Most women hate being complimented in public, but every guy in the history of ever remembers every single rare time that he has ever received a compliment from a random woman in public and holds it like a little treasure.

For instance, the last verbal compliment I got in public from a woman was at a Wawa in Bradenton, Florida, a few months before the pandemic. I was wearing one of my work Oxford shirts, and the petite, cute cashier said just out of the blue, “I like your shirt. It looks really good on you.*”

I’m way more suave than I used to be and I managed to say, “Thank you. I’m going to be waiting in your line now even if it’s the long one.”

*No, for the doubters, this wasn’t the corporate “be nice to everyone” training customer service people get these days. I saw this cashier somewhat regularly and she was very shy and quiet and rarely spoke to anyone much.