"You look good for your age." Were those last three words really necessary?
"That shirt looks nice - have you lost weight?" Implying -either that all of my other shirts don't look nice or that I typically look fat.
"Were your teeth always that white?" No, yesterday they were green...
"Your gray hairs look just like highlights." You might as well hand me my walker and buy me a box of Depends...
My mother, on the other hand, was a master of the thinly veiled insult. Let me see... there was the time she left me an etiquette book after staying with us.
Or my personal favorite - the time she said she thought my "decorating with body fluid colors was an interesting choice."
In any of these instances was I supposed to smile and say "thank you"? Typically, I cringe and laugh and move on. Life is too short to dwell on this stuff. I have, however, finally formulated a suitable response that I would like to share with you now:
"I always appreciate hearing from someone who's opinion I value." (That's sarcasm...)
"That shirt looks nice - have you lost weight?" Implying -either that all of my other shirts don't look nice or that I typically look fat.
"Were your teeth always that white?" No, yesterday they were green...
"Your gray hairs look just like highlights." You might as well hand me my walker and buy me a box of Depends...
My mother, on the other hand, was a master of the thinly veiled insult. Let me see... there was the time she left me an etiquette book after staying with us.
Or my personal favorite - the time she said she thought my "decorating with body fluid colors was an interesting choice."
In any of these instances was I supposed to smile and say "thank you"? Typically, I cringe and laugh and move on. Life is too short to dwell on this stuff. I have, however, finally formulated a suitable response that I would like to share with you now:
"I always appreciate hearing from someone who's opinion I value." (That's sarcasm...)
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