and laugh. Good vibes.

Anyway, our work schedules operate on a 3-month bidding rotation; Each mechanic will bid for which crew they want to be on which alternates weeks, and those with the higher seniority in the company get the more desirable shifts. It boils down to choosing to be on my crew or my coworker’s. Basically picking who your manager will be. Long story short I heard people were fighting to get on my crew. And overheard numerous times that my crew was much more preferred to be on. It just made me feel good that my efforts aren’t in vain. I feel bad for my counterpart, but at the same time, a guilty part of me is like, “yesssssssss.”

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6. Be the sunshine in someone else's day

Overheard a tough Anesthesia provider comment to the room (after she thought the door closed behind me) that she wished she “had a positive attitude and sense of humor like (mine).” Was so stunned I lurked behind the OR door and heard the room agree with her on how much they liked working with me because I made the day so much easier.

Context: “the room” is an OR in action. Anesthesia, surgeon, tech, assistant, circulator (me). One of my jobs is to get supplies needed intraop, and I leave the room on occasion.

beautiful-woman-embarrassed-eyes-closed-2379235-300x200.jpgPhoto by Malcolm Garret from Pexels

5. Just like a Disney movie

A few months ago, I was hanging out with a girl one day who was showing interest in me, and I was kinda on board myself. I accidentally saw that she had posted about me in her group chat, and it was something along the lines of "This is the kinda guy I want".

Even better, her friend, who also happened to be my coworker, responded to that by saying, "He's honestly so nice." This made me feel even better because I honestly thought that girl couldn't stand me.

It gave me a giant, giant boost of confidence.

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4. That's really nice

My dad doesn't really compliment people. He's the quiet type that hides behind jokes and sarcasm. However, I once heard him talk to an old friend of his at a Christmas party, saying; "That's my kid right there. Pure rock n' roll, just like his old man. Never gives up, just keeps steaming on like a freight train. I tell ya, some kids just have that fire, you know?"

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3. Reading the mail

When I taught second grade I caught girls passing a note in my class. I took the note from them and read it. “Ms. Smith is verie prety. Her hair is prety her hole bodie is pretty!”

I was like... please don’t pass anymore notes in class. But thank you and I’m keeping this forever.

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2. Extra cheese

Once, at a drive through, I was given an extra $20 in change by accident. I gave it back to the clerk, and as I drove away I heard her turn to her co-worker and say, "What an honest guy!"

Then I heard her co-worker say, "Yeah and he was really hot, too!"

I blushed so hard the whole way home with my greasy cheeseburger.

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1. I say it as often as I can: Be excellent to each other

We used to live next door to a couple that was a "triage" foster family: when law enforcement had to remove kids from a home, theirs was on the short list of approved foster homes to place the kids in right away. My daughter was in elementary school at the time, and she would go out of her way to introduce herself to the kids and take time to play with them. Several groups of kids came and went before we moved to another state. Several months after we moved, we were in town visiting and bumped into the mom of one of my daughter's classmates.

This mom is a child psychologist and she said, "I just wanted you to know- I work a lot with the kids in foster care. And I kept hearing different kids talk about their friend (my daughter). I looked at these kids' paperwork and saw they had been placed in a home next door to where you all lived. It dawned on me that they were talking about your daughter. Just so you know, she made a lot of difference in helping these kids recover from their trauma."

Kiddo is a freshman in high school, now, and still looks to help others.

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