Good compliments?

r/

What are some good compliments I can give men while working at my job? Without coming across as too flirtatious. Something that if said to you would make you stop and appreciate yourself a little more.

Comments

  1. Spacemuffler Avatar

    Compliment their work, or perhaps their car at most if you want to keep it platonic and not potentially lead them into thinking you’re into them.

    Remarking on their appearance CAN be done in a friendly and not flirtatious manner but there is quite a bit of room for error here based not ONLY on their perception but also your delivery which can lead directly to “shitting where you eat” territory.

  2. Training-Welcome8380 Avatar

    If you are a young, attractive woman, we will inflate any nice thing you say or do into a romantic fantasy – except – if you compliment our kids, spouse, or mom… And even then…

  3. IamATrainwreck88 Avatar

    Be specific in your compliments. It will take some getting used to but will save your ass one day. I used to have a team of pretty, young girls that I was supervising and I was in my mentor group and brought it up. That was some top shelf advice and I never once had an issue with any of them taking anything the wrong way. It’s also good to avoid touching, pet names like Love, sweetie, shit like that. I am deaf so everything I do is in writing, so for me it wasn’t that hard as long as I thought before I wrote.

  4. Clunk500CM Avatar

    Men receive *very* few compliments from women, so any compliment you put out there is very likely to be taken as flirtatious.

    That said, compliment a man’s competence, we love that. For example: “you’re very good at that…”

    There is a scene in the series Downton Abbey that shows a good way for a woman to compliment a man’s skill. It’s been a while, so from what I remember:

    one of the male servants is sewing and one of the female servants notices that he is doing a good job. The female comments on his skill and asks where he learned it. The man replies that his mother taught him, the woman servant replies “well she knew what she was about”. The woman did not come across as flirtatious because the compliment was followed-up by asking where he learned the skill.

    That may be one approach.

  5. OneBadDog Avatar

    I had a woman tell me I had a nice face. Yeah, it was weird and I didn’t know exactly what she meant, so I asked her. She meant I dint have any “bad features” and “my face was symmetrical, no obvious differences” with my eyes and stuff. I still think about it even though it was a few years ago.

    But you wanted good compliments… I suppose anything can be taken to extremes, like that other comment said, but if you say you like his shirt or tie or something, he’s gonna think it makes him look better and if he bought it for that reason, you will just have confirmed it for him, elevating his ego.

    The basic stuff like hair or clothes go a long way as men are usually pretty vain in my experience. Maybe you like the way he debated this thing in a meeting or is working hard.

    Any compliment to some/any effort made is always welcome, especially if you’re in one of those places where “attaboys” are seldom heard. This will let him know you’re noticing him and his efforts.

    Again, any compliments can certainly be taken to extremes, but don’t let that dissuade your efforts, just try to use some tact initially, until you know how its going to go

  6. gdubh Avatar

    Yeah, don’t do this at your job — unless you are only complimenting work.

  7. IRideMoreThanYou Avatar

    I mean, the same compliment you’d give a woman for work related activities.

    Non-work related compliments I’ve gotten? My shoes, how I dress, my physique. All done without it being flirty.

  8. Nomad_Pixels Avatar

    Please don’t overthink here. I can see that you want to compliment your MEN coworker without sounding flirtatious… and this thought is appreciable.

    So, if it’s the first compliment to this man from your side then just start the conversation with “good job [his name]” and then lead the conversation depending on the response.

    And I believe compliments in the workplace are a very common thing – doesn’t matter if it’s coming from a man or a woman. And you replied to someone that your job is literally connecting with people, then this is a plus – a good compliment especially from a person with such a profession won’t sound flirtatious.

  9. Available_Pea_28 Avatar

    “Nice work.”

    “Thanks for all of your effort on this. It turned out really well. “

    “You went above and beyond on this, and I appreciate it. Thank you.”

    Focused, task specific, and competency based are going to be safe. Don’t associate anything about them doing a favor for you personally, and it should be received professionally.

  10. bleak_winter47 Avatar

    you’ve have a kind heart, don’t ever change that about yourself

  11. rkjlol Avatar

    You smell good!

  12. NormalNectarine9914 Avatar

    Good job on xyz…

  13. ialsohaveadobro Avatar

    “Good morning, fellas. Hand me that thing. Boy, this work’s hard. Guys, break’s over.”

  14. HoneybucketDJ Avatar

    For what it’s worth my brain accepts compliments on my work more so than ‘me’.

    Maybe an “I appreciate what you do” in passing on occasion. Anything more feels insincere or patronizing to me for some reason. Even though I know they’re just trying to be nice it just feels weird and unneeded.

    Men generally aren’t at work to make friends or participate in social atmospheres. Were at work to produce a good product and get paid well for it.

    Comradery along the way is a huge plus, but also not particularly needed.

  15. AnxiousPeggingSlut Avatar

    Honestly, compliment men in general.

    It’s a way to provide a good vibe without overthinking the boundary of opposite sex courtship norms.

  16. Still-Try-1915 Avatar

    i’ve been relatively successful complimenting their hair or shirts! something quick like “did you cut your hair? it looks nice!” or “nice shirt, it looks cool”

  17. randopadre Avatar

    I had a colleague tell me I looked fit, took me forever to get it out of my head that she wasn’t coming onto me.

  18. Ghostforever7 Avatar

    Unfortunately never complimenting a man has become normalized in society, so unless it’s something very direct like “I like your work on this project” it may be misconstrued as being flirtatious.

  19. 5ft6manlet Avatar

    “Good work”

  20. Western_Chip7299 Avatar

    I tried but its always weird after. I think its seen like flirting, so i stopped complimenting men at work. Btw i compliment men in another context, i just think work is not the place for

  21. BuffaloDesigner3171 Avatar

    Women coming to reddit to ask how to compliment men will never cease to be hilarious to me. It’s done so infrequently that women need guidance lmfao

    “Oh God, I want to compliment this guy on the great work he’s doing, but I don’t want to seem flirtatious” idk maybe just fucking say “great job” and move on?